Copperband butterfly and Yellow Tang in 75?

[6Speed]

Will the yellow tang be agressive towards the copperband? They have similar body shapes, and the Copperband is definetly more docile.

Go, or no go?

[JamesJR]

You can mix the two fish if you add them right. The CBB needs to be in the tank established and in great health before you add the yellow.
Otherwise the yellow will pester it and stress it till it dies.

I had a CBB for 3 years in my reef and they are great fish but are not easy to keep by any means. I think you would be better off not mixing the two and just keeping one or the other.

[6Speed]

Well, I've had the tang for a while now, and he's a great fish. I just always loved the way the CBB looks, and also the idea that they eat aiptasia. I've been battling aiptasia ever since I got my tank set up. My friend jokes that if there were a nuclear explosion, the only thing left would be cockroaches and aiptasia. :lol:

I routinely go through the tank and kill the little buggers, but they always come back in different places. My options were a CBB or a bunch of peppermint shrimp.

[TrojanScott]

I just added a CBB to see if he'd touch aiptasia. 3 days later.... he hasn't.

My YT has pesterd him some, but they've seem to work things out.

[JamesJR]

That just makes me really mad that aquarium stores just sell these fish to get rid of aiptasia. CBB are delicate fish and they need more consideration in their care to just be sold as a remedy for aiptasia.
Why don't you try peppermint shrimp because they are so much simpler to care for?

[TrojanScott]

I guess I should have been more detailed in my post. I'm attempting to keep the CBB because I think it's a sweet fish. Yes, I do want to rid my tank of aiptasia, so that factored into it. So far, the CBB has picked at some of the food I've target ted it, including plankton and blood worms, along with poking about at rocks. I wish he'd eat the aiptasia, but I knew there was a chance he wouldn't.

I do steer from most difficult fish, but decided to give this one a shot, I didn't buy him strictly for aiptasia removal.

FWIW, I've tried Joe's Juice, berghia, (ate a few, then never saw again) and plenty of peppermint shrimp. (they never touch it either.)

I've never had this much bad luck with those pests, and they're getting a bit out of control.

[JamesJR]

Well, that is cool. If you are having difficulty getting it to feed try offering it cracked open clams or mussels. Live food is also really good too like live black worms or brine shrimp. I would also try mysis shrimp and possibly cyclop eaze. I wish you the best of luck with your fish and hope you have the luck with it that I did.

[TrojanScott]

Thanks James. Also mixing cyclopeeze with the food as well.

Hoping he doesn't pick at my clams, so far, he hasn't. I've heard these guys are hit and miss when it comes to that. So far, so good. (but, not on the damn aiptasia!)

[JamesJR]

Mine never messed with corals or clams, but they can be pretty destructive if they do. The CBB I got was already pretty big when I got it and ended up reaching its adult size. They are pretty impressive when they are full grown but I got rid of mine because I felt my tank was too small for it and I traded to a friend who had a bigger tank.

Have you considered mixing something with their food like selcon or something?

[TrojanScott]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8732419#post8732419 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JamesJR
Mine never messed with corals or clams, but they can be pretty destructive if they do. The CBB I got was already pretty big when I got it and ended up reaching its adult size. They are pretty impressive when they are full grown but I got rid of mine because I felt my tank was too small for it and I traded to a friend who had a bigger tank.

Have you considered mixing something with their food like selcon or something?


I mix Selcon with all my food, always have. :)


Hope I can keep him long term, I'm really liking him more and more by the day. Maybe he'll discover the aiptasia at some point after adjusting. It's only been 4 days. (fingers crossed.)

[wesheltonj]

I have a large yellow tang and he killed my small/medium copperband the first night I put him in. I tried a large Copperband, the yellow tang went after him right away, its been two weeks now and they seem to have a truce most of the time, the Tang will still go after him if they are in each other space. The yellow tang leaves my blue hippo alone.