My expreince with Chelmon Rostratus / Copperband

[bigzman]

First and foremost, I must put this disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert in marine fish keeping nor do I have a degree in marine biology I have been a hobbyist for over 18 years). Please do your research, as the copper band is often considered for experts but is unfortunately readily available (due to its ability to remove pest aiptasia and nuisances worms). Its important to note copperbands have a high mortality rate and following these steps to do not guarantee success.

My intention is to share my experience in successfully acquiring and keeping Chelmon Rostratus healthy along with the pros and cons. Please feel free to add suggestions and success stories that can aid in improving mortality rates.



Let’s start off with this great summary of what I always do when getting any new fish.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...ght=copperband


There is a ton of info including predatory, diet, population, demographics, husbandry, etc on google.

So back to the Ms Saltwater video, the thing she does not cover in depth is long term care (Hopefully she will in the future).

Let’s start with the obvious vs Luck topic (A.K.A “My buddy got one and placed it in his tank and all was well last well”):

Obvious:
1. As Ms Saltwater mentioned the copperband she got was already feeding and most likely healthy. The one she got might have adopted already in a LFS, tank mates and LFS food. In some cases they are in display established tanks with readily available food source.
2. Success stories always include a good QT period in a separate friendly QT tank with plenty of space to hide (I use a 3” PVC 45 degree elbow) ***Vital .
3. Take note that we the hobbyist are substituting their natural diet so getting them to eat readlly vs a bit here in there is key.
4. Fish compatibly is vital as I often see copper bands swimming away from aggressive powder, purple and yellow tangs both in home tanks and LFS.
5. Disease management (Back to quarantine)

Luck:
1. Those that state fish was added with no QT and all was well are rare and extremely lucky
2. My copper band is healthy
3. I got mine from a fellow reefer and it was reef safe
4. No fish aggression
5. Mine would never nip at corals.

That out of the way these are the steps I have taken for the last 5 copper bands I have acclimated. The unhealthiest one I have gotten was less the 3 inches big and not very thick (The one in the picture). Took 4 months before he went to wage war on Mikes aiptasia.

Requirements before getting fish :
Patience:
TIME:
$$$ Optional

Stuff I use when getting new fish:
29 or 40 breeder gallon tank with established biomedia/LR and overflow filter/Skimmer
3 to 4inch PVC elbows
18 watt UV
Ammonia alert

Foods that I have been successful in getting them eating:
Live Blackworms / Bloodworms (San Fransico brand seems to be a winner), Clams, Aiptasia (If Available)

Getting ready:
1. Hypo dip with paraguard and slow drip acclimation with airstone again this is what I do (You can do your preferred acclamation that works for you).
2. I introduce with lights off into QT tank. I do not trouble feeding until the next day when lights turn on.
3. This part you might not agree with, I feed every food available to me (Including nori) on one dump. (So far blackworms and bloodworms seem to be a winner for all the ones I have had including a morish idol).
4. I then carefully watch behavior to see what they pick at (***I stop all water movement for 15 minutes to watch).
5. Now that I have a baseline food, I vacuum left overs and try again the next day at the same time 1 hour after lights turn on and you can confirm that is the chosen food again.** Please note I do not use any enticement products (Garlic , Selcon, etc) in this period .
6. After a week of repeat feeding of the preferred food and on schedule along with adding another feeding time before lights off. I no longer turn off water movement and let him chase the preferred food around. I have done this for over 2 weeks and in a rare case one a few days with twice a day feeding.
7. The first few weeks/days using same schedules observe if they notice lights on and your approach. They should be pretty plump and chase their preferred food around before moving proceeding to the next step.
8. I start to introduce other foods together but this time with your choice of long term foods on the first feeding. On the second cycle of feeding I would feed their preferred choice with a bit of your preferred food (I would leave pellets and nori for last and make sure to choose to types of hardy foods that will supplement their diet).
9. I do this part for a short period of time until I notice they start picking at your choice of food (Flake, Brime mysid, etc.) on those first feedings.
10. After a week of same schedule and of them picking (and/ or eating) your preferred food, I stop feeding their preferred food on the second cycle (Please clean up often and monitor parameters / maintenance).
11. *** This is the part that is a pain. Stick to the schedule and do not feed the worms or their preferred even if they continue to pick buy not eat it. At this time is when I do (If necessary) incorporate enticements selcon / garlic.
12. After they are eating your preferred food for a few days I would now incorporate an extra third feeding cycle. Before moving to the next step please make sure they are chasing you preferred food and not leaving much behind.
13. Now to keep him plump I would re-introduce his preferred as the third feeding in small amounts.

