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I'm posting this writeup to offer advice based on my experience getting these finicky fish eating, as it seems many reefers have difficulty getting them to eat prepared foods before it is too late. YMMV, but I have gotten mine from eating nothing to frozen mysis over the course of 10 days.
In my endeavor to rid my tank of aiptasia, I acquired a smaller CBB to hopefully do a number to them after doing a good bit of research on them. It wasn't eating at the LFS which is what you want to see, but I decided to take a chance on it. After the first few days settling in, it was usually confined to a corner by my yellow tang. But when the tang was busy with a clip of nori the CBB would inspect the live rock and pick around. It seemed to be interested in the micro featherdusters I have everywhere, but these weren't nearly enough to sustain the fish long term. Zero interest in nori, mysis, flakes, or reef frenzy at this point.
The first thing suggested by various searches was to try clam on the half shell, since it mimics more of a natural forage. You can find these frozen by Hikari/Ocean Nutrition, or you can buy them fresh (sometimes live) at grocery store seafood sections sold as littleneck clams. The only ones enjoying this meaty snack were my nassarius snails. I tried it whole, thin sliced, and out of the shell with no dice for 3 days. The CBB wasn't quite looking emaciated, but I was starting to worry by this point. I was able to get it eating some featherdusters and larger vermetids I scraped from my sump, but this still wouldn't be enough.
Step two was finding live blackworms as they were also recommended in similar discussions. These are popular on the freshwater side (and the worms live in freshwater), but safe to feed in salt as well. They have about 15 seconds of movement in saltwater before dying. I began shooting one blackworm at a time in his direction with a baster. It ignored about 5 until it couldn't resist and took the next one. I got it to eat a few at this point until it stopped showing interest. I repeated this 3x per day for 3 days, and with each feeding he would eat more and more. It's gotten to the point where I get bored quicker than he gets full from the blackworms. I can send out 5 at a time and he demolishes them.
After each feeding of blackworms was done, I would feed the rest of the fish frozen mysis. The idea here was for the CBB to see my other fish go nuts over it and hopefully learn. And learn it did. He now readily eats the frozen mysis and PE flakes that I feed the others. I still feed blackworms a few times a day, but mainly because I have a ton left. I will probably try to get the frozen clams back in the rotation to vary the diet, but bear in mind these can pollute the water a good bit so keep the skimmer going.
I hope this helps any of you with a stubborn Copperband. Also - have a backup plan for aiptasia, because mine couldn't care less about them
next step is to shoot some aips at him from the baster.
In my endeavor to rid my tank of aiptasia, I acquired a smaller CBB to hopefully do a number to them after doing a good bit of research on them. It wasn't eating at the LFS which is what you want to see, but I decided to take a chance on it. After the first few days settling in, it was usually confined to a corner by my yellow tang. But when the tang was busy with a clip of nori the CBB would inspect the live rock and pick around. It seemed to be interested in the micro featherdusters I have everywhere, but these weren't nearly enough to sustain the fish long term. Zero interest in nori, mysis, flakes, or reef frenzy at this point.
The first thing suggested by various searches was to try clam on the half shell, since it mimics more of a natural forage. You can find these frozen by Hikari/Ocean Nutrition, or you can buy them fresh (sometimes live) at grocery store seafood sections sold as littleneck clams. The only ones enjoying this meaty snack were my nassarius snails. I tried it whole, thin sliced, and out of the shell with no dice for 3 days. The CBB wasn't quite looking emaciated, but I was starting to worry by this point. I was able to get it eating some featherdusters and larger vermetids I scraped from my sump, but this still wouldn't be enough.
Step two was finding live blackworms as they were also recommended in similar discussions. These are popular on the freshwater side (and the worms live in freshwater), but safe to feed in salt as well. They have about 15 seconds of movement in saltwater before dying. I began shooting one blackworm at a time in his direction with a baster. It ignored about 5 until it couldn't resist and took the next one. I got it to eat a few at this point until it stopped showing interest. I repeated this 3x per day for 3 days, and with each feeding he would eat more and more. It's gotten to the point where I get bored quicker than he gets full from the blackworms. I can send out 5 at a time and he demolishes them.
After each feeding of blackworms was done, I would feed the rest of the fish frozen mysis. The idea here was for the CBB to see my other fish go nuts over it and hopefully learn. And learn it did. He now readily eats the frozen mysis and PE flakes that I feed the others. I still feed blackworms a few times a day, but mainly because I have a ton left. I will probably try to get the frozen clams back in the rotation to vary the diet, but bear in mind these can pollute the water a good bit so keep the skimmer going.
I hope this helps any of you with a stubborn Copperband. Also - have a backup plan for aiptasia, because mine couldn't care less about them
next step is to shoot some aips at him from the baster.
