Copperband Journey any advice welcome

[Mr Cypher]

So I am 3 days into my Copperband journey and just looking for a little advice with him my tank is 1 year old in 4 days plenty of featherdusters pods and unfortunately glass nems got him from marinecollectors showed up healthy and fed acclimated according to instructions, I dont have any particularly aggressive fish in the tank and he is the biggest fish by far at the moment but of course I haven't seem him eat frozen yet however I know he is eating because after day 1 almost all fan worms gone after last night 2 big aptasia gone and I see him picking at the sand and rocks alot tried mastic but didn't touch it the other issue is he is constantly trying to fight his reflection in the glass regardless of lighting he'll go at it with the glass for 10min then go pick then back to the glass any tips greatly appreciated!!

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Try clams on the half shell and live blackworms. They go crazy for them.

 

[Paddypils]

Mine loves masstick, took him a couple of days to eat it.

 

[Mr Cypher]

any thoughts on this? apparently he has been doing this on both sides of tank since I went to work its crazy

 

[Mr Cypher]

just incase the vid doesn't load he is chasing his reflection in the glass on the short sides of the tank i would walk over and he would go to the other side and do the same thing

 

[i cant think]

Mine also fights his own reflection however as long as it doesn’t stress them too much I think it’s alright.
I know this isn’t long term however I have had my CBB for a little over 2 years (Got him in March of 2020). I too had many Aptaisia in my tank however I took that to my advantage and instead of trying to kill them off I fed them frozen each day so as the CBB ate the nems he was also eating frozen. Eventually I got him to feed and he now goes ham at the food (I don’t spot feed unless it’s an absolute necessity). I also feed the food next to the main pump which spreads it all throughout the tank so everyone gets something which helped to get the CBB to feed aswell (This is how I got many of my finicky fish, including a Hoplolatilus chlupatyi to feed). Now my CBB is the most aggressive fish to any newcomer! Even the two spot bristletooth tang doesn’t bother newcomers.

 

[jtf74]

Pic? Live black or white worms and mix in some frozen. Mine only eats mysis. Wont touch brine. Doesn’t care for raw clams much but some do.

 

[Mr Cypher]

there's a vid little ways up but here he is

 

[Mr Cypher]

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Have u tried clams on the half shell. I use them, hikari brand for my arabian butterfly did this a few days and then put the masstick in an empty shell for feeding and it went to town. No issues. I feed it by hand now w masstick. So happy. Good luck w that amazing copperband

 

[jtf74]

Looks like a nice healthy weight cbb. Mine devoured aiptasia after it discovered it and now will eat it from my finger tips so if there's more it probably won't last long. The movement of Black worms really got mine excited about eating out of the water column more than picking at a clam but I'd still try clams. Mine was isolated in QT so easier to feed without others taking the good stuff. They aren't chasers so much so turning off the flow so the frozen stuff sinks helps too.

 

[Mr Cypher]

Just an update, he started to eat slowly this morning with frozen mysis and I mixed in a cube of SF Bay angle/butterfly formula with shredded muscles and a cube of mysis and he started to take it not as enthusiastically as I want yet but just seeing him eat some frozen feels like a weight off

 

[i cant think]

Just an update, he started to eat slowly this morning with frozen mysis and I mixed in a cube of SF Bay angle/butterfly formula with shredded muscles and a cube of mysis and he started to take it not as enthusiastically as I want yet but just seeing him eat some frozen feels like a weight off

He’ll eventually eat like a pig, I personally don’t think spot feeding is essential and you can broad cast feed as it still gets to the fish and he can eat it if he wants to.

 

[jtf74]

any thoughts on this? apparently he has been doing this on both sides of tank since I went to work its crazy

Mine did this the entire time in QT for 70+ days. Now its in a look down so no glass sides and has stopped doing it but still goes back and forth at the front when I'm close expecting food.