raeh1 Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Hey What do you guys feed yours?? (Copperband Butterfly Fish) My one was eating frozen food in the shop. But hasn't touched it in my tank yet.. Although no more glass anemones :lol: . Cheers for the advice. Reuben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Try blood worms or mysis shrimp if you havent already Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krama Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 I was thinking about a copper band, and still are. so I put some time into keeping them, I only say this because this is what I have been told... Because they are slow feeders , they can miss out on food etc and a good way is to squash mysis shrimp into some rock/coral and this will allow them to pick it out. They are also fussy eaters, so what food was the shop feeding them? maybe try some kind of transition to an alternative food source. Good news on the anemoes though. Is it looking healthy? moving around etc, or is it sulking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 wheres wasp? i have seen his and its excellent, i beleive he spent some time training it to eat. be good to have a detailed method that you used wasp, if you have time that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alf Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 I guess I must have been lucky!! Both my copperband and mandarin started eating frozen mysis I stuck in a rock, then two days later they knew the taste of it, and bingo, they feed just like all my other fish. :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossco Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 I think Wasp was able to stick it in a tank by itself for a while until it learned to eat. Its hard if everybody else beats them to the food before they learn the taste of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Yes they are a very difficult fish raeh1. In the wild they pick over rocks for small polyps & crustaceans so most of them are very ready to eat small live shrimp such as mysis. From this they can, as has already been stated, be shown to eat frozen ones, but they can be slow learners and the huge majority of them do not keep up with the other fish & end up starving. My own one started out eating live shrimp only which I caught in an estuary, he lived in a tank by himself so I could float a few dead ones around without them getting picked off by other fish, eventually the copperband caught on to eating them. Then he went on to shredded mussell and then I started blending flake & pellets in with the mussell so now he eats everything & lives in the main tank with the other fish. It was a long and time consuming process though took about 6 months till it was ready to live with other fish. Just to show what a hard fish they are though, another member recently asked me if I could train 2 copperbands for him, so I put them in their own tank & started them on live baby shrimps, all went well for a few weeks & then I went to the tank one day & they were both dead of mystery causes . So sad to see such pretty fish dead. Anyhow the other member decided to try again, bought another 2 copperbands & put them in the tank, again all went well for a while and got them started eating frozen food, then one of them got a bacterial infection which slowly spread over a few days, then the other one got it, & eventually lost both of them . So the other poor guy had paid for 4 copperbands, with none surviving. At this point I was feeling pretty bad myself over the whole thing and we decided not to try again. :oops: . I don't think any of these deaths were feeding related though, progress was being made but other problems struck. My own copperband recently went a bit ratty looking but I realised I've been pretty lazy lately and just been feeding it flake for quite a while. I varied the diet giving it some fresh shredded mussell and other goodies & he is now back to his usual self . Some people have success with copperbands and they are certainly a beautiful addition to a tank but they have to be regarded as one of the hardest fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted January 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Thanks wasp. He has tonnes of mysis shrimp. Due to me slow flow return pump setup. (turns an overflow into a refugium). He is interested in a smashed mussel I put into the tank. Hope he goes well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 It's in a "refugium" with mysid shrimps floating around? If there are no other fish to gobble them up he should catch on, specially if it was already eating in the shop. To turn mussell into bite size bits for it you shell then freeze a couple of raw mussels, then grate them with a fine cheese grater. This is then kept in the deep freeze for use as required. Once the copperband is eating frozen mysis the next step is get it eating the grated frozen mussel, much cheaper plus you can mix in flake & hopefully teach it to eat flake. If you live near a sheltered estuary, it is glass shrimp breeding time now, in some sheltered shallow spots there are millions of baby glass shrimps, just 2 or 3 mls long. If you can catch some they will really titilate a copperbands appetite they love them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted January 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2007 She wastes the glass shrimp from raglan. Atacked ones that were 3cms plus. (to big to eat though) Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted January 31, 2007 Report Share Posted January 31, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted February 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2007 Copperband eating freshwater live food today, from the local pet store. A good start. Also having a really good look at the flake food, after watching my other fish go nuts eating. Fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 What fresh water food was it raeh1? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted February 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2007 Its eating Dellfera (or sometime like that, goldfish breeders grow it. So the local fishstore said. It ate its first bloodworm (frozen) today :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slappers Posted February 8, 2007 Report Share Posted February 8, 2007 :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM Posted February 8, 2007 Report Share Posted February 8, 2007 Its eating Dellfera (or sometime like that, goldfish breeders grow it. So the local fishstore said. It ate its first bloodworm (frozen) today :lol: Do you mean Daphnia (water fleas) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted February 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 yes thats it... water fleas... Not for long, the copperband is getting more and more keen. I just need a regular supply. Can only get them once a week and they only last three-four days. Cheers Ru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 If can keep them alive outside you just need a tank/bucket etc full of green water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 raeh1 good work. Like most I have tried a Copperband and was doing well by target feeding using a syringe. Defrost mysis and suck it up a large syring attach the syring to a stick and use a piece of small pipe to put another stick through to push the syringe and I had him eating from the end of the syring. Went away for work for a week and the wife did not do what she was told and the poor little bugger lost condition and I could not get his strength up again. Should have put him in the sump but did not. Got suck in to the stream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slappers Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 Went away for work for a week and the wife did not do what she was told Women 8) 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted February 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 still alive and going strong... Hey were is everyone on the site?????? Cheers Ru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogmatix Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Bubbles just got one seems to be doing well not sure what hes feeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted March 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 now eating brine shrimp. Home grown. (and water fleas as well, as long as it wringles its toast....... :lol: :lol: ) Tipped tons of brine shrimp eggs into a big container outside a month ago. Just add liquify stuff once every 3-4 days. And bringo live food. Stilll looks at frozens..... maybe one day he eat them.... :roll: Healthy and holding his weight Worried though. I'm overseas for a couple of weeks soon.. not sure how he will do with random feeding patterns..... Cheers Ru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 i am sure he will be ok, he will pick all day on bits in the tank. better to underfeed than overfeed while you are away. fish can live for weeks without food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 Just added a copperband, first time i have had one in the tank. Hope it will settle in well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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