New copperband fish!

[Jbell370]

Masstick...mine goes crazy for it, he eats mysis and then I typically squish 2 pellets of Easy Reef on the glass, keeps him busy for the next couple hours. He does roam and pick at rocks etc helps that my tank is past the 3 year mark. Has been with me for 1 1/2 years now.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I have had my copperband for at least four years now. He keeps the aptasia under control. He will eat just about anything frozen thawed. Some times I believe he thinks he’s one of the tangs. I say all this to say if you get a heathy one from the start they can be a great addition to your tank.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Best of luck with the copperband!

 

[Glenner’sreef]

4x per day is even better!

Jay

Right Jay, not only that. The only fish in my 180g who does not rest after the lights go out is my Copperband! I can get up at 2:30 am. and he’s scavenging the live rock. Amazing!

 

[mrpontiac80]

I received my copperband from Tankstop today and all is well so far! Shipping fish always scares me. It has been acclimated from the shipping water of 1.018 ( the website does state this) up to my 1.026. It is as advertised and looks to be about 4” in size. Now if we can make it through my qt;). I’ll update with a picture soon just for kicks

 

[mrpontiac80]

Well here it is… now I’m crossing fingers and toes too.

 

[KrisReef]

That's a nice fat fish and in excellent shape, imo.
If you have aiptasia on a rock, give it a rock in QT to work on. Make sure you tell it you expect it to live and eat aiptasia and other good (live) foods as others have suggested.

 

[mrpontiac80]

That's a nice fat fish and in excellent shape, imo.
If you have aiptasia on a rock, give it a rock in QT to work on. Make sure you tell it you expect it to live and eat aiptasia and other good (live) foods as others have suggested.

Unfortunately or fortunate I guess :thinking-face: I do have aiptaisa in the tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I received my copperband from Tankstop today and all is well so far! Shipping fish always scares me. It has been acclimated from the shipping water of 1.018 ( the website does state this) up to my 1.026. It is as advertised and looks to be about 4” in size. Now if we can make it through my qt;). I’ll update with a picture soon just for kicks

That is a very large specific gravity rise to try and adjust to in one shot. For future reference, you should reduce the specific gravity of the receiving tank a bit so that the jump isn’t that great.

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/acclimation-methods.903/
Jay

 

[mrpontiac80]

That is a very large specific gravity rise to try and adjust to in one shot. For future reference, you should reduce the specific gravity of the receiving tank a bit so that the jump isn’t that great.

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/acclimation-methods.903/
Jay

Thanks. I had never needed to do that before. I started off after temp acclimation, by floating the bag and adding 1/2 cup tank water every 5 min. Eventually the bag got full and I switched to dripping. I was able to maintain temp and all said and done was about 1.5-2 hrs.

 

[exnisstech]

Any recommendations? I normally feed frozen brine, frozen mysis, and rods original frozen.

Mine loves mastick. Also live blackworms helped when new. Now he will eat mastick and most frozen as well as clams and muscles. Will not touch pellet or flake but I only use those as treats. I mostly feed PE mysis and a homemade seafood mash.
I did observation only QT and had rock in the tank rather than the sterile bright white pvc. I've read of too many dieing in QT is why I did it this way.
I have one of these feeders. He sees me walking to the tank with it and comes begging. His tank mates, a yellow tang and flame angel hang out and eats his scraps from the feeder. They get fed also tho.
The one you received looks good.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/copperband-butterfly-cbb-feeder.942707/

 

[jtf74]

Mine loves mastick. Also live blackworms helped when new. Now he will eat mastick and most frozen as well as clams and muscles. Will not touch pellet or flake but I only use those as treats. I mostly feed PE mysis and a homemade seafood mash.
I did observation only QT and had rock in the tank rather than the sterile bright white pvc. I've read of too many dieing in QT is why I did it this way.
I have one of these feeders. He sees me walking to the tank with it and comes begging. His tank mates, a yellow tang and flame angel hang out and eats his scraps from the feeder. They get fed also tho.
The one you received looks good.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/copperband-butterfly-cbb-feeder.942707/

Same experience on QT. I observation only QT'd mine for 90 days to fatten it up in an established tank w rock/aiptaisia. It broke out with lympho a few days in, but that disappeared in a week and never came back. He only ate live black worms for a few days then frozen mysis. Now will eat clams, mussels, scallops, pretty much any seafood I throw in. By the time he went in with tangs and angels he was already eating out of the water column and actually would eat right out of my hand. Had him about 4 1/2 years now.

 

[Gtinnel]

I have one of these feeders. He sees me walking to the tank with it and comes begging.

I have considered buying or making one of those feeders for a while. Mine eats live worms really well so I may get one to hold his live worms so I know he gets plenty of them. Plus I can start mixing some frozen in with it. I’d love to ween mine completely to frozen.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Mine loves mastick. Also live blackworms helped when new. Now he will eat mastick and most frozen as well as clams and muscles. Will not touch pellet or flake but I only use those as treats. I mostly feed PE mysis and a homemade seafood mash.
I did observation only QT and had rock in the tank rather than the sterile bright white pvc. I've read of too many dieing in QT is why I did it this way.
I have one of these feeders. He sees me walking to the tank with it and comes begging. His tank mates, a yellow tang and flame angel hang out and eats his scraps from the feeder. They get fed also tho.
The one you received looks good.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/copperband-butterfly-cbb-feeder.942707/

Thanks for the link!

 

[ninjamyst]

Mine will fight tangs for food. Surprisingly, hes the only fish that will eat masstick so once a week I stick a pellet in the tank for him to feast on. Otherwise he loves mysis and Larry's. He will not touch pellets though.

 

[Crabby48]

My CBB eats from my hands and fights for food with wrasse and tangs. I move him to holding or qt he stops eating. Many need natural environment with low stress to settle.

I recommend getting CBB from a place like TSM aquatics. A month in a half or more in holding and qt. The fish eat and are free from disease

Eric a good guy. I’ve dealt with him a few times even when he has ATR.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Ok so I’ve been trying different things and I even got a piece of rock with lots of pores and plucked a couple of aiptaisa out of the tank and placed them on the rock. They have since attached. The copperband was very curious with the rock, so that’s good!

A couple hours later and the aiptaisa is still there but I found some frozen butterfly fish food and tried a part of it tonight and he finally is eating out of the water column. So that’s great too!

 

[mrpontiac80]

Is fully cooked natural clams a no no?

Edit: I finally found some fresh little neck clams. It’s a little bit hard to find good fresh seafood in north west AR ;)

 

[jtf74]

Ok so I’ve been trying different things and I even got a piece of rock with lots of pores and plucked a couple of aiptaisa out of the tank and placed them on the rock. They have since attached. The copperband was very curious with the rock, so that’s good!

A couple hours later and the aiptaisa is still there but I found some frozen butterfly fish food and tried a part of it tonight and he finally is eating out of the water column. So that’s great too!

Nice. Mine eats that, but leaves a lot (probably sponge) . Prefers straight meaty stuff. About 3 weeks in discovered aiptaisa and now will eat this biggest ones I can find. Violently tears them to shreads. When a cbb is not being bullied and feeding well its an extremely bold and endless eater.

 

[Eric Cohen Verified Sponsor]

Does Eric know where this fish was collected? CBB from different regions vary in their hardiness. Australian are the best IMO.

Jay

I do have origins listed on my website. Australian fish are always listed in the description. I can usually find out too. The only two origins that are mixed together are Bali and Philippines but I can always figure that out too if necessary. :)