my new little Copperband Butterfly fish

[Reef Pilot]

Be sure he is eating well and strong before moving him to your DT. Much more difficult to train on new foods when other faster and more aggressive fish are grabbing all the food.

Also, beware of yellow tangs, if you have one. They in particular seem to have a real hate on for CBBs.

[Jaws]

You can also buy a few live clams and use the tip of a knife and skewer it to make a hole in the clam. Copperbands will almost always eat from that. Once he's comfortable eating from that then make your own clam using a clam shell and epoxy or super glue and put prepared or frozen food in it. Then if he's comfortable eating from that, I eventually built an opening and closing device using a nori clip and egg crate so once the copperband smells or sees the prepared food he's used to eating, he'll eat from there. I used egg crate so he could get his beak in there without any of the other fish being able to. Copperbands don't like to compete for food so once the other fish lost interest, it was ready for him. I feed him twice a day now now with chunks of shrimp and chunks of scallops. Its a long process and can be very time consuming so I wouldn't recommend it it to anyone that wasn't a very dedicated keeper because copperbands are one of the hardest fish to get to eat and require a fair bit of dedicated time just to that one fish. It can work though if you're willing to put in the time. There's nothing more frustrating than watching such a beautiful fish waste away from neglect.

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[Doug]

[The Guy]

Oh no! I have a yellow tang in the 90 DT, if it's going to be too much for the CBB getting chased all the time maybe I'll get another one and the 33 long will become my other smaller DT. From what I read similar body shape can be an issue with tangs.
Nice picture Doug, thanks for sharing

[Doug]

He use to go nuts over that half clam. I bought them at superstore, Manila clams or something I think. Froze and halved them for the clip. The other fish use to eat all the parts of meat floating around from the copperband tearing it up. Of course, not sure if this trains them to eat ornamental clams. I never had any at the time.

[Proteus]

Yes they will eat ortamental clams once they get the taste of mollusk. I had 8 clams with mine. As long as I fed on mussle a day the vlams were safe

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by clown lover

Oh no! I have a yellow tang in the 90 DT, if it's going to be too much for the CBB getting chased all the time maybe I'll get another one and the 33 long will become my other smaller DT. From what I read similar body shape can be an issue with tangs.
Nice picture Doug, thanks for sharing

The challenge is the first few days. After a couple weeks, the yellow tang should accept him and leave him alone. At least that's what happened with mine. If you can distract the yellow tang with a mirror, or picture on the side of the tank, that can help.

That's why the CBB has to be strong and able to escape. My CBB was very good at instant 180's and able to avoid the tang. Or you can remove the yellow tang for a while until the CBB gets acclimated to the DT. That is, if you can catch him. Again, it is usually only a short term issue, worst is the 1st couple days.

[albert_dao]

Live clams are a huge liability.

Hint: Look at the fish that share the water in the systems you purchase the clams from.

IMO, just freeze them for a few days then crack them open. Works just as well.