Copperbanded Butterfly problem!

Hey guys, my copperbanded butterfly is not eating he hasnt been eating for awhile! What should i do???

 

more specific info would get you a more specific answer. are you using garlic and what exactly are you trying to feed him?
they are one of the more difficult fish to start feeding. it may take a variety of foods to become successful.

 

i mainly use brine shrimp with garlic!

 

any signs of parasite? this can affect feeding

was it eating well until recently and then stopped?
is it a new purchase and has not fed in your tank yet?

if so Packleader recently posted about a method he used with success that you might like to try
he spreads food over a piece of rock, pushing it into the crevices and holes to encourage the natural feeding behavior of this fish


Yes as Dave indicates , tell us a bit more of the background

Steve

 

ok, he has been in my tank bout alil longer than a week! My blue hippo tank had got ich and spread it to all my fish, so lately my CB butterfly just been rubbing himself with the rocks, thats pretty much all he dose!

 

What sized tank? How long has it been running? What are the water parameters?
Not to be mean, but copperbands are an advanced, difficult fish, and can be tough to get eating, and simple research would have had you already a step ahead.
You need to offer the butterfly a very wide variety of foods. Fresh shrimp, scallops, oyster, mussel and clams on the half shell, mysis, brine, bloodworms, tubifex worms, and krill are good places to start. If still experiencing difficulty, packing the holes in the rock with meaty offerings to offer a more natural grazing situation.
If it has been more than a week and you haven't gotten it to eat, and it has ich, I am sorry to say, but it's pretty much a guaranteed goner. :-/

 

its a 65 gallon tank, the water levels are ok! ima try to buy other food if not ima have to ride of it and see if anyone wants it!

 

If this one doesnt make it i suggest you dont try agian. Not being mean but they take a while to eat prepared foods. I had one, i also had a bunch of aips for him to munch on, it took me about a month or more to get him to eat prepared foods. Good luck, i suggest you get a rock from a local reefer with some aips on it and put it in the tank.

 

Don't know about deliberately adding aiptasia....sounds a little dangerous. Copperbands also like to munch on tubeworms. So if you can get your hands on some tubeworms for cheap, I'd add those rather than infect your tank with aiptasia. I've seen some rocks at my LFS which are absolutely covered in small tubeworms...