Taking on a difficult challenge (2 expert fish)

[pcon]

Since no one else is saying it, I feel obliged: This is a Terrible idea. The moorish idol is not suitable for your tank. and honestly the copper band isn't much better.
Thats a big tomini tang in a tank just barely big enough, adding fish to it is just inadvisable. Adding the closely related moorish idol into a blatantly undersized tank, what made you think that was acceptable? Second the copperband cannot deal with aggression; they need a peaceful tank environment with no fish bullying them. Putting a copperband in with a large established tomini tang again in a tank just barely big enough for either of them is so not smart.
To do expert fish you need to plan from the beginning of the tank. Selecting stocking, filtration, rockwork and tank size with your specific fish in mind. It is obvious to me that that is not the case here.

You should not get another moorish idol without spending considerable time researching and providing an adequate home for one. I wish you the best of luck with your copperband and hope you don't kill it.

 

[carlson]

How is the copperband doing?

It didn't eat the first day but today it has been eating live brine all day pretty much. I need to raise some brine to adults so I can blend in frozen. I wish u could find some black worms somewhere to feed it but u would have to order them online.

 

[carlson]

Since no one else is saying it, I feel obliged: This is a Terrible idea. The moorish idol is not suitable for your tank. and honestly the copper band isn't much better.
Thats a big tomini tang in a tank just barely big enough, adding fish to it is just inadvisable. Adding the closely related moorish idol into a blatantly undersized tank, what made you think that was acceptable? Second the copperband cannot deal with aggression; they need a peaceful tank environment with no fish bullying them. Putting a copperband in with a large established tomini tang again in a tank just barely big enough for either of them is so not smart.
To do expert fish you need to plan from the beginning of the tank. Selecting stocking, filtration, rockwork and tank size with your specific fish in mind. It is obvious to me that that is not the case here.

You should not get another moorish idol without spending considerable time researching and providing an adequate home for one. I wish you the best of luck with your copperband and hope you don't kill it.

I'm not getting another one I got my money back [emoji2]

 

[carlson]

I'm not getting another one I got my money back [emoji2]

I'm kinda more worried about my valentini puffer than my tang because recently he decided to kill my cleaner shrimp, but hopefully I won't have any aggression

 

[pcon]

Good call! Thank you, not to be overly harsh.
The trick I found with CBB is to feed a slurry of numerous foods, and let them pick what they want out of it, and then just feed them what they want, I like SFB Angel and butterfly for just its shear variety, but some only eat bloodworms, or brine, or my personal one only eats SFB mysis, and Hikari mysis. Mine will only eat with all of the flow pumps on, and will patiently watch me and wait for the correct food to be given. Will not eat PE mysis, mysis from the Hikari mega marine angel, or if any of the powerheads are turned off.

 

[carlson]

The copperband is full of energy now compared to yesterday since he has been eating all day. I don't see any white spots on him, but he does do an occasional scratch on a rock only scratching his snout which is odd. I could treat him eventually if it gets bad but right now I want him to eat as much as he can until hes strong enough for treatment if he ever needs it.

 

[fishbox]

Copperband Butterflies love Masstick. Copperbands tend to be slow methodical eaters that like to play with their food for a while before eating. This tends to be bad with aggressive eating tank mates as they tend to gobble everything up before the copperband even gets to the food. So the nice thing about Masstick is that it sticks to the glass and the fish pick at it over a period of time which gives the copperband plenty of time to get in there and get some. Also they are known to love LRS frozen. LRS has two brands, Fish Frenzy and Reef Frenzy. I forget which brand has black worms in it, but that's the one you want.
Also, if you find that it's tank mates are too competitive during feeding time, search my previous posts for the Copperband feeding device I made when I first got mine.

 

[carlson]

Copperband Butterflies love Masstick. Copperbands tend to be slow methodical eaters that like to play with their food for a while before eating. This tends to be bad with aggressive eating tank mates as they tend to gobble everything up before the copperband even gets to the food. So the nice thing about Masstick is that it sticks to the glass and the fish pick at it over a period of time which gives the copperband plenty of time to get in there and get some. Also they are known to love LRS frozen. LRS has two brands, Fish Frenzy and Reef Frenzy. I forget which brand has black worms in it, but that's the one you want.
Also, if you find that it's tank mates are too competitive during feeding time, search my previous posts for the Copperband feeding device I made when I first got mine.

