copperbanded butterfly

[coral keeper]

I may have committed a crime. I purchased a cbb at my lfs that wasnt eating in their tank. I'm no rookie dont know why but i just had to have it. My hopes are to get him eating on my own.since the lfs only had him for two days do you guys think i will have any luck getting him to eat? Any suggestions on making this happen? I've heard about using a fresh mussell and barely opening it enough so that only he can get his nose in there and putting on a lettuce clipworks. Please anybody chime in i will consider all responses i really want to keep this fish i think they are so beautiful.
thanks: - Dave-

[forestal]

keep him in a hospital tank that will make it easier, feed a combo of live and frozen bits at a time, and he/she may get used to it...steven pro has some articles on training to frozen...looking for the link

[cheeks69]

If you can feed him live brine shrimp and add some frozen mysis. Do you have a refugium ? Is the fish real thin or pinched ? Is he actively searching the rockwork for food ? Do you have aggressive eaters like Wrasses or Tangs ?

I have had 3 CBB's my first would not eat no matter what I fed but he was real thin and really didn't have a chance, hope yours does...good luck

[DaveK]

Some of the things that I have used to temp this fish to eat are live or frozen brine shrimp, live black worms, and frozen blood worms.

Yes, I know brine shrimp in any form is considered a lousy food, but it's great to temp a new fish to eat.

If you can get live blackworms, they sometimes work also, but you must be very carefull feeding them, since they only live a few minutes in SW.

Frozen blood worms may be the most available. Most LFS carry them.

[Woodstock]

When I first got my CBB, I fed it clams and mussels on the half shell. Once it was eating those well, I made a homemade mush with mostly clams, mussels, scallops and shrimp. She switched to the new mush very quickly and I kept her successfully for well over 2 yrs before I gave her away. Please note that these fish require a lot of food... mine ate a tremendous amount. They are shy fish at first. Make sure there isn't another fish being aggressive to it. Good luck!

[coral keeper]

he/she is not sunk in at all. I do have a kole tang that is kinda chasing it a little but the cbb dosent seem to be to afraid. Just avoids the tang which by the way isnt much bigger than the cbb. Yes it does search the rock work almost non-stop and every now and then i see it pick something and eat it but not sure what. I dont have a fuge or a hospital tank so it went right into the display!!

[coral keeper]

I bought this fish on saturday 1/21/06 today is the 24th and it hasnt eaten yet except for picking at the rocks. I put a fresh clam in there last night and it didnt even go near it. Wont touch frozen mysis, brine or bloodworms. Is it bound to die or is there any hope at all? Where can i find live blood worms or blackworms?

[Woodstock]

Mine didn't touch the first few clams either. I would place a clam in an area that I knew the fish was comfortable in, leave it for a few hours, then remove it. It took a few days before mine was eating it; however, mine was eating thawed mysis (made sure it was at the LFS before I bought it) daily. I would keep offering it clam on the 1/2 shell... be persistant. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Witfull]

some live brine, mixed with mysis might entise it to eat also.

[coral keeper]

watched him/her for hours today all its doing is picking at my rock. Got a feeling i might need to take it out of the display and set up a quarantine tank where there is nothing else for it to feed on besides what i give it. Do you think this is a good idea or just unneeded stress on the fish.

[coraldynamics]

If you can catch him, get him out of your reef and into QT until he starts eating. QT is not just for disease treatments. It is also for control and conditioning. It will be easier to get him eating or knowing he is truly eating if there is nothing else in the tank.

I was able to get all of my copperbands to eat using PE Mysis. I will use nothing else.

Good luck with him and keep us posted.

[coral keeper]

what is PE?

[coraldynamics]

Originally Posted by coral keeper

what is PE?

PE Mysis is the brand of shrimp. (www.mysis.com) They have dealer locator and you can see if there is anyone local that carries it.

There are MANY retailers in Mass. that are listed dealers.

Good luck!

[coral keeper]

wow checked out that site sounds good and there is a fish store in salem NH which is close to me that sells it thanks. I'm gonna try it. Do you think i need to try feeding a single shrimp on a skewer or something.or just dump it in because my cbb dosent pay attention to what i throw in now.

[coraldynamics]

Refer to previous advice also regarding getting the CBB out of your reef UNTIL you see him eat. Using a 20g as QT with nothing but heater and hang on filter...he will see it. Keep up on the water changes as your QT has not been cycled.