Set me straight on a Copperband Butterfly

JHJ · #1 10/07/2006, 10:30 PM

Time for another question: Are copperband butterfly's reef safe?

I have heard various responses and want to get an answer before I consider it.

I did see a Copperband in Cward's 'tank of the month' and that leads me to believe that my softies and LPS may be ok. Byerly's has one and they said that the fish was eating mysis shrimp.

Thanks again.

Bcollins111900 · #2 10/07/2006, 10:39 PM

Reef Safe, yes but have to be watched. They love aiptasia(sp?). If it is eating mysis make them prove it to you. Copperbands are notorious for eating fine then one day not eating anymore until they die. Miaminemo aka Will had one for a while in an LPS tank.

Bebo77 · #3 10/07/2006, 10:50 PM

i have one.. he does fine in my tank but i have heard of them picking on polyps on SPS

raynist · #4 10/07/2006, 11:07 PM

Had one, ate mysis and died anyways...

zeppelin · #5 10/08/2006, 07:02 AM

They will also eat ALL your featherdusters and tubeworms.

carman9941 · #6 10/08/2006, 07:29 AM

lost mine last night, he was eating fine for 2 months and then just stopped 2 days ago .Found him this morning

CaveManNOhio · #7 10/08/2006, 07:33 AM

I have had one in my tank for some time now. He has cleaned my tank out of all Aptaisia. And there was a bunch of it. Like zepp said though, he also cleaned out all of my Featherdusters as well.

Now he eat's pretty much a wide variety of the frozen foods I put in the tank. He is also very sociable.

icu2 · #8 10/08/2006, 02:40 PM

All of the butterflies I ever had liked seafood mixture (mussel, scallop, whitefish, shrimp) blended together, frozen then fed to them. My last CB died due to a nasty anemone sting after having him over a year. My Facala has been doing well for over 6 months and even eats flake foods.
As for being reef safe, the CB never gave me any trouble eating only feather dusters and aptasia; the facala ate all of the aptasia, tube worms and the small amount of zoos I had in the tank.

szwab · #9 10/08/2006, 03:53 PM

i've had 2 and both ended up dying. Both just as I was thinking things were going well both were eating but then started to decline. I would not put them on a long term successful fish list unless you are prepared to provide a proper diet for them. I will most likely not buy one again even though they are one of my favorite fish.. I do think there are exceptions though. They doe eat aptasia, feather dusters tube woms. I have also heard the ocasional one picking at clams.
that's my 2 cents worth

Jonsey · #10 10/09/2006, 12:30 PM

I've had mine for over a year with no problems. (knock, knock)

Quickly went through the little aptasia I had, and from day one ate my regular homemade mix of squid, scallop, shrimp and tilapia.

Not aggressive at all, has never had any illnesses. Doesn't pick at the zoos, either. He's a model citizen

FYI - I use the frozen seafood combo mix from Trader Joes, add a fillet of tilapia, and run it through the shreader of the Cuisinart (still frozen, very important!), add a bit of water to make it pasty, & freeze it in snack bags - makes 8 - 10 bags for about $7.00.

miaminemo · #11 10/09/2006, 12:34 PM

I had a really healthy one for quite a long time. Ridded my tank of every last piece of aiptasia.. I even resorted to culturing more in my overflow and then dropping them in the tank for mine.

Hed very rarely eat mysis, and once in a while cyclopeeze, but when the aiptasia ran out, he very quickly began to look thinner..

He never bothered anything of value in my tank, but I dont have any feather dusters...

I love the fish, but I dont think they arent necessarily the best suited for captivity.. unless you get lucky and find one that will eat meats...

Kustomreefer · #12 10/11/2006, 04:13 PM

I have one that is 2+ years old. It ate all my aptasia and feather dusters! It LOVES Mysis. When it sees my feeding cup, It starts shaking it's head knowing dinner is on it's way!