New copperband - ideas/help needed

[kilnakorr]

I ordered a filefish due to some aptasia I can't keep in control. When the order arrived, I was very surprised to find a copperband instead.
I have read up as much as possible about this fish, and not sure if this post will do me any good, but need to try something.
It's been 5 days since I recieved it, and it went straight in the DT (after acclimation).

First few hours, It got bullied some by my purple and kole tang, as the mirror I added fell over while I was out finding some cbb foods.

Day 1. Spending the day in lower left corner.
Day 2. Swimming back and forth at the front glass
Day 3-today. Pretyy much swimming in same small area of the upper front corner.

I have seen it nip at a few live tubefix worms and white worms. Not interested in clam or any frozen foods. Has not tried investigating the rockwork at all.

There is no bullying from other fish, but it still seems to scared to leave the corner, and I can't feed it live worms in the water column.

Live black/blood worms are not available here.

Any good ideas on what to try?
I cannot set up a QT/hospital tank right now, but I believe it needs to eat soon to make it.

 

[peter86]

I ordered a filefish due to some aptasia I can't keep in control. When the order arrived, I was very surprised to find a copperband instead.
I have read up as much as possible about this fish, and not sure if this post will do me any good, but need to try something.
It's been 5 days since I recieved it, and it went straight in the DT (after acclimation).

First few hours, It got bullied some by my purple and kole tang, as the mirror I added fell over while I was out finding some cbb foods.

Day 1. Spending the day in lower left corner.
Day 2. Swimming back and forth at the front glass
Day 3-today. Pretyy much swimming in same small area of the upper front corner.

I have seen it nip at a few live tubefix worms and white worms. Not interested in clam or any frozen foods. Has not tried investigating the rockwork at all.

There is no bullying from other fish, but it still seems to scared to leave the corner, and I can't feed it live worms in the water column.

Live black/blood worms are not available here.

Any good ideas on what to try?
I cannot set up a QT/hospital tank right now, but I believe it needs to eat soon to make it

Hi mate try get a feeding tube when I had mine he would get to all the food first as he could get his snout in the tube before the food came out of it I also have one for my long nose butterfly and he does the same place it near him and put a block of food in see if he is interested

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Congrats! Great fish. Better than the filefish imo for aptasia. Enriched Brine Shrimp, Mysis are favorites of mine. Very common to have a Tang banish your CBB to one area of the tank. My Yellow did that at first. Very much a territorial thing. If there are no fins torn or bitten you should be good. Is your rock work live. Pods are important as they pick all day a night. This is also one fish you need to feed at least twice a day. They will starve. Your other fish will capture food 3 to 1 over CBB. Again great fish!

 

[Beau_B]

Is it possible to add a divider in the tank? I have used egg crate (light diffuser grid) to make a custom size piece so that the tank is split in half, or 1/3 -2/3. While you may not see or think there is bullying, it may still exist.

Good luck. I’ve had great success with mine, but as you no doubt read during research, they can be near impossible to get eating.

 

[kilnakorr]

Hi mate try get a feeding tube when I had mine he would get to all the food first as he could get his snout in the tube before the food came out of it I also have one for my long nose butterfly and he does the same place it near him and put a block of food in see if he is interested

I could, but already tried a feeding cone, with live worms which it ignores.

Congrats! Great fish. Better than the filefish imo for aptasia. Enriched Brine Shrimp, Mysis are favorites of mine. Very common to have a Tang banish your CBB to one area of the tank. My Yellow did that at first. Very much a territorial thing. If there are no fins torn or bitten you should be good. Is your rock work live. Pods are important as they pick all day a night. This is also one fish you need to feed at least twice a day. They will starve. Your other fish will capture food 3 to 1 over CBB. Again great fish!

No damage at all. I don't think there has been any contact at all. I don't get why it swims in the corner area just above where my tangs spends most of there time, if it's afraid of them.
But it could just be generally uncomfortable with everything at this point.

Is it possible to add a divider in the tank? I have used egg crate (light diffuser grid) to make a custom size piece so that the tank is split in half, or 1/3 -2/3. While you may not see or think there is bullying, it may still exist.

Good luck. I’ve had great success with mine, but as you no doubt read during research, they can be near impossible to get eating.

