HELP: The nightmare of making a copperband to eat.

[rinckemd]

Try a mussel. Black shelled guys they sell live in bags. Most places will give you a few if you ask. Cut it open, rubberband it to some rock of something so it doesn’t flip over. I feed one every other day to mine, he’s been good for years and just picks on the rocks for other food. He’s never shown any interest in anything else. If he goes for it, buy a bunch and freeze them right away. Mine still eats frozen.

 

[JasPR]

My two copper bands are now with me for 1o months now. very full bodied now and with a beautiful sheen to their skin. They compete with large angels and 3 huge Heniochus for ANYTHING fed. Frozen blood worms and frozen mysis shrimp. But they didn't start that way-- live black worms and live clams is the first step-- once in place, move to fresh frozen clams and live black worms but start adding some frozen blood worms. After 6 months, they will eat anything.

 

[Philt56]

Yes, mine didn’t touch anything until I got live blackworms that he took to immediately. Later got some fresh clams, took a while and he picked on those. eventually then took mysis. Mainly eats mysis and the hikari clam on half shell but will also nip on LRS now too.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Live black worms BUT sparingly as they can foul your tank. Aptasia for sure BUT DO NOT place aptasia in tank intentionally . I also had luck with live brine and Larrys Foods (LRS). No matter what you try, go sparingly so you don't ruin your water quality
My CBB favorite right now is seaweed sheet on a clip. He just attacks it

 

[WallyB]

I tried everything above. Live food.
I even put one of the New Copperbands into a tank full of Aptasia.
Even got the Fresh Clam and nothing worked.
I was starting to PANIC and getting worried he would starve.

Then I got some MASSTICK powder food.
https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Reefs-Masstick-Fish-Food/dp/B06X9G94YV

You mix it up. Make tiny meat balls which you can freeze for feeding later.

The best way to feed the MASSTICK (INITIAL TRAINING) is get a few sea shells from fish store or a dollars store ($1 a bag).
Stick the MASSTICK ball into the Shell and drop it into the TANK.
THE SHELL WILL ALWAYS land Upright so MASTICK FOOD faces upward.

I trained two Copperbands to eat this way.
One copperband later learned to eat frozen once he was eating the mastic. He now eats both.
The other copperband is still hooked on the Mastick weeks later, but at least he eats. This is the one in the Aptasia Tank that was Infested. Not a spot of Aptasia left so (he Now eats MASSTICk and APTASIA )

Now they will eat the MASSTICK Balls directly from my hand or a tweezer.

Here are some videos I did during training.


This is 1st Copperband eating from a DIYfeeder I made.



This is 2nd Copperband eating from a Shell. (Shells work best)



I got lazy retrieving the Shellss, so now I just have two Acrylic STICKS that I stick the Mastick too.



Currently I do the stick method on both Tanks for Both Copperbands. It's the easiest way.

This works not just for Copperband, but many finicky eaters. You can see the BlackCap Basslet eating the Masstick in the video. Cleaner shrimp swims up and eat it too.

 

[Brian1f1]

I have had my cbb for 3 weeks now in qt. I have tried clams, frozen food, live black worms, I have not seen it eat at all...even tried garlic

For clams, they are live clams and frozen. I take one out whenever it’s feeding time.

Since it’s been more than 3 weeks, I would assume that it’s eating when I’m not watching but I can’t be sure.

I wouldn’t assume that. I’d assume it’s not, and that it’ll die slowly over the next few weeks or so if you don’t get it to eat very soon. I don’t know what else you should offer, but time is ticking. Maybe someone here has more suggestions?

 

[InsaneClownfishPosse]

I modified a blackworm feeder by opening up the slots a bit. This allowed the copperband to eat at his own pace. He now happily eats from the water column with all the others. Have him over a year now.

 

[JasPR]

Tip: if you deliver the live black worms with a pipette, after awhile anything delivered with that pipette will be seen as good stuff. After the copper band is feeding and rushing to the pipette, use defrosted frozen blood worms and mysis

 

[Samandar]

Hi, my experience with cbb has been always successful. First of all I Quarantine the cbb in a 40g tank with live rocks full of aptasia. For some days I let cbb to be alone completely, I mean I watch her very rarely to minimize the stress . After this period I give her frozen brain shrimp. Mostly she takes it. If not I give her live brain shrimp. This method has been always successful for me to force bcc begin to eat.

 

[maroun.c]

I've experimented with many CBB on the past and even trained them to consume aptasia in I reduction tanks before moving to tanks ...
Blackworms, blood worms are good for starters. Once feeding try to add frozen food and pellets with them so they start taking. Inserting frozen food (LRS, Mysis, Maastick. ..) in crevices in rocks might get their attention of u see the fish picking on rocks.
One thing they always go for is feather dusters? I have thousabds of those in my sump and overflows ... Add a few to their introduction tank to keep the picking/ feeding reaction alive and avoid starvation but don't add much as u want them taking frozen foods and pellets.
One consideration after adding to DT is a feeder is above so that CBB still gets an advantage over other fish and gets it share of food as they are famous for wasting away up t OK one year after addition. Soaking their food in vitamins helps them make the best of what thet eat.

 

[Bent17]

Not sure I understood correctly but do you mix the mastick with some other form of food (dry/frozen) or just add the mastik to the rock / glass?

 

[OrionN]

I get frozen steamer clams. Throw the frozen clam into the tank. As it thaws out, the shell start to open up. CBB is the only fish, with his snout, can reach the flesh inside initially. He has his fill of clam meat while the other fishes have to wait until the clam shells open up more.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not sure I understood correctly but do you mix the mastick with some other form of food (dry/frozen) or just add the mastik to the rock / glass?

It gets mixed with water and refrigerated. I’ve had no luck getting mine to eat it while others have
Clams, black worms, live brine shrimp and mysis shrimp are good enticers

 

[argiBK]

Little to add here, but when I need live blackworms I always buy from https://easternaquatics.com/

 

[jtf74]

easternaquatics.com

You can order live blackworms. If its going to eat it will eat these. Then you can mix in frozen and wean it off. Don't wait too long. Also maybe try a seafood mix from Trader Joes or somewhere. Mine likes the scallops and calamari, and shrimp mix from there.

 

[jtf74]

I wouldn’t assume that. I’d assume it’s not, and that it’ll die slowly over the next few weeks or so if you don’t get it to eat very soon. I don’t know what else you should offer, but time is ticking. Maybe someone here has more suggestions?

This^. Copperbands are very aggressive eaters once established and they eat more than other fish. I'd get some blackworms overnighted.

Just noticed this thread is 5 years old. Guess someone resurrected.

 

[NotReefsafe]

There is someone on R2R that sells 3d printed CBB feeders...they are neat.