Copper Banded Butterfly wont eat...

[cyberpanther]

So my copper baned butterfly fish won't eat. I have tried feeding him brine shrimp (frozen) and he won't eat. Any suggestions?

 

[rayjay]

It's possible that it is intimidated by tank mates and may have to be separated in some form so that it may eat without competition.
I agree with feeding fortified live brine and also feeding fresh clam.

 

[davelin315]

I used to take a small piece of coral and stick some food and blood worms into it. That way, no one else could get to it, and the copperband would utilize its snout to eat the worms, and also pick up some flake with it, acclimating him to eating flake instead of concentrating on live food. That's why they have long snouts, so they can reach into places other fish can't such as reaching into a mussel or clam shell like the previous posts suggested.

 

[2poor2reef]

Try live adult brine. In general I have found that a reluctant fish will take that if nothing else. I assume since it is a copperband that you have already tried partially opened mussels or clams placed in the rock?

 

[phoenix1]

Cyberpanther
I have had success with mysis shrimp over brine. Two other tricks for copperbands: get clams or mussels and crack the shell and place in your tank or soak the frozen mysis in garlic - both have worked for me in the past. Good luck

 

[Mike Parkis]

Try Xenia if you can get some cheep.

 

[Terry B]

Hi,
davelin315 has a good idea. Copperbands are shy and should be kept in a quarantine for a couple of weeks so they can adapt to captivity and learn to eat new foods. In the wild they eat a lot of small crustations and worms. Feed it some live or frozen blood worms after you move it to quarantine. IMO, they pick at clams but have a hard time eating them with thier tiny mouths. Once it is eating feed it some finely chopped clams, scallop, shrimp and uncooked prawns. Feed it some frozen Pacifica plankton, its good for them and small enough for them to handle. Live foods are best to get them started. I have kept two and they lived from 4 to 71/2 years for me. Try to make sure they get enough iodine in their diet. This is provided by feeding them uncooked finely chopped prawns and adding iodine to the water (do not over do the Iodine in the water. Soak the foods in vitamins and Selcon for HUFA, this contains highly unsaturated fatty acids.
Terry B