help! my copperband butterfly fish..

[fish4lyfe]

two days ago i purchased a beautiful copperband butterfly fish for 26$ , but he isn't eating the small frozen shrimp i feed them. he also tries to nip at the rocks but they haven't grown any algae yet and so his efforts are in veign. I don't know what to do but i do not want such a pretty fish dieing on me..

[joesfiddy]

bring it back to the place you bought it they are hard to keep

[fish4lyfe]

i was told they are hard to keep, but i am willing to care for it because it such a beautiful fish.

[fish4lyfe]

any ideas people, i really want to keep this fish alive and healthy.

[yoboyjdizz]

Well if you really want to keep this fish alive and healthy then i would take it back. No way will this fish thrive in a 29 gallon tank. To help it feed i would add garlic extreme to its meals or some form of garlic.. Maybe try live brine or live blood worms from your LFS.

[clsanchez77]

I am sorry, I agree with the others. You need to do some research on your part before buying fish and corals. We have all that mistake with an impulse purchase before. And asking the guy at the LFS does not constitute research.

BTW, they do not eat algae, they eat benthic invertebrates (aiptasia and other small anenomes, segmented worms, small curstaceons, amphipods, copepods, frees swimming tunicate larvae...) They feed by 'picking' at live foods.

http://www.fishbase.com/Summary/Spec...ry.php?id=5483

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...cfm?pCatId=212

The Copperband Butterflyfish is a difficult fish to feed; it is a shy and deliberate feeder that may need a variety of foods offered to it in order to start feeding.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/se...der=descending

If you really want this fish, then return it. Then research and setup a tank for this fish. You would want at least a 60g, or better, at least a 90g as your dont want to strive to supply the minimum. The tank need not be a reef tank, however should be setup and maintained to reef tank standards, including a refug to grow out various pods so that the Butterflyfish could have a food supply to pick at.

You could try the live brine shrimp, but I would enrich these if you did. Better would be live copepods/amphipods.

Good luck.

[rbtwo4]

How old is the tank?

[kzickovich]

Some fish stores sell copods in a bottle you could try to add some to your tank. However that won't last long. You do need a bigger tank with a fuge for any good chance to keep them. I have a cbb but when I bought him I went to every fish store within 100 miles until I seen one that ate prepared food. Mine eats brine mysis and sometimes even flack food that I feed my other fish.

[fish4lyfe]

i don't know why, but the professional reef tank owner at the store reccommended it to me. I mean it is acting happy but its not eating thats the only problem

[billsreef]

Clams, mussels, and scallops on half shell will often work. Live blackworms in small quantities (they die fairly quick in SW) also will usually elicit a feeding response. However, even if you get it eating, they still have a high mortality rate.

[billsreef]

Just noticed in another thread that you have a Domino damsel. They get rather large and quite agressive. Quite likely to give the Copper Band (and any other fish) trouble.

[r0bin]

I understand you thinking this fish is beautiful and wanting to take the best care of it.......but I think you should accept that even with your very best efforts, this fish probably will not survive. Take it back and try it later when you have a larger tank and a refugium. Please do it for the fish sake. Put the fish needs before yours.

[JokerGirl]

Originally posted by fish4lyfe
i don't know why, but the professional reef tank owner at the store reccommended it to me. I mean it is acting happy but its not eating thats the only problem

The fact that the fish is not eating isn't as small of a problem as I think you think it is. Please, for the fish's sake, take it back to the LFS. One thing you will quickly learn in this business is that the LFS are not there to help you. They are there to sell their products and make money.

Copperband's are much like Moorish Idols in that for whatever reason they still die even if they are eating prepared foods. There is something in our prepared foods that they aren't getting, and they generally die of a nutritional deficiency.

Like other people have said, they do not eat algae, but rather eat all the pods and critters that live in/on live rock. New tanks do not have a good enough breeding population of these critters to sustain a creature that feeds off of them. The fish usually decimates the population, then dies of starvation.

[Pirate@40]

I started a reef tank a year ago and after it cycled, the first fish to go in was a CBB from liveaquaria.com. It was the Australian variety which is supposedly hardier. It is still alive and doing fine today. I would even go so far as to say he's chubby. I was concerned about all the issues people had with them, but I also read that sometimes they did great on frozen mysis. live California black worms, and clams on the half shell. I had all three ready when he arrived. He immediately took to the black worms and now even snaps at them as the fall off my q-tip before hitting the water. Him and every other fish in the tank love these things. They all group and get ready for a feeding frenzy when I turn off the pump and wavemaker to add the worms. I order my worms over the internet from wormman.com using about a pound every two months. They show up either the next day or two days later. I keep them in a small dorm style refrigerator so that my wife doesn't complain. I flush them with refrigerated RO every day or two and feed them Selcon. I keep them at 40F. I know I don't have to feed them, but I figure the Selcon ends up in the fish which is good. The CBB also likes calms on the half shell. Sometimes I get them fresh from the grocery store, but I also use the frozen ones the LFS sells. In addition to the CBB, I have a a sailfin tang a powder blue tang, two true perculas, an ocellaris, and several gobies and blennies. I have a smaller tank in my study that I set up for quarantine, It's FOWLR unless I'm quarantining something else. I keep a flame angel, a longnose butterfly, and a couple of blennies in it. They all also love the worms. In addition to the worms, I feed a large variety of frozen foods, seaweed selects and sea veggies, and a variety of liquids for the corals and invertebrates. The CBB only eats worms and clams form what I can tell. I've had small feather dusters pop up here and there on my live rock and they always disappear. Could be the CBB or something else eating them. The ones that have popped up in my fuge have gotten pretty big, especially the ones that started in the cryptic fuge. I've never seen any aiptasia, but I also have some peps in addition to the CBB that may be consuming it before I ever see it. I would suggest defiantly trying the worms if you don't mind setting up a small fridge to keep them in.

[fish4lyfe]

wow that was very in depth, thank you for that. its been 4 days and he seems to be happy just not eating but i did notice that the featherduster i put in there like its been half eaten i think he ate some of it when i went to sleep. if so he might survive long enough for me to find a ride to the lfs

[scotmc]

Your missing the point. It should not be in a 29gal tank.. Pirate40 has a 75 gal tank.

[fish4lyfe]

If you read, I AM TAKING THE FISH BACK. So yes i get the point. please read before harrassing me..

[Pirate@40]

It's a 90g scotmc.