The following is up to you but at this point of converting food I would follow some of the steps again and introduce other foods and drop the enticement.

After the above steps are done I keep feeding the exact same time and food of my choice and cut back adding his preferred to once a week. As for introduction to display tank I highly suggest one final feeding of his preferred food and drip acclimate to DT and do a night transfer.

Please feel free to make suggestions and share your experience. Obviously results may vary and following this is at your discretion. Please excuse any spell errors as it’s a pain to write this much on a ipad. I hope this helps.

[bigzman]

I forgot to mention and very important. 1 of the 4 copper bands I was able to change over later started loving LPS for food (Poor frogspan, nems and acans :-(). None so far touched SPS. The coral nipping issue is truly hit or miss but I do believe if fed well and taking your time on the above steps to assure they like what is readily available to them can aid in reducing that risk of coral nipping.

[Ted_C]

Thanks very much for this excellent write up Bigzman!

[bigzman]

Anytime Ted_C. Again I do not use any secret sauce and I am sure this can be improved. It worked for me so far but might work for others.

[JonezNReef]

Thanks for the informative post on your experience! I might consider one in the future now that I have an idea on how to get them to eat.

[Nola Bear]

Great post!

[bigzman]

Originally Posted by Nola Bear

Great post!

Thanks. For those of you who commit to this process please share your experience.

In near future if one is at a lfs I will be trying a morish idol.

[ali1]

Nice

[Ted_C]

I just picked up a copperband from FAOIS on saturday. Giving this method a shot

[bigzman]

Patience's is key.

5 weeks: Nori only. Does not touch anything but Nori and bloodworms.


Also one heck of a lean mean pod eating machine.

[Ted_C]

Isn't that one of those fish that are really really expensive? I mean like $1500 expensive?

[bigzman]

Sadly,

It is not expensive but its super hard to keep. Its a potters angel (Centropyge potteri). Its a fish that shows up more than it should into the supply chain, considering its mortality rate.

I have been successful in the past keeping one for over 4 years before a tank crash. I used the same method as above. This time faster than normal as I got a very healthy one.

Originally Posted by Ted_C

Isn't that one of those fish that are really really expensive? I mean like $1500 expensive?

[Ted_C]

starting on week 3 with the copperband:

I think in the first introduction he got stressed out. He wasn't this bad - but he did have the begginings lymphocytis:

Not my fish:


How my guy looks today:


Starting week 3 though - these spots are almost all gone. He's eating well and well adjusted to the quarantine.

1st week: blackworms worked well. 1st five days turned off all flow. He started chasing them (w/ flow from MP40's) on day 6.

Week 2: started mixing in my preferred foods and blackworms in the morning and evening (9 AM feeding / 6 PM feeding). Pretty much ignored my prepared foods until day 12. I also introduced a Desjardin Tang on week 2 to give him the feel for other fish and some competition.

The morning feeding is my prepared foods first followed by blackworms. The evening feeding is blackworms followed by prepared foods. He's definitely eating frozen mysis in the morning before the blackworms can get in there.

My prepared foods are: 1/4 block of Hikari Mysis, 1/4 block of frozen bloodworms and a 1/4" x 1" strip of LRS reef frenzy.



I guess my next question would be - after three more weeks of this - I'm planning on transferring him out of quarantine over to the 310 main display. Is that usually a smooth transition (assuming a good acclimation of course) and he goes right back to eating prepared foods? or is the whole procedure repeated?

[bigzman]

Ted, at that point he will take feeding like others hence making him chase, in your case you have an advantage which is the tang. If he chases while tang does that's a very good sign. You should also try nori since tang is there to show him. Happy to hear about your progress.

[Ted_C]

nori rock is in the left hand side of the picture (next to the 3/4" pieces of PVC). He hasn't really picked at it that I can tell - maybe he's nibbling at night.