Thanks for the advice! I've seen the stuff that your talking about that sticks on the glass, I might buy some but in worried all the fish in my dt would love that as well. I was hoping my copperband would like clams so I could give him something the other fish wouldn't be able to get to but I've been trying since I got him and he hasn't even noticed the clams no matter how I present them. I tried frozen again tonight because he was acting so hungry but he wasn't interested. Do you think that a copperband who hasn't eaten anything but live food so far would take to masstick or lrs?

 

[carlson]

I'd also like to get mine eating out of something like this in the picture (not my photo) so that he could eat and be left alone by the others

 

[fishbox]

Thanks for the advice! I've seen the stuff that your talking about that sticks on the glass, I might buy some but in worried all the fish in my dt would love that as well. I was hoping my copperband would like clams so I could give him something the other fish wouldn't be able to get to but I've been trying since I got him and he hasn't even noticed the clams no matter how I present them. I tried frozen again tonight because he was acting so hungry but he wasn't interested. Do you think that a copperband who hasn't eaten anything but live food so far would take to masstick or lrs?

Yes your other fish will also love Masstick but the CBB will be able to get his fill. It sticks on the glass for hrs. So your other fish will most likely get to it first but once they have their fill they will slow down at pecking at it and then the CBB will have a chance at it. Lots of people have had success with clams but just as many didn't. These guys are truly finicky eaters! As far as your last question, I would say that your chances are good with both foods I mentioned but again, these guys are finicky as all heck. But I can say that the three foods I've seen the most success with are LRS, Masstick, and Live Black Worms (not in any order). If I were you, I'd order all three right now. These guys decline fast without proper nutrition! It's good that yours ate brine, but keep in mind that adult brine have little to no nutritional value and is not enough to keep him alive. Baby brine on the other hand is very nutritional but too darn small for a CBB to eat. Also, these guys are constant eaters in the wild. You'll never see them stop picking at the rocks for food. Heck I don't even think mine sleeps lol. So plan on feeding 2-3 times a day.

 

[shred5]

Yes your other fish will also love Masstick but the CBB will be able to get his fill. It sticks on the glass for hrs. So your other fish will most likely get to it first but once they have their fill they will slow down at pecking at it and then the CBB will have a chance at it. Lots of people have had success with clams but just as many didn't. These guys are truly finicky eaters! As far as your last question, I would say that your chances are good with both foods I mentioned but again, these guys are finicky as all heck. But I can say that the three foods I've seen the most success with are LRS, Masstick, and Live Black Worms (not in any order). If I were you, I'd order all three right now. These guys decline fast without proper nutrition! It's good that yours ate brine, but keep in mind that adult brine have little to no nutritional value and is not enough to keep him alive. Baby brine on the other hand is very nutritional but too darn small for a CBB to eat. Also, these guys are constant eaters in the wild. You'll never see them stop picking at the rocks for food. Heck I don't even think mine sleeps lol. So plan on feeding 2-3 times a day.

I have been hearing good things about Masstick. I have been thinking of trying some myself...

 

[fishbox]

I have been hearing good things about Masstick. I have been thinking of trying some myself...

I have an engineer goby that lives under a rock. I had never really seen it's whole body besides it's head peaking out from the rock until I started feeding Masstick. Homeboy has no fear when that stuff hits the water. It's like crack! It's a little pricey but since everyone in my tank loves LRS, I feed them that daily and get the Masstick now and then as a treat.

 

[fishbox]

Also, here's a link to the feeding device I was talking about just in case anyone is interested

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/319116/

 

[carlson]

So from what I've heard, there are only two blackworm farms in the USA? in California? I just wanted to be sure I'm buying them from the right place. I was looking at California blackworm co.

 

[carlson]

The things this hobby will make you do, I just payed 35 dollars for some Aptasia

 

[fishbox]

The things this hobby will make you do, I just payed 35 dollars for some Aptasia

[emoji23]

 

[carlson]

So far it hasn't been interested in the Aptasia. I tried blood worms and that didn't work either, the bad news is it's no longer interested in the live baby brine shrimp either. I just did a 5 gallon wc like I've been doing every day. I'm kinda lost at this point and wondering if I should treat for internal parasites?

 

[carlson]

It's just constantly swimming up against the glass

 

[carlson]

There's also some food sized bristle worms on the rock that it hasn't been interested in

 

[tangtime]

Glad you took the idol out, they don’t belong in a 75g. As for the cbb they don’t always eat aiptasia. Try a clam on the half shell as well. They are not too difficult of a fish.