Copperbands never eat

[salt4life8]

I work at a LFS and we seem to be having a problem and I would like to know if there is anything I can do to improve these fish. We get copperbands from a few different distributors and they never eat once they get to the store. I have tried live black worms, blood worms, and just about every type of frozen food soaked in garlic extreme, pellets, and they just refuse to eat and always come down with bacterial infections (to my knowledge, could be parasitic).

Is there anything else I can do to help these fish when they come in? Is there any secret to getting copperbands to eat? Is there a parasite that these fish usually have that they should be treated for?

Any advice is welcome

[klepto]

Just on the off chance that you haven't read through the primer...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1492696

I don't have much experience with these fish (other than with some well established ones). Most of the Chelmon rostratus that I have seen were primarily eating mysis (PE in most cases, but I'm sure Hikari is a viable option).

I would try starting with some live brine or mysis (preferably enriched). Assuming they accept that then transitioning to frozen spirulina brine and mysis would be the goal. These butterflies are built for picking through the substrate for food items- so maybe attempting to recreate that (with some meaty food attached to a piece of rock) would be worth a try.

Also, you could try to provide them with some aptasia or polychaete covered live rock so they can food naturally while acclimating to the new surroundings.

[Paul B]

Copperbands are one of those fish like moorish Idols that have a definate pesonality. I have had many of them and they eat worms. I know you tried worms and there is nothing you are doing wrong. Copperbands often come in emaciated because they can't go as long as most fish without food and they come from the south Pacific which is a long ride. Many of them also come in injured depending on how they were collected.
I recently autopsied one that had internal bleeding and I have found that a lot in skinny fish like that.
If they don't eat live worms, they probably won't eat anything. If they don't eat in a week, they probably never will.
They are also not crazy about being in a bare tank like a quarantine. Stresses the heck out of them and they are already a stressed type of fish.

[Dr Colliebreath]

If they aren't eating live blackworms, live brine or PE mysis, they probably aren't going to eat. The only other thing you might try is fresh clams on the half shell. As Paul says, give them a place to hide. You can use 3 or 4" pvc piping and they can hide but still be seen by customers. Also, they seem to like to hide when someone approaches and then they come out when they sense there was no danger.

You might try sourcing them from Quality Marine to see if that helps.

[salt4life8]

Originally Posted by klepto

Just on the off chance that you haven't read through the primer...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1492696

I don't have much experience with these fish (other than with some well established ones). Most of the Chelmon rostratus that I have seen were primarily eating mysis (PE in most cases, but I'm sure Hikari is a viable option).

I would try starting with some live brine or mysis (preferably enriched). Assuming they accept that then transitioning to frozen spirulina brine and mysis would be the goal. These butterflies are built for picking through the substrate for food items- so maybe attempting to recreate that (with some meaty food attached to a piece of rock) would be worth a try.

Also, you could try to provide them with some aptasia or polychaete covered live rock so they can food naturally while acclimating to the new surroundings.

Thanks for the advice, I will try attaching some food to a rock to see if that triggers anything!

[salt4life8]

Originally Posted by Dr Colliebreath

If they aren't eating live blackworms, live brine or PE mysis, they probably aren't going to eat. The only other thing you might try is fresh clams on the half shell. As Paul says, give them a place to hide. You can use 3 or 4" pvc piping and they can hide but still be seen by customers. Also, they seem to like to hide when someone approaches and then they come out when they sense there was no danger.

You might try sourcing them from Quality Marine to see if that helps.

Yeah I figured as much, we do feed PE mysis and they never eat it But we have not tried the clams, we do feed the half shell clams for our puffers and triggers but never thought to throw one in to the copperband. Our display tanks always have plenty of rock work for them to hide, maybe too well LOL
QM is one of our distributors and sadly their coppers dont last that long either but thanks for the advice, very helpful

[suta4242]

What other fish are in the BF's tanks?

Just that IME even when hungry if they feel intimidated they won't eat.

[GPB]

I don't think I would ever buy one unless I saw it eat!

[salt4life8]

Originally Posted by suta4242

What other fish are in the BF's tanks?

Just that IME even when hungry if they feel intimidated they won't eat.

We try not to keep other fish in with them, but in the future i'll make sure not to put any fish in there that might keep it from eating. I have noticed as soon as they see me coming with food they always dart behinde a rock and dont come out until im gone

[Fishfirst]

that maybe the problem right there. Copperbands are nervous fish, you need to keep them with small passive fish that tell them "everything is clear and nothing is going to eat you" and "hey buddy there is food in the water!" Also, I copper most of my copperbands because they come down with ich or oodinium. If they don't start eating within a week I move them to a coral raceway. I get about 70% of the copperbands out to customers eating mysis and brine and healthy.

[SFgore99]

Glad this thread came up, gonna try some of these methods, mine all of a sudden stopped eating his frozen food: ( time to find worms I guess. :/

[salt4life8]

Originally Posted by Fishfirst

that maybe the problem right there. Copperbands are nervous fish, you need to keep them with small passive fish that tell them "everything is clear and nothing is going to eat you" and "hey buddy there is food in the water!" Also, I copper most of my copperbands because they come down with ich or oodinium. If they don't start eating within a week I move them to a coral raceway. I get about 70% of the copperbands out to customers eating mysis and brine and healthy.

