Copperband Butterfly Primer

[JIM260]

My input:

1. of large fish, add him first and let get established before tangs, etc
2. Best in a non-sterile system, for example LPS, softy tank with fuge, lots of micro organisms, macro algea in fuge and main
3. Mine grazes all the time. Only prepared food he accepts is blood worms soaked in vitamins. Wont touch PE Mysis.

[losthere]

I have only had mine in for a few days and what a nice fish. The first day he ate all the aptasia. I had so many i thought for sure he would have food for a few days, but i guess he is a pig. He is now eating mysis and blood worms, but is also picking at my acans, micros, and 1 chalice. He is about to come out. My question is will he eventually lay off if I increase feedings or is it once he starts is there no going back? I really like this fish but i like my corals more.

[mflamb]

Mine has been in a 300 gallon Rubbermaid tub with everything else from the 390 for 3 weeks now. I was only worried about the CBB, but he eats everything that hits the water...flakes, small pellets, and anything frozen.

[HookedonReef17]

Mine has not touched any of my Aiptasia but then again he also hasn't touched any of my corals including a few feather dusters. So i like him for who he is and i've named him "Obnoxious". For his unwillingness to help me out. He is by far my favorite fish.

[crawlerman]

i was at a LFS and they had one that was eating mysis. I had a large aptasia that thew off a ton of small ones. I always like the CBB but I did not think they ate frozen. So i bought him and he ate mysis and marine quisine. He also cleaned up all of the small aptasias but left three big ones. After a month I decided to nuke the big ones with Aptasia X. Well this was a mistake. The next day he was just sitting in the corner jawing like he was chewing gum. The next day he died. i felt horrible because he was a good specimen that was eating prepared food, not eating corals, and ate aptasia. I just wanted to pass this on so nobody else treats aptasia when they have a CBB in the tank. This is a pic of him before he passed.

[gordon2726]

Hi guys,

Can anyone post a picture of a "fat" well fed CB? I got one about 1 month ago and he eat only frozen mysis once every 2 days. He's always picking on rocks and seems like he's eating something.. Also, where is CB's stomach located at? Maybe I can tell if he's full or not if only I know where is his stomach located... Thank you guys!

[55gSW]

I have had two of these beautiful fish. The first one lasted exactly one week. Never ate, never stopped moving. Not sure but I suspect it was a cyanide capture.
The second one ("Bubbles") was much better although it took awhile to get her to eat. I ended up making a clam feeder using a half shell and some of the mesh from an onion bag. This was doubled over the shell so that only the CBB could stick her snout in there to feed, thus giving her time to become accustomed to the food. After awhile I started mixing mysis shrimp in with the clam meat and soon enough she would take food from the water like the rest of the fish or even from my hand.
VERY friendly fish btw!
I had her in a 75g at first which was at that time going for a marine planted tank. You can see the grass in the pic I have added. Anyway she did really well but I noticed that she had this weird head shaking movement. Every so often she would shake her head, it looked like she was coughing. I made sure I soaked her food in garlic to try and help this. As time went on this behavior became more frequent so I did try different meds on her - I was guessing she had some sort of parasite - but nothing seemed to work. (BTW, no other fish ever had these symptoms) I had her for just over a year and a half when she died. It was very hard to lose her, she was such a personable fish.

Beautiful fish, but not one I will ever have again.

[CeasarIM]

Well I must be one of those lucky ones .I've had mine for about 5- 6-7 yrs or so(my tank has been runnin for about 12 yrs now )He eats everythink plus he'll eat out of my hand ,but 75% of my fish do the same .Flake food ,brine shrimp,aptaisia from my fuge.I have not seen aptaisia in my tank since he's been in it.I always put my fish in at night,and when I buy them from lfs I pay for them and tell them Im going out of town for about a week .They put a sold sign on the tank,the fish has time to get aclimated from a stressfull trip than I'll pick it up in a week and a half .By then if it wont eat ,or is not healthy,or looks like crap then it will most likely die .You get your money back and not buy a fish that should not have been sold anyway.It should be like that anyway,when a shipment comes in it should stay unsold untill fish get aclimated.

