Fish behavior.... copperband Butterfly !

[Jason mack]

Hello fellow reefers ,
Sometime ago now , last year I think it was , I posted asking about the behavior of my copperband , I posted a video of him swimming circles around my frag plate at the end of my tank ( can’t find original post anymore ) unfortunately I don’t have the video anymore
I had asked if anyone knew why he did this ,
my own thoughts were it was down too stress from something , but no one could give any decisive answer ..
This behavior continued, he was eating well, I had been feeding mysis and Artemia...I thought maybe I should try something else maybe , everybody says copperbands love black worms so gave that a try .. live ones ..not a sniff .. he tried one seemed too pull a face and never bothered again
My tank is not overstocked with fish , there is no aggression between any , that I have ever seen ... yet still he kept swimming round my frag rack and then darting across the tank ..
Couple of months ago I was talking with my lFS ... he happened to mention he goes too the beach and collects live muscles and feeds them to his copperband ...
Great idea !!! So for the last couple of months I go once a week get me muscles ( only take what I need ) my copperband/flame angle/6 line wrasse love them , go crazy for them .. I keep them in the fridge live .. rinse them with rodi before use , smash the shells and throw them in .
This seemed too help my copperband his behavior got a little better but he was still swimming circles around my frag rack ...
Now 3 weeks ago I added the rockzolid aquascape too the back wall of my tank , the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed my copperband isn’t swimming around my frag rack anymore . He seems more relaxed always searching between the rocks and corals for food , normal behavior at last ... now I wouldn’t say my old scape was minimalist or anything . I’ve always had a good pod population as well , but my own observation would be that adding the extra rockwork and the feeding of the muscles has played some roll in this ...
I just wanted too share this info maybe it will help someone else or not .... I’m not an expert in anything ..I’m only happy my copperband seems happy again
Thanks for reading , sorry it was so long winded
I’d be interested in hearing any thoughts ,comments , or experience anyone else has had with fish behavior..
Mack

 

[cracker]

Thank You, This is a fine example of seemingly odd fish behavior . After some observations & changes on your part ,the fish now feels more at home.
One could put the busted clams up in the rock work. That is how they eat in the wild.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Perhaps he was seeing his reflection on the glass, and the new rockscape changed that?

 

[Jason mack]

Perhaps he was seeing his reflection on the glass, and the new rockscape changed that?

That’s what I thought as well ..!! But as I’ve only added new scape too the back of the tank , and my frag rack sits on the side glass ,nothing there has changed ..... I think it’s maybe territorial more than anything , maybe there wasn’t enough reef for all my fish ...
Here’s a photo of my reef before and after adding the rockzollid

Both pictures you can see my frag rack on the left side ..

 

[Paul B]

My copperbands favorite food is clams that I also buy (or collect) live.
He is about 8 or 10 years old. He also eats white or black worms every day. I don't feed bloodworms.

 

[Jason mack]

My copperbands favorite food is clams that I also buy (or collect) live.
He is about 8 or 10 years old. He also eats white or black worms every day. I don't feed bloodworms.

Sorry I meant black worms not blood worms !!