help with feeding CBB

[surgeonfish]

Thanks for the advice. There is also a few green chromis in the tank that eat everything. The CBB watches them eat but doesn't seem to increase his desire to try these foods. I have tried frozen and flake cyclops without success. I will try adding different foods at the same time as the blood worms.

[Delphinus]

Have you tried an oyster or clam (live oyster or live clam from the supermarket if you have one that sells that sort of thing, it sure is fun going up and asking for "one oyster please" )? Or a mussel ..

I buy about 4 or 5 at a time, throw them in my sump, and about once a week I'll crack one open and throw it in the main tank.

Probably not great for water quality, but .. well, at least he's eating something this way..

[surgeonfish]

I have tried cracking open a clam with no success. I was too embarrassed to ask for just one clam, so I bought half a dozen instead. Maybe I will try muscles next.
Thanks

[Delphinus]

I hear ya. Now I more or less do it just to see the looks on their faces.

Actually sometimes they'll just give you the oyster since they'll weigh all off about 0.000001 grams and that's not enough to register on the weigh scale. I've had it happen a couple of times, but I felt kinda bad about doing that so I make a point to ask for 4 or 5 oysters. The oysters seem to stay alive (not always, but usually) in the sump at reef temps, whereas clams and mussels seem to die off pretty quick.

Once, at Superstore, I had my son with me, at the time he was 1, and the lady thought I was asking for the oyster for him to play with. I was sorta too dumbstruck for words. "Ummm .... yeah, I'm giving my ONE YEAR OLD an oyster to play with. Of course that's what I want it for!" ... "No, no, it's for my fish .. no, my fish at home, oh never mind.." But she gave the oyster to me for free .....

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Once, at Superstore, I had my son with me, at the time he was 1, and the lady thought I was asking for the oyster for him to play with. I was sorta too dumbstruck for words. "Ummm .... yeah, I'm giving my ONE YEAR OLD an oyster to play with. Of course that's what I want it for!" ... [size=1]

What you don't think oysters make good toys (sorry I couldn't resist)

On a side note we just bought a CBB and I'm paranoid now that he's not eating. How common is this? I've tried to watch him eat and he'll go hide under the rocks, from a distance it sort of looked like he might be eating a small piece of mysis and sort of looked like he might of picked up some pellets off the sand bed, however I wasn't close enough to tell. Our CBB seems healthy and swims around a lot so I guess I'll just try to make sure he stays that way.

[Delphinus]

I honestly almost regret buying my CBB because he is such a ridiculous feeder.

I can't remember how long it took for him to become a total fiend with regards to mysis, but he is that way about mysis now. Other than the shellfish I put in for him, mysis is the *only* thing he will eat. He would rather starve than eat flake or pellet. I've gone as long as 2 weeks and I thought it was cruel and unusual. My problem now is that I try to feed other things mysis, and I can't, because he steals it all, no matter how long I try to chase him away. My dendrophylla, my blastomussas, my bubble coral .. in fact I've all but lost my dendrophylla because it can't eat enough. What tiny polyps I have left I faithfully try to feed everyday but because it takes 20 minutes to swallow the food, all it takes is for 1 second where he dashes in, steals the mysis and is off before I can swing my net angrily at him. And I've tried putting a jar over the dendrophylla, but the slightest movement and those feeding polyps are retracted and that's the end of that for that day. Second only to my sixline wrasse, I have to admit this fish is among my least favourite additions to my reef now. When the tank is torn down I might move him into my ritteri tank, he can steal all the mysis he wants in there and it won't matter.

[surgeonfish]

fishoholic:
For the first 2-3 weeks, my CBB also looked non stressed and appeared to be actively looking for food mostly on the bottom. He would occasionally pick at the live rock and sand but don't think he was actually eating anything. He refused anything except blood worms. He did get pretty thin.


Delphinus:
Besides the CBB, what else is in your tank? Do you have any aggressive eaters such as tangs that would out compete the CBB. My fish is now eating blood worms. However, he still takes his sweet time inspecting each worm before eating it. I think he will starve in my main tank with several hungry tangs and damsels.