My fat copperband butterfly

daniella3d · #1 01-10-2011, 09:02 PM

I got this copperband butterfly 10 days ago and he was skinny with no fat on the top of the head and top of the body, as well as sunken stomach. He was eating about 3 PE mysis per day and that was it, he would not eat any more.

When I got it I gave it the usual mysis in the morning, which the fish ate but with not much gusto. All I could get it to eat was about 3. I started to feed white worms and bingo. He loves those so much. I did the usual mysis in the morning and then fed live white worms enriched with selcon 7 to 10 times per day, as much as the fish wanted to eat. That's about the size of a bing cherry per day.

here is what the fish looked 10 days ago, as the reseller sent me a link to a video done the day before I got it. You can see that there is no fat on the body top part and it's all pinched, as well as sunken stomach area:

http://www.youtube.com/user/mikescub.../1/0HzZYy-BOhE

And here are the photos as of today, I am going to slack a bit on the white worms feeding as he's getting fat! lol

All the fat pad at the top is back and fully fleshed. The stomack area is all full and plump:

For those who are struggling to keep a copperband alive that does not want to eat, try to get some white worms culture and give it a try! It might save your fish. It's easy to culture, can be enriched and well...the photos are worth a thousand worms...I mean words

Hard to tell it's the same fish.

plutoniumJoe · #2 01-10-2011, 09:08 PM

Congratulations! I have been only 1/3 with copperbands. I understand that you might not be out of the water (pardon the pun) until 5-6months though.

Good luck.

Joe

Lance · #3 01-10-2011, 09:08 PM

Good work! It's nice to see a fish rebound like that. Specially a CBB

daniella3d · #4 01-10-2011, 09:14 PM

The fish has been at the importer for 3 weeks, and I have it for 10 days so that's a good month, but I know it could have been cought with cyanide and if so it could die any time even if it is eating very well and if it is fat. The fact that it regained weight so fast is a good sign against cyanide don't you think? I have read that fish poisoned with cyanide will lose weight even if they eat a lot?

I surely hope so because that little guy is really sweet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by plutoniumJoe

Congratulations! I have been only 1/3 with copperbands. I understand that you might not be out of the water (pardon the pun) until 5-6months though.

Good luck.

Joe

Delphinus · #5 01-10-2011, 09:56 PM

Man I love CBB's.

Were these frozen white worms or live? When I google for info on white worms I get mostly pages talking about how to culture your own.

globaldesigns · #6 01-10-2011, 10:29 PM

Beautiful fish, I wish I had one. Well actually I had 2 over time, but each died. I fell into that statistic of too hard to keep.

Good luck to you, hope the little guy keeps up with the eating.

wayner · #7 01-10-2011, 11:39 PM

I love CBB's too, longest I kept one was 2 years - getting the itch to try again, I know I shouldn't, but I'm awful itchy.

The one I had for awhile was actually really small when I got it, I bought some mussels at safeway, he loved picking at them, - maybe that was the ticket to getting him off to a good start, who knows.

daniella3d · #8 01-11-2011, 12:07 AM

It's live white worms. You just need to find someone who has a culture and sell you some to strat you own culture. You put them in moist top soil and feed them with bread soaked in a little milk and to enrich it add Selcon.

They jiggle in the water for hours. I even found some still alive in saltwater after 24 hours, but usualy they get eated really quick.

If nobody sell a culture in your area then it is possible to ship it by mail. In winter it must be done with fast delivery and heat pad as they must not freeze.

They are about one ich long for the adults and can be really tiny for the young ones. I have 3 cultures going as I also feed my other fish and my mandarin on occasion, like once per week.

The copperband eat those as if they were popcorn. I let them soak in water about one hour before feeding so that any dirt inside the worm is flushed and the worm become really clean white.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Man I love CBB's.

Were these frozen white worms or live? When I google for info on white worms I get mostly pages talking about how to culture your own.

daniella3d · #9 01-11-2011, 12:08 AM

2 year is good. I wonder how long they live in the wild? I have read 5 years livespan or more?

How did yours died?

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayner

I love CBB's too, longest I kept one was 2 years - getting the itch to try again, I know I shouldn't, but I'm awful itchy.

The one I had for awhile was actually really small when I got it, I bought some mussels at safeway, he loved picking at them, - maybe that was the ticket to getting him off to a good start, who knows.

wayner · #10 01-11-2011, 12:55 AM

If I can remember correctly, must of been a parasite or something internal, never seen anything on the outside, he just stopped eating and hung around the rear corner. I find that with copperbands, at least the ones I've had, always seems to be something on the inside that does them in., last one I had started head twitching, lasted a week.