Copper banded butterfly fish??? your .02$ please

[witness_creation]

I have been having an aptaisa problem in my 55g not out of controll yet. But went to a guys house and seen a copper banded butterfly and I think they look realy cool. I have lots of feater dusters and a mature dsb and various softies and lookin to get some sps, lps in future. any one have any opinions on if this is a good fish to keep in my tank?
I have 2 oss clowns, bangai, fire fish and red head gobie.
other mis inverts.

please give your .02$

[Vilas]

Well, I have one in my 55 for the same reason. I've only had him for 2 months, so the jury's still out, but I did my reading for quite a while beforehand, so, for what it's worth...
The classic problem with these fish is that some don't eat prepared foods, and pick at corals. So, I spent months finding one eating in captivity for three weeks in a reef at a good LFS. No picking, the works. It was eating live brine, and over the course of six weeks, I gradually won that battle, it's now eating fozen mysis soaked in selcon. I felt like a million bucks the day mine finally pigged out on mysis, it took a bit of patience. Even Dr. Ron's will only take brine - finding one that will take real food can be tricky.
The drawback? No, no picking at corals. Not even feather dusters!! Nor aiptasia. I think that if you find one that REALLY won't pick at things, and eats prepared foods, they're also the ones that will ignore your aiptasia. Mine eats the tiny ones, so theoretically, I can just kill the big guys, but it's not so easy in real life.
On the up side, I don't care too much! I really, really, really adore this fish. Once mine adjusted to my tank, he now follows me everywhere, swims up to my face on the glass, and flirts with guests. They're goregeous fish!
On another note, I have one in a 55, but his only tankmates are a pair of percs, and I'm upgrading soon! As is, I feed the percs first so he gets food - they're too agressive, and will steal the food away from the copperband. That's a decent load of fish you have there, you might want to think hard before adding a copperband.
Just my experiences, hopefully, others will have more to contribute.

[The Hawk'ster]

I have a 90g with a copperband only 1 mo old. I have him eating frozen brine and mysis shrimp. I also have to wait and feed him last. I havea flame and a tricolor angel, pair of percs, yellow and powder brown tang, flame hawk orcide dotty back and a mandarin. Did I mention the tricolor fairy wrasse. All are very healthy. Not to mention all the inverts. No problems yet with the copperband.

[joezkool]

Hey Lon buddy ole pal (Lon is my partner at work).

Remember how I had that problem. The only thing I can say, about these fish, is from what I was told. They will eat featherdusters, polyps, an other coral. I guess it matters a lot weather they are wild or tank raised, in the wild they grew up on the inverts. They also are sloppy eaters, leaving crumbs of aiptasia spores behind, only to grow new ones. One last thing, they will grow significantly bigger then the fish you have now.

[Vilas]

I didn't know that they're available tank raised! Do you know of anywhere that sells them?

[npaden]

I have one in my reef tank with sps, lps, some softies and clams. They will eat your feather dusters in my experience. Mine also does and OUTSTANDING job on aipastsia. I've had it for about 6 months now and never have seen it eat anything out of the water column, but it appears very healthy and is not skinny at all. I have a really nice growth of breeding aipistasia in my overflow boxes where the copperband can't get to them so I guess between those spreading into the tank and the featherdusters in the tank (it's a 415) it gets enough to eat without supplemental feeding.

I also watched this fish in the LFS display reeftank for 2 months before purchasing it, and I think that is important. Probably the only thing I don't like about mine is that sometimes it will pick on my nassarius snails. When they come crawling up out of the sand it will bite their snout and then drop them. I don't think this is killing the snails as I've still got a good population of them, but that has to hurt! ;)

All that said, there is no way you could support one in a 55 unless it was eating prepared food. I would put patience at the top of my list and wait until a nice specimen came in and you saw it eating at the LFS.

FWIW, Nathan

[toptank]

I have had one in my 180 for a few months and no more aptaisa. About the only thing that I have seen him eat is mysis shrimp. He loves that. As far as picking at my SPS/clam I haven't seen hin do that at all.

Barry

[dragon0121]

One other observation. If I dump something in my tank that elicits a feeding response from my pineapple coral, the pineapple coral will also put out sweeper tentacles. The copperband will snarf them sweeper tentacles up as soon as he sees them. The result being, I haven't seen sweeper tentacles on my corals in 6 months. :(

[David Grigor]

This may be a really stupid question.......

