Thursday, November 24, 2011

What kind of food that can be fed copperband butterfly and tomato crown fishes?

I have had 1 tomato crown fish and 1 copperband butterfly fish for couple days. I tried to feed both of them with the pellet but they didn't eat. I'd like to have a common food for both of them.|||You're not going to have a problem feeding the Tomato clown, as long as your water quality is anywhere close to decent. They're hardy and have a good appetite.





If the clown is new and hasn't started eating yet, try frozen mysis shrimp, they're very palatable and enticing for the fish, and much more nutritious than live or frozen brine shrimp.





The copperband is another issue entirely. If you have a reef aquarium, they spend much of their time picking through the rocks for tiny creatures (copepods, worms, etc) and will also graze on aiptasia anemones, gorgonian polyps, green star polyps, and zooanthids. Sometimes this is good (they eat the nasty aiptasia anemones) or bad (they chow down on your prized pink%26amp;blue zooanthids.)





But if you have a large enough tank, the copperband's grazing damage won't usually kill off all your strong polyp -based colonies... the "damage" is thin but widespread, as in nature.





If you have a fish-only tank (as opposed to a reef tank or fish tank with lots of live rock) then statistically you're in trouble. Most copperbands will not survive in that type of environment. You can try to get him to eat, and I wish you all the success in the world, but your chances are 50/50 at best. Unfortunately, there are many livestock sellers who will sell fish like copperbands, moorish idols, and cleaner wrasses to just about anyone... even though these fish require very special conditions to have any chance of survival.





Here's what you can try to feed your copperband:





1. LIVE Blackworms. Turn off most or all of your water circulation, and drop a few worms in where he can see them. They wriggle violently because the saltwater is killing them. This entices the fish to eat, but make sure you don't add too many and try to remove uneaten worms in an hour or so.





2. LIVE brine shrimp. Not the best nutrition, but much better than nothing. These survive in salt water and swim around in an appealing way, again slow down or temporarily stop your filters %26amp; pumps so they don't all get sucked up.





3. FROZEN "cyclopeeze." Not the flaked stuff, he'll never go for it. This is a relatively new item, but good shops or mailorder houses will have it.





4. FROZEN "enhanced" brine shrimp. If he has taken to eating live brine, you may get him to eat the nutritionally-enriched frozen version, which is a good long-term solution if it works.





5. FROZEN mysis shrimp. Maybe, it's worth a try.





6. LIVE piece of green star polyp rock or rock with zooanthids on it. Your store may be willing to sell you a small or ugly piece of coral at a reduced price. If your tank conditions are good and the lighting is decent, it may survive long enough to be eaten.

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