Cheap Copperbands

[alton]

Does anybody know where these are coming from? Wolf Reef got two in yesterday and this morning Marine Center is selling them for $8 and $12. This reminds me of a few years ago when small Clown Triggers where selling for $10 and they did great. Hope these Copperbands do well also.

[GaryP]

Wild caught copperbands come in with a lot of parasites to start with, especially flukes. They can be very difficult to get to eat also. They can be a shy eater and are most active early and late in the day when we typically don't feed our tanks. Just because they are feeding in a LFS tank with few other occupants and little flow doesn't mean they will feed in a tank with a lot of aggressive feeders and tons of flow. They don't chase down feed in a strong current like tang or angel, so its best to provide food they can pick off the bottom like live mussels. I have two CBB that I now have eating frozen as well as live mussels. It took me about year to get one of them to eat frozen and that is only when I feed early in the AM. The other one came from another MAAST member and was already eating frozen when I got him. Mostly they eat mussels before and after the lights are on. I think he probably hunts bristle worms and amphipods (grammarus shrimp) at night too. Instar says he smashes blood worms into an old dead open brain skeleton for them to pick at. This seems reasonable considering their feeding behavior. I'm trying to get Instar to do a talk about these guys at an upcoming MAAST meeting.

[GaryP]

One other thing. CBB often get a viral infection that sorta looks like a wart when they are shipped. This will eventually go away as they de-stress in their new environment if they are feeding well. The other thing to look for when buying a CBB is any damage to their mouth or snout. This often occurs when they are shipped and if it occurs they are pretty much doomed. OK Larry, what did I miss? Instar (Larry) is the CBB master. Most of what I know came from him. He is the only person I have heard of that is able to keep a school of these guys in the same tank. I think he has 3 or 4 in his 125.

[Andrew]

If they're that cheap they're most likely from Indonesia or the Philipines; if true, I would personally not buy. The quality from these areas can be suspect.

[Bug_Power]

Does anybody know where these are coming from? Wolf Reef got two in yesterday and this morning Marine Center is selling them for $8 and $12. This reminds me of a few years ago when small Clown Triggers where selling for $10 and they did great. Hope these Copperbands do well also.

WOW LFS wanted $42 for one today! I had to pass

[loans_n_fishes]

At Austin Aquadome they are around $20...almost got one a few days ago. They are really beautiful!

[alton]

I didn't write this to get LFS to lower there prices I was just wondering if Copper Bands had a great hatch this year or why there value would drop so much? I would rather pay $50 bucks for one that I knew wouldn't die verses two for twenty that might.

[GaryP]

Its called supply and demand. Chances are one of the importers like Walt Smith just shipped a bunch of CBB to the wholesalers and of course they want to move them as fast as possible. Therefore the price drops.