That is also a good point, I would love to put some chromis in with them, but just like a forum in fish disease treatment, the chromis always die within a week with that parasite that forms a red 'bacterial-like' infection. What do you recommend would be calm tank-mates that might get him to come out and eat? We get a lot of baby clowns in, and I know they are pretty fearless and good eaters

[MrTuskfish]

From everything I've heard about CBBs lately, I'm glad mine is Australian. I don't think I'd buy one from any other source until someone knows whats going on. It seems that most of them that do eat, perish in a few months anyhow.

[Dr Colliebreath]

Mine is Australian also and is doing well so far. Paul's comment about them not tolerating a lack of food as well as other fish may be a major factor. Perhaps Aus collectors feed them after collection?

[MrTuskfish]

Originally Posted by Dr Colliebreath

Mine is Australian also and is doing well so far. Paul's comment about them not tolerating a lack of food as well as other fish may be a major factor. Perhaps Aus collectors feed them after collection?

I doubt it; collectors don't like to hold fish any longer than absolutely necessary. Aussie collectors, their methods, and transportation are A-1 and I think that has a lot to do with the superiority of almost all Australian fish. They're almost as good as Hawaiian. (IMO & IME)

[Amoore311]

I've had a regular ol' indo copperband form almost 2 months now. He's still in "QT" at the moment, but I've fattened him up and he's doing on now.

My QT is completely piled up with rock, since this specific tank is more of an "observation" tank. I started the fish in the tank with around 10 pounds of extra rock I had sitting in a bin with salt water.

The fish was/in a 20 Gallon long all by himself. He ignored everything, including black worms for the first 5-7 days. Then I tried freezing a frozen mix (including blackworms I tossed in there myself) into the crevices of a clam shell. He would pick at it, but I couldn't tell what parts of the mix he was eating.

After about a week I tried straight blackworms again, since all the frozen food was killing the water quality. He instantly went absolutely nuts devouring every worm that hit the water. He will not eat anything other than blackworms yet, but I hope when he gets to the display tank he will have more stuff to graze on.

A week after he started eating he developed a fungal infection. He had the tell tale cotton looking tufts on the edges of his dorsal spines, and at the end of his snout. He continued eating aggressively. I treated the tank with Pima or Melafix.... I can't remember which one. I wanted to see if this would take care of the problem without going with a broad spectrum anti-biotic/anti-fungal. My approach worked.... but slowly. Took almost 3 weeks for that to subside.

I recently tossed about 25 lbs of rock into the QT to better help the fish get used to living in my care. He will come right up to the front glass when it's feeding time. But any other time he would be extremely skittish.

The rock I added had some nice sponge growth and aiptasia... so hopefully he'll start grazing on that as well.


This guy is going to be in that QT for at least another 2 months. I'm in the process of killing off ich in my display tank, and those fish will be put into hypo in a separate QT Tank this weekend.




Edit:

Also wanted to mention the side and back glass of my qt is painted black. I used cheapo acrylic black paint from michael's. This definitely helps new fish get acclimated to tank life, might want to paint a couple tanks on the sides/rear glass black and try that.

[masharp1126]

Guess I'm one of the lucky ones, at least so far.

Bought one from LiveAquaria a couple of months ago. Added him to my QT along with a pair of clowns and a longfin fairy wrasse. Didn't eat for several days, not sure how many exactly but at least 6 or 7. Finally stopped at the asian market and picked up some fresh mussells. He looked at it the first day or two, then started picking at in on day 3. Placed a fresh one in the tank each day and added frozen mysis as well. By the end of the 2nd week he was eating a few of the mysis when I fed them. Gradually ate more, and now he pigs out every time I feed the tank.

I added him to my 300g last week, which already had 5 tangs, which feed aggressively, and he's right in there battling for his share every time I feed the tank. Looking good so far.

[MrTuskfish]

Originally Posted by masharp1126

Guess I'm one of the lucky ones, at least so far.

Bought one from LiveAquaria a couple of months ago. Added him to my QT along with a pair of clowns and a longfin fairy wrasse. Didn't eat for several days, not sure how many exactly but at least 6 or 7. Finally stopped at the asian market and picked up some fresh mussells. He looked at it the first day or two, then started picking at in on day 3. Placed a fresh one in the tank each day and added frozen mysis as well. By the end of the 2nd week he was eating a few of the mysis when I fed them. Gradually ate more, and now he pigs out every time I feed the tank.

I added him to my 300g last week, which already had 5 tangs, which feed aggressively, and he's right in there battling for his share every time I feed the tank. Looking good so far.

IMO, LA (and all the F&S companies) are the best in the business. My Aussie CBB is from them, almost all of my fish are. I believe a lot of their CBBs come from the Solomon Islands and I think these fish do far better than most.

[salt4life8]

So much good advice on feeding, i really hope the next one we get in I can get to eat. Such a high demand for them, everyone wants one but we cant keep the suckers alive!

[Big E]

I would find a distributer that can get you net caught Copperbands, so they aren't coming from the usual supply lines.

[MrTuskfish]

Originally Posted by Big E

I would find a distributer that can get you net caught Copperbands, so they aren't coming from the usual supply lines.

Almost all fish from LA are net-caught. However, fish from non-specific ares, such as "Indo-Pacific" are impossible to monitor. I think you can feel safe that any fish from Hawaii, Australian, Christmas Island, Solomon Island, Fiji, and many more good locales; are net caught.