Copperband Next Best Move

[Jimmyneptune]

Copperband Next Best Move

I have a new copper band butterfly fish that I bought at the LFS he is in an acclimation box in my, waterbox lx 270. I have tangs large purple, large sailfin, yellow and gem tang a large rabbitfish the tank also has a few smaller fish 2 fairy wrasse, a clean wrasse, a longnose hawkfish, gold head goby, and two smaller clowns.

The Copperband is not eating or eating very little. I bought live bloodworms and frozen blood worms and frozen daphnia. He seemed to have little interest but it may be just due to being in the acclimation box.

My other tank setups. I have is a 93 gallon cube that is fully setup but is mostly empty of fish. I had a leak and replaced the tank but kept my rock, livestock, and sump running so it is an established tank but empty of fish except a damsel in the sump. I also have a 20 gallon long with a smaller purple tang with a large piece of live rock, heater and powerhead and some daily natural light, the tank is under a window.

I am trying to figure out next best moves and looking for opinions or advice:

I was thinking of putting the gem tang in the 93 cube, he is getting beat up by the large purple, he may have hlle mainly eats nori and he does not get enough to eat.

I need to close down the 20 gallon, I still need to decide what to do with the small purple tang.

I want the copperband to live; my wife wants him in the large tank

I was going to put the copperband in the 93 cube; but only if it give him the best chance to live.



So, what is the Next Best Move…

 

[Subsea]

I am not a CBB expert. After 55 years of reefing, I found CBB the most skitterish fish I have kept. I don’t think he will do well in your waterbox 270 tank with large aggressive tangs.

 

[jackson6745]

Best chance would be isolated in the cube. If it is a healthy one and capable of eating, it will do best with no competition until you train it to become an aggressive eater. Live mussel cracked in the shell and thawed scallop would be great foods to try. I keep 5 copperband eating out of my hand on mainly scallop ( but they eat everything frozen at this point)

 

[W31Olds]

Copperbands need special care because they are a challenging expert level fish. An acclimation box is not the right place to get them going. I would consider moving both the Copperband and the Gem into your Cube. Both fish look thin and the Gem is an expensive fish and yours is clearly not getting enough to eat.

 

[Bucrob]

I'm not a copperband expert, just somebody who has been extremely lucky with them. I am in a beneficial position where my boss can hand select fish from the wholesaler. Both the copperbands I have had were eating at the wholesaler and continued eating at the shop until I got them. Once introduced, they went on strike for a little bit but live blackworms seemed to get them off the hunger strike. Mine have never touched any of the clam on the half shell or scallops or any of those types of foods others suggest.

As for what would be the best tank for him I most certainly would not leave him in the acclimation box for long as fish do not do well in them. I personally would put him into the 93g cube where you could move the gem tang too if you wanted just make sure the gem goes in after the copperband (about a day after I would say if you have that much time). Let the copperband get on food in the 93 gallon and eventually when he is heartily eating you can put him back in the acclimation box. I would let him sit in the acclimation box for about 3 days before I let him out as tangs need to establish the concept, he is not competition but do that whilst not risking the fish. At the first sign of your tangs trying to scalpel him, I would pull him out and put him back in the 93g cube permanently as butterflyfish are one of the more sensitive fish to infections if the tang happens to get a small cut on him.

 

[Bucrob]

Edit: you could also just move them both over at the same time just know that I personally wouldn't keep the gem in there long term as it is a bit on the smaller end for a gem.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Copperband Next Best Move

I have a new copper band butterfly fish that I bought at the LFS he is in an acclimation box in my, waterbox lx 270. I have tangs large purple, large sailfin, yellow and gem tang a large rabbitfish the tank also has a few smaller fish 2 fairy wrasse, a clean wrasse, a longnose hawkfish, gold head goby, and two smaller clowns.

The Copperband is not eating or eating very little. I bought live bloodworms and frozen blood worms and frozen daphnia. He seemed to have little interest but it may be just due to being in the acclimation box.

My other tank setups. I have is a 93 gallon cube that is fully setup but is mostly empty of fish. I had a leak and replaced the tank but kept my rock, livestock, and sump running so it is an established tank but empty of fish except a damsel in the sump. I also have a 20 gallon long with a smaller purple tang with a large piece of live rock, heater and powerhead and some daily natural light, the tank is under a window.

