Nicholas89
01/02/2008, 02:17 PM
Ok, so I have a serious aiptasia outbreak in my reef.
Thing is, peppermint shrimp haven't seemed to work.
Injecting them only has gone so far.
I was thinking about trying a baby copper band...
Problem is........my tank is only 20 gallons (high).
The tank is very stable, it doesn't have any fish in it.
It also has been cycled for about 5 months now.
I'm getting a job at a local fish store (starting in about a week or so), and I saw a small one there for sale before I was leaving for a trip to Italy, prior to christmas. I was extremely tempted to buy it, but decided to wait to think things through more, and until after I got home.
Now, I was talking to one of my future co-workers there and he suggested I tried the same thing I was thinking. Buy a baby one, let it do it's thing for a couple months then bring it back to the store.
Is this a completely terrible idea? Or is it do-able?
I figure I can feed the copper band with mysis shrimp, flakes, blood worms, and then allow him an all you can eat buffet of aiptasia.
Also, out of curiosity, my tank has some zoas, something that looks like a small galaxia, hermits, and a few assorted snails. I'd imagine some of those would be prey to the butterfly, but what ones?
Oh, I've got some bristle starfish too. (One huge one, probably 8 inch diameter that was a hitchhiker) Any risk there?
Thing is, peppermint shrimp haven't seemed to work.
Injecting them only has gone so far.
I was thinking about trying a baby copper band...
Problem is........my tank is only 20 gallons (high).
The tank is very stable, it doesn't have any fish in it.
It also has been cycled for about 5 months now.
I'm getting a job at a local fish store (starting in about a week or so), and I saw a small one there for sale before I was leaving for a trip to Italy, prior to christmas. I was extremely tempted to buy it, but decided to wait to think things through more, and until after I got home.
Now, I was talking to one of my future co-workers there and he suggested I tried the same thing I was thinking. Buy a baby one, let it do it's thing for a couple months then bring it back to the store.
Is this a completely terrible idea? Or is it do-able?
I figure I can feed the copper band with mysis shrimp, flakes, blood worms, and then allow him an all you can eat buffet of aiptasia.
Also, out of curiosity, my tank has some zoas, something that looks like a small galaxia, hermits, and a few assorted snails. I'd imagine some of those would be prey to the butterfly, but what ones?
Oh, I've got some bristle starfish too. (One huge one, probably 8 inch diameter that was a hitchhiker) Any risk there?