Not really. I have rockwork with overhangs, so I might be able to just cut off a small corner section.

 

[jtf74]

I'd get it out separate from those tangs somehow someway even if you have to rehome it, where it can eat at its own pace and not be bullied until it starts eating very well, or it may slowly starve in there. I'd try live clams again (took mine a few times to discover) and you can order blackworms online, which was the first thing my cbb started eating. Also turn off the flow when feeding as they aren't big chasers. Healthy happy cbb's are voracious eaters so the few pieces the tangs might miss won't be enough for very long if its not getting in there for its share.

 

[kilnakorr]

I'd get it out separate from those tangs somehow someway even if you have to rehome it, where it can eat at its own pace and not be bullied until it starts eating very well, or it may slowly starve in there. I'd try live clams again (took mine a few times to discover) and you can order blackworms online, which was the first thing my cbb started eating. Also turn off the flow when feeding as they aren't big chasers. Healthy happy cbb's are voracious eaters so the few pieces the tangs might miss won't be enough for very long if its not getting in there for its share.

I'll see if someone can take it.
Sadly, I can't order live black worms anywhere here. I can't even find them in other closer countries...
It has started to explore the roxkwork a bit, but is still afraid of my purple tang, although the purple doesn't even seem to notice it.
So far I've only tried some refrigerated mussel, but will try the fish store for some live clams.

 

[zaga]

I had to put mirrors up on and off for a couple days because of my scopes tang. Even after they started getting along it would retreat into the same corner even though it didn’t seem to be getting bullied. Maybe it just needs time to adjust.

my CBB mainly went for frozen mysis initially and ignored other foods. I heard running the mysis through a power head can help entice the CBB

 

[kilnakorr]

I had to put mirrors up on and off for a couple days because of my scopes tang. Even after they started getting along it would retreat into the same corner even though it didn’t seem to be getting bullied. Maybe it just needs time to adjust.

my CBB mainly went for frozen mysis initially and ignored other foods. I heard running the mysis through a power head can help entice the CBB

Thanks for the info.
My kole tang goes nuts, when I put up a mirror, but the purple tang doesn't seem to attracted to it's reflection.
I just tried to create a divider around the rock work. Wasn't a snug fit, so the cbb can swim through.
The tangs hiwever are not happy with it, so for now they are chilling/hiding and the cbb is investigating.
I still need to find some food it will readily take as it is just a few bites here and there.

 

[Tamberav]

I put my Copperband in my 20 refugium and taught it how to eat from a mesh pouch in there before moving to the display. It made life so much easier. Not sure if that is an option for you.

With no competition in the fuge, the Copperband could investigate and eat at its own pace but was a voracious eater by time it was moved to the DT.

 

[kilnakorr]

I put my Copperband in my 20 refugium and taught it how to eat from a mesh pouch in there before moving to the display. It made life so much easier. Not sure if that is an option for you.

With no competition in the fuge, the Copperband could investigate and eat at its own pace but was a voracious eater by time it was moved to the DT.

I don't run a refugium, but the sump is an option. There are quite a few feather dusters in there, it might snack on.
Right now, it is exploring the tank and rock work, and theres are just a few 'get out of my space' bolts, but no chasing. It goes straight back to exploring rocks afterwards.

 

[Gtinnel]

I have had the most luck with live white worms with my CBB. Even if you were able to put it into a separate tank and get it eating once you put it back into the display with other fish it may refuse to eat again.
I am currently going through that with my CBB. It was in a qt tank for months and started aggressively eating, but about a week ago I added it to my display. It has spent most of the time hiding and so far hasn’t ate other than what it has picked at from my rockwork.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I ordered a filefish due to some aptasia I can't keep in control. When the order arrived, I was very surprised to find a copperband instead.
I have read up as much as possible about this fish, and not sure if this post will do me any good, but need to try something.
It's been 5 days since I recieved it, and it went straight in the DT (after acclimation).

First few hours, It got bullied some by my purple and kole tang, as the mirror I added fell over while I was out finding some cbb foods.

Day 1. Spending the day in lower left corner.
Day 2. Swimming back and forth at the front glass
Day 3-today. Pretyy much swimming in same small area of the upper front corner.

I have seen it nip at a few live tubefix worms and white worms. Not interested in clam or any frozen foods. Has not tried investigating the rockwork at all.

