The first step is to offer a small amount of food once the fish has settled in. If you have noticed the fish is emaciated before adding them to the main tank I highly suggest you use an isolation tank. This will make the feeding much easier and keep the fish from being harassed. If the fish is not eating try switching to more easily accepted foods. While they may not be as nutritious any food will help. Part of the reason butterfly fish starve is because they naturally swim around, deciding what to eat.
This gives them that opportunity. Once the fish eats all is not well yet. The key here is to keep the feedings coming. Small but frequent feedings will help them become a healthy weight again. Due to their large size and fragile nature, the Copperband Butterflyfish has not been bred in captivity as of yet.
Likewise their gender cannot be determined except for size. Males will be larger than females, however the size difference will frequently just be age. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Thank you again. I just recently bought a Copperbend a butterfly fish. At the store I watched the owner feed it with frozen blood worms. It readily eight, I give it two days in my aquarium before he attempted feeding. I put in the Thawed frozen blood worms, 88 a few but left the rest alone. Is it eating enough? I also put some thawed frozen adult brine shrimp in, But it ignored that. Is this acceptable peek? And can I assume that it is eating healthy? I am sorry for my spelling and grammar.
I am not very good at language arts. I hope you can understand what my original question is. Joshua, those two foods you are feeding is not a good diet for any fish, even if it eats it.
Bloodworms are not really worms, but insect larvae not suitable for salt water fish. Brine shrimp are also not a good food for anything. The same type that humans eat like I showed in that article. Is there a recommended source for black worms as my local fish store and pet supply store does not sell them.
I bought a CCB about 10 days ago. I chop up fresh clam, stuff it into holes in a reef rock, and put it in the same place every time. She will saunter by drop down and swim away.
A few minutes later after trying to keep the pigs away , she will come back and eat some, then swim away. I have purchased a Copperband and pick it up later this week. Thanks for the article it has helped a lot. Mark, I just saw this. Yes, I know a year late. The copperband will stick his snout in there to get the food but the other fish will not be able to reach it. Lay the tube on the bottom, The barriers can be any scrap pieces of plastic that rise up a little from the bottom of the tube just enough to keep the food in there.
The copperband should be the only fish to reach it. I have a picture of that in my book where I am using it to feed a mandarin. Some have used vinegar. What do you Recommend. Thanks Rob. This is a great article on a fantastic fish. Now he almost eats out of my hand. I also keep my overflow and sump full of apasiata do he must get some of those when they try to spread. I am investigating adding a CBB to my reef. You need to take proper pre-cautions by using a quarantine tank before introducing them into your main tank.
Take your time while acclimating them to the tank. Keep your Copperbanded Butterflyfish in the hospital tank for two weeks or so and watch for obvious saltwater diseases, like marine ich. This will also give them time to recuperate from transport and it may be easier to get your Copperbanded Butterfly eating without competition from other tank mates. Tank Mates : Use caution when selecting tank mates.
Avoid keeping a Copperband Butterflyfish with other butterfly fish and they may not be a good choice for saltwater reef tanks. May nip at soft corals. Try to keep them with some of the more peaceful marine species. Food : Primarily carnivorous, try to give your Copperband Butterflyfish a variety of marine foods, including brine and mysis shrimp.
In the ocean they use their long jaws to probe for prey in crevices. They will eat aiptasia glass anemones. It can be very difficult to get them to start eating. You may need to feed live foods exclusively until well acclimated to your tank and then try to wean them onto frozen and flake foods. Gender : Difficult to determine the differences between males and females.
Forum : Saltwater Butterfly Fish Forum. Site References : Fishbase Wikipedia. Another problem is that you mention a transfer from a 29 gallon to your current 55 gallon. Hopefully it won't, but it could pose problems for your fish while your tank is stabilizing. Please test often and do water changes as needed.
The Sailfin Tang needs a much larger tank, over gallons liters and preferably larger given the potential adult size of this species. It could take a couple of days before the copperband starts eating.
Keep trying the frozen foods and maybe with the other fish in the tank voraciously eating, the copperband will do the same. Hopefully you can get it eating some of the frozen foods soon. Do write us back in a month or so and let us know if you still think this fish is easy to keep.
Toggle navigation. Breeding : Very difficult to breed in captivity. Aquarium Size : 75 gallon liters minimum Tank Mates : Use caution when selecting tank mates.
Fish Disease : Saltwater Fish Disease - Diagnose, Symptoms and Treatment Food : Primarily carnivorous, try to give your Copperband Butterflyfish a variety of marine foods, including brine and mysis shrimp. Tank Region : Usually middle to bottom Gender : Difficult to determine the differences between males and females. From: Peter I have an 8 month old tank, litres with 2 bubble tip anenomes, 2 purple tips and 2 elegance corals, 1 open brain coral, 1 cose brain coral, 1 yellow tang , 1 sailfin tang , 3 anthias , 1 dottyback , 2 blue devil damsel fish and 2 porcelain crabs, 2 black clownfish, 1 orange clownfish , 1 boxing shrimp, 1 black hairy crab that is a nuisance.
The copper band is new and I will let you know how the intro goes. The Copperband butterflyfish is a beautiful and iconic saltwater aquarium fish species:. The copperband butterfly is a saltwater fish native to the coral reefs or rocky shores in the Western Pacific Ocean—Indonesia, the Philippines, etc.
Like most fish in the saltwater aquarium hobby, there are reports of aggression between two copperband butterflyfish fish, so it is strongly recommended that you just keep one per aquarium. Fully grown, these fish can reach about 8 inches in length. Like many other butterflyfish species , the copperband butterflyfish is hard to keep, and best left for advanced reef keepers. They can be a shy and finicky eater, they are best reserved for people with extensive experience in the hobby, especially with access to live foods and a demonstrated proficiency for acclimating picky eaters to life in a fish bowl.
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