I am trying to figure out next best moves and looking for opinions or advice:

I was thinking of putting the gem tang in the 93 cube, he is getting beat up by the large purple, he may have hlle mainly eats nori and he does not get enough to eat.

I need to close down the 20 gallon, I still need to decide what to do with the small purple tang.

I want the copperband to live; my wife wants him in the large tank

I was going to put the copperband in the 93 cube; but only if it give him the best chance to live.



So, what is the Next Best Move…

Ive never had an issue with copperbands and yes, the acclimation box may be laying a role and with the flow openings in the box, ive seen injury occurs with their extended snouts. Yes, Isolate the Gem or better yet the purple and allow the gem and copperband to remain in tank

 

[Areseebee]

I'm not sure if it was a typo but you said you tried bloodworms. Mine will not touch bloodworms but goes insane for blackworms. You can buy freeze dried cubes off Amazon that can work if you can't get live.

I'd also recommend trying different times of feeding. My newest butterfly was really tricky to get eating anything but blackworms until I started feeding him 4 or 5 hours before lights on... Before my aggressive rating tang woke

 

[petcellar]

Also you just never know what they will eat. When I got mine I was prepared to do battle. I had clams, mussels, mastik, live blackworms, everything I could think of.


The first think he ate? Frozen brine shrimp. Not the worms. Not the clams.

Even today when he is settled in better and eats more things… frozen brine shrimp is his favorite. He goes nuts for it.


You never know what’s going on in their fishy heads…. I’d keep trying different things.

And I agree with the others…. I for sure wouldn’t even try to put him in with the more aggressive fish unless he is already eating well. Copperbands like to stare at their food for several seconds before they eat it for some reason, and if they are in with aggressive feeders their window of opportunity will close while they are still trying to make up their mind

 

[Bucrob]

Also you just never know what they will eat. When I got mine I was prepared to do battle. I had clams, mussels, mastik, live blackworms, everything I could think of.


The first think he ate? Frozen brine shrimp. Not the worms. Not the clams.

Even today when he is settled in better and eats more things… frozen brine shrimp is his favorite. He goes nuts for it.


You never know what’s going on in their fishy heads…. I’d keep trying different things.

And I agree with the others…. I for sure wouldn’t even try to put him in with the more aggressive fish unless he is already eating well. Copperbands like to stare at their food for several seconds before they eat it for some reason, and if they are in with aggressive feeders their window of opportunity will close while they are still trying to make up their mind

Mine never really stared, if he sees something floating by he'll take a nip at it. I think the "staring" is more of a misconception as their eyes are very unique and most of the time its a matter of if they actually see it or not.

 

[petcellar]

Also you just never know what they will eat. When I got mine I was prepared to do battle. I had clams, mussels, mastik, live blackworms, everything I could think of.


The first think he ate? Frozen brine shrimp. Not the worms. Not the clams.

Even today when he is settled in better and eats more things… frozen brine shrimp is his favorite. He goes nuts for it.


You never know what’s going on in their fishy heads…. I’d keep trying different things.

And I agree with the others…. I for sure wouldn’t even try to put him in with the more aggressive fish unless he is already eating well. Copperbands like to stare at their food for several seconds before they eat it for some reason, and if they are in with aggressive feeders their window of opportunity will close while they are still trying to make up their mind

Mine never really stared, if he sees something floating by he'll take a nip at it. I think the "staring" is more of a misconception as their eyes are very unique and most of the time its a matter of if they actually see it or not.

Makes sense. Maybe "pause" would be a more accurate word than stare.

 

[fish_collector]

Not a CBB expert but I've had one for 8 months now and he devours anything frozen I offer him. My CBB will eat frozen bloodworms until his belly is bulging out lol. He's in with a scopas and some damsels, the CBB is the dominant fish in the tank.

An acclimation box is usually a good starting point to introduce a new fish to the group but a CBB may not be too inclined to learn to eat if confined to one.

I agree with everyone's suggestion to put the gem and CBB together in a separate tank. Once there you can get them fat and bold. When the time comes to move them to the primary display, swap them out with the desjardini and purple for a few weeks.

Good luck, your tank looks great and you have some nice fish.