[bigzman]

Well once he is in DT he might pick it up with feeding frenzy. I have not had one stop eating in DT after this process (Again results may vary). That's why I follow this long procedure. Important to note I introduce at night before feeding heavy (since at that point I have to clean up QT and water change). Getting anthais to come out is a whole another story :-). Hopefully others have the same success.

[Ted_C]

Transferred the Copperband over to the Dislay tank at the end of the last week. He's getting along pretty good. decimated the feather dusters already. He's eating well - both frozen and the occasional blackworm.

Thanks again for your excellent advice!

[bigzman]

Ted, how's the copper band? I have been working on this for over a month.


Eating pellets and brine/mysid. Goes wild for bloodworms.

[asmodyus]

So I have a Copper Band going on a month now in my 2nd Tank / Quarantine tank about 4 weeks now pretty much will eat nothing but blood rooms.
I been introducing mysiys Shrimp lately every time I feed and he will occasionally nibble at them.

Now If I can only get him to go after my aiptasia problem

[bigzman]

Is the qt tank a reef (is there a substantial pod life in tank)? He might be eating pods and other worms. In my experience if alternative food is available they will eat it. For aptasia issue I would place him in tank with less pods and peel some off from display and let him go a bit hungry. They will take to it. Or stop bloodworms for a week. Seems your tank has a few anems. Becareful he might take a liking to them if hungry.

[Ted_C]

Originally Posted by bigzman

Ted, how's the copper band? I have been working on this for over a month.

Eating pellets and brine/mysid. Goes wild for bloodworms.

Nice! The copperband is doing outstanding in the display tank. Chases food and has become one of the bigger pigs of the tank. As far as I can see - he loves the frozen mysis and something in the LRS reef frenzy.

My feeding routine:
Morning: 1/2 block of PE Mysis, 1/2 block of Bloodworms, around 1/2" square section of LRS Reef Frenzy
Afternoon: 12:00 and 2:30 PM Autofeeding of a mix of Dainichi Baby Sinking Pellets and Spectra Thera A
Evening: 1/2 block of Mysis, 1/2 block of Reef Cavier, 1/2" square section of LRS Feeding Frenzy
Every two days I feed a 1/4 sheet of Nori. Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday I feed a tablespoon each of Reef Nutrition Live Phyto, Oyster Eggs and Rotifiers.

That's all shared with: 2 Ocellaris Clownfish, 2 Barrier reef Chromis, 1 Bangaii Cardinal, 1 Copperband Butterfly, 1 Hippo Tang, 1 Sailfin Tang, 1 Tomini Tang, 7 Lyretail Anthias (6 Female 1 Male), 1 Swallowtail Angelfish, 1 Helfrichi Dartfish, 1 Purple Dartfish, one skunk cleaner shrimp

[asmodyus]

Originally Posted by bigzman

Is the qt tank a reef (is there a substantial pod life in tank)? He might be eating pods and other worms. In my experience if alternative food is available they will eat it. For aptasia issue I would place him in tank with less pods and peel some off from display and let him go a bit hungry. They will take to it. Or stop bloodworms for a week. Seems your tank has a few anems. Becareful he might take a liking to them if hungry.

Yeah its my overflow of softies from my main tank.


Ok I will try and pull some Aptasia from the display and feed it to him have plenty of them lol.

[bigzman]

[Ted_C]

I lost my Buddy today. I named him Bob almost a year ago - his was a funny personality in the tank - always following you around - begging to be fed. When feeding - he always tried to stick his snout up the turkey baster to get the prime bits before they went into the tank. he was my third copperband.

I have no idea what did him in. Maybe the barrier reef chromis. Maybe the Desjardin Tang. I really dont know. He was eating fine last night - all energetic. Didn't eat this morning - was in his usual hiding spot up near the top of the tank.

I recently introduced 200 red legged hermits to deal with some stubborn algae on the bare bottom and 6 banded gobies on saturday. Yesterday - I found three of the gobies dead (two in the tank on power heads - one was a jumper). Today - it was bob stuck to a power head.

I transferred Bob to the quarantine tank to see if he recovers but the chances are not great.

[JonezNReef]

Sorry to hear that. I had just got my CBB through treatment and QT where I was able to get him to eat like a pig and he had quickly become my favorite fish but he ended up jumping the only time I forgot to put my top back on the tank.
Now I’m back to square one with a new CBB going through TTM at the moment. But he doesn’t seem to have quite the personality the other one did