[ptr13]

I have a copperband butterfly and it has been thriving,loves mysis and brine shrimp but may move on to zoanthids after consuming your aiptasias. I bought him for utility and he has done its job but so far so good,he is beautiful fish to keep in a reef tank and has stayed away from my acros or polyp rocks but my little tube worms are gone.

[jhentr]

Mines been a delightful citizen of my tank (but don't tell that to the mini feather dusters that he took out after being in the tank for 5 minutes). The only thing he'll eat is frozen cubes, freeze dried mysis shrimp. He won't touch flakes/pellets or anything else including zoas, LPS, SPS, and the lone maxima clam I have.

I've been relunctant to keep giving him fresh water clam which he relish just because he might turn on my maxima. At 4 months in my tank, it's still too early to tell, but with me and my luck, once the fish is over 2 months in my tank, it usually last years (knock on wood).

Just make sure it's eating at the store before you buy it and make sure it's curious of it's surrounding, esp you when you walk up to the glass.

[Laddy]

Anyone know the range of these guys in the wild? Are there different color/pattern morphs with the different ranges like there are in other fish?

[JohnnyBassMan]

I have not purchased any fish for my tank. I want to stock with SPS and LPS before adding fish. Should I wait to purchase this fish last?

[Aqua Keepers]

I think this fish should not be a first fish in the tank because it is well known to be a picky eater and it's kind of timid. I feel that fish learn from other fish. So, having some othe non-aggressive fish that wont out compete it for food might help.

[lebloom]

Will a Copperband live in my 75? I am having a aptasia disaster and find nothing that truly helps. Will they get along with a Yellow Tang?

[redman1221]

I am thinking about getting one, but I have a tube anemone so I should not get one should I? I have a 125g mix reef tank that I want to put him in.

[SMOOTHIE]

Bought one for the restaurant reef tank. Eating like a pig, taking care of the aiptasia problem we had from an unquaratined coral purchase and, after a month, the owner wasn't happy with the few aiptasia left so he joe's juiced them. The twitching pests must have enticed the copperband bc I was told he attacked them after the juicing. It also poisoned him, so after I got back from my one day off no more copperband. My only reason for posting this is to warn others of the cross extermination methods that may be harmful.

[iceemn360]

Copperband 6 months going strong

125 gallon reef tank
Tank mates include tangs, mandarins, clowns, one other butterfly, pygmy angels

Bought at about 3" which is the larger size i would reccommend

Fed live black worms/ frozen bloodworms/ live brine/ frozen mysis

Feed food in a fish net> copperband is able to suck the food from the net while other fish cannot

So far so good
here are some photos.

[iceemn360]

Copperband 6 months going strong

125 gallon reef tank
Tank mates include tangs, mandarins, clowns, one other butterfly, pygmy angels

Bought at about 3" which is the largest size i would reccommend

Fed live black worms/ frozen bloodworms/ live brine/ frozen mysis

Feed food in a fish net> copperband is able to suck the food from the net while other fish cannot

So far so good
here are some photos.

[iceemn360]

[JohnnyBassMan]

great pictures

[Laddy]

Nice copperband butterfly!

Are you soaking the food in selcon or something along those lines?

[Fireworm]

great photos

[iceemn360]

I just mix it up between Mysis, Live Black worms, Brine enriched, and Blood worms (its been discussed if this is good or not for marine fish.... hmmm)

[Fireworm]

I just got a little one on Thursday. There was or is a LFS that is moving locations and was giving great deals on everything. I got my little guy for $15. It looks like he has eaten all my feather duster off my LR, which kind of sucks but ok at the same time. I have not seen him eat for 100% sure. I fed Rods food the other night, and I thought I saw him eat that but he was in the back of the tank and kind of hidden.

I have heard that they pose a threat to clams, but can't find anything out on that, any thoughts?

[Zaita]

Originally posted by lebloom
Will a Copperband live in my 75? I am having a aptasia disaster and find nothing that truly helps. Will they get along with a Yellow Tang?

No. Chances are the Yellow Tang is going to have an issue with the CBB. They have a similar body shape to the Zebrasoma tangs, so mixing them is not ideal unless you have a very large tank.

The Yellow Tang would have no trouble dispatching a CBB either.