Just got a seemingly healthy copperband, need tips

[anthony1222]

Yesterday I bought a copper and butterfly at my local lfs. The staff showed him eating brine and he looked fat and healthy so I took him home. I was really reluctant when I put him into the tank because I started researching about the copperband and lots of people say that it’s almost impossible to make them eat even if it ate at the lfs. I also have a 2 month old 75 gal with a baby hippo tang, a fox face, and 2 clownfish so it’s not really the most ‘ideal’ space for him. I started to regret purchasing him until I fed him for the first time. He ACTUALLY ate a few pieces of pe mysis from the water column but ate it really slowly. The mysis has to be flowing right in front of him to take a bite. Sometimes he spits it out and eats it again. Am I good so far? Would he stay alive since he’s already eating from the water column? Is there anything else I can do or feed to keep him alive?

Also, in the long term, when the hippo tang gets bigger will it start showing aggression towards the cooperband? I plan on rehoming it when it gets to about 6 or 7 inches

 

[LaloJ]

It's not impossible to keep or feed CBB, but you need experience handling difficult-to-adapt fish like this butterfly or some other species considered difficult to keep. It's great that he is already feeding, however it will take several days for him to freely go out and look for food, so don't despair. I would not worry about the aggressiveness of the blue tang but rather about the size it can reach plus the size that the CBB reaches. You can offer frozen foods and some snacks such as clams, mussels and oysters, also seafood porridge.

 

[52728299]

You will run into issues if your other fish are aggressive feeders. A cbb will yield almost every time to an already established, bold fish. Unfortunately picking out a couple pieces of shrimp a day won't be enough to sustain him. Ideally I'd say the best approach with this guy would be to place him in observation, and train with him every day to eat from a feeder where only he can access food inside. Maybe you can try it in the dt but these fish don't naturally eat from the water column and can be easily outcompeted. They can eat from the water column but the tricky Part is will they get enough to sustain life.. imo

Hope you got a cbb that goes against my experience, genuinely. They are great fish