There is no bullying from other fish, but it still seems to scared to leave the corner, and I can't feed it live worms in the water column.

Live black/blood worms are not available here.

Any good ideas on what to try?
I cannot set up a QT/hospital tank right now, but I believe it needs to eat soon to make it.

Ive had my CBB for 4 years and it ate since day one. Good enticer foods are mysis shrimp, LRS fish frenzy and marine cuisine. It should go after aptasia also

 

[kilnakorr]

I have had the most luck with live white worms with my CBB. Even if you were able to put it into a separate tank and get it eating once you put it back into the display with other fish it may refuse to eat again.
I am currently going through that with my CBB. It was in a qt tank for months and started aggressively eating, but about a week ago I added it to my display. It has spent most of the time hiding and so far hasn’t ate other than what it has picked at from my rockwork.

It has only taken a few live white worms.
I have read the same thing several times: eating well in qt, and stopped once in the DT. Might be it needs to be comfortable with it's nes home, rather than the food.

 

[kilnakorr]

Ive had my CBB for 4 years and it ate since day one. Good enticer foods are mysis shrimp, LRS fish frenzy and marine cuisine. It should go after aptasia also

Not sure if "fish frenzy" or "marine cuisine" is available here in EU, so need to check that out.
Live mysis is not and option.
Generally, live foods are hard to come by here, so options are limited.
If only it would eat aptasia...

 

[exnisstech]

CBB can be tricky to get to eat. Personally I won't buy one without seeing eat but I know you didn't have that option. Mine will only frozen / live food. Mine is also the largest dominant fish in a cube. That is intentional as I want it to grow as large as possible in that tank before introducing it to my DT that houses a demon purple tang. I'm not looking forward to that day. I personally would never just toss a cbb in a tank with tangs as I have seen first hand what a purple can do to a new arrival. I added a half black mimic tank that I ran through QT. The purple drove it into a cave and trapped it there. It was just before lights out so I figured I would let them settle for the night. The mimic was never seen again. It was a healthy fat fish and eating well.

 

[Gtinnel]

That is intentional as I want it to grow as large as possible in that tank before introducing it to my DT that houses a demon purple tang. I'm not looking forward to that day.

Worried about adding it to my display with my purple tang was why mine stayed in qt for months. When I first added mine to my display every fish in the tank took turns chasing it (including my foxface which has never been agressive to anything) but within a day or two it got to where it is ignored by all fish including my purple tang. I doubt the size of the CBB will make much of a difference, it is still a timid fish while the tang can be very aggressive.

 

[kilnakorr]

CBB can be tricky to get to eat. Personally I won't buy one without seeing eat but I know you didn't have that option. Mine will only frozen / live food. Mine is also the largest dominant fish in a cube. That is intentional as I want it to grow as large as possible in that tank before introducing it to my DT that houses a demon purple tang. I'm not looking forward to that day. I personally would never just toss a cbb in a tank with tangs as I have seen first hand what a purple can do to a new arrival. I added a half black mimic tank that I ran through QT. The purple drove it into a cave and trapped it there. It was just before lights out so I figured I would let them settle for the night. The mimic was never seen again. It was a healthy fat fish and eating well.

I understand completely.
At this moment, I'm not concerned about the tangs killing it. There is no contact at all, and just small random moves. No chasing, and the tangs seems to ignore it mostly.
So, my focus is primarily getting it to eat more.

 

[Gtinnel]

I know some people say they’ve had luck with masstick since it closer matches their way of feeding by picking at the rocks, although mine never touched it. It seems like it would also be worth trying the pvc with holes drilled in it, so hopefully only the CBB can reach the food. It may eat more if it has time to pick at the food at its own pace.

 

[kilnakorr]

I know some people say they’ve had luck with masstick since it closer matches their way of feeding by picking at the rocks, although mine never touched it. It seems like it would also be worth trying the pvc with holes drilled in it, so hopefully only the CBB can reach the food. It may eat more if it has time to pick at the food at its own pace.

I might order some masstick, although it needs to be ordered internationally - can't get anything in this s*#€%* country XD.

I have tried the pvc, but it doesn't seem to be interested. It might be more curious, once it figures out the tangs are not chasing it...