Today I purchased a Copperband. I was planning to put it in my 37G Oceanic for a while so I can keep a good eye on him. There are only a couple of peaceful fish in there along with plenty of aptasia.....

Only thing I didn't think of when planning this was that the tank also has a rose bubble tip amenome.

Since they will eat aptasia anmeones do I have to worry about the bubble tip ?

If I can't put him in there then I will put him into the 190g show tank where there are no amenomes other than aptasia but was wanting to put him in the 37g first.

Any recommendations ?

[toptank]

I can not answer you question ragarding the bubble.

I haven't posted this till now as I have been so upset but now I think I can tell about it.

As some of you know I just received a very nice Black Tiger clam from Jim Norris in Texas. I have 5 other clams in my tank with a copperband and he has NEVER bother them before. The day I put the black tiger in the display tank, the copperband attached it several times in the inlet. After a few hours and breaking some of my SPS, I did get the CB out and returned him to the LFS. I thought that he had killed the clam. I put the clam in a hospital tank for a few days so that he wouldn't get anymore stress. I am happy to report that I think now that he will be fine.

Just thought that I would share that will you all incase you have clams. It may never happens as it hadn't till now with me.

Barry

[Clyde]

I hope this answer comes soon :)

I bought one 2 weeks ago from Somthing Fishy (MN) its very small - been in my 12 gallon tank last 2 weeks - no rock in there, cept a colt coral, a tree coral of some type and some aiptasia.

I havent seen any gone away yet, but in the main tank, I do have a carpet anemone and a bta anemone that comes and goes when it pleases, I am curious becuase I m ready to move it from the nano tank into the 180 in a week or two.


Originally posted by David Grigor
This may be a really stupid question.......

Today I purchased a Copperband. I was planning to put it in my 37G Oceanic for a while so I can keep a good eye on him. There are only a couple of peaceful fish in there along with plenty of aptasia.....

Only thing I didn't think of when planning this was that the tank also has a rose bubble tip amenome.

Since they will eat aptasia anmeones do I have to worry about the bubble tip ?

If I can't put him in there then I will put him into the 190g show tank where there are no amenomes other than aptasia but was wanting to put him in the 37g first.

Any recommendations ?

[Starfish]

:) my very favorite fish.I have one now for 5 years and 4 month.
he eats out of my fingers and is the first one there with the yellow tang. He never picks at my corals and clams and never picks on other fish.He eats live and frozen brine, mysis shrimp bloodworms, marine mix and loves grated squid. Flakes he never touches.Oh yes he loves my banggai cardinal they hang out in the same cave for a rest, looks so cute.:D :cool:

[tendar]

I had one for 2 mounths before it died and took all my feather dusters and one green brain with it. It was picking at food at the LFS but never really took to food when I got it home. It never touched my aptias either.

[Fishwife]

I have one in my 200 gal. reef. There are no tube worms left but no aptaisia either. :) She will eat frozen mysis, brine, and blood worms. She loves live blackworms more than anything and we give her some once in a while as a treat. She is not an aggressive eater except when blackworms are in the water, but she does eat well. I feed heavily so she manages to get plenty. She has also developed a taste for nori in the veggie clip and will swim over and stare at the clip if it is empty. She is always the first one to take a bite out of fresh piece, too. The tangs actually hold back and wait for her to rip into it first. Funny.

As far as aptaisia goes, we have a 37 gal. that is full of it - big, small, medium - you name it. All we have to do is hold a rock down into the water and she is all over it. She rarely misses an aptaisia and as soon as we start to lower a rock into the tank she is there waiting because she knows it's for her.

I think one of the keys to having a good eater (besides seeing them eat at the LFS) is to quarantine for about a month and get them onto all kinds of food during that period. Ours doesn't bother LPS, SPS, softies, or clams.

[Gary Majchrzak]

David & Clyde, I have 2 regular BTA's plus 1 'rose' and the 3 are basically unguarded by the single A. frenatus I put in there before adding the CBB - just for the the same fear you have.The CBB has NEVER touched a desirable coral, clam or anemone in 19 months I am happy to report.Apparently the story would be different with a racoon butterfly according to my research.He does not even so much as blink at an unguarded anemone.Remember-every fish is different,but I feel confident about you adding the CBB.Dragon0121-I have made the same observation and I am pleased by this fact because long sweepers do SERIOUS long range damage!Before eating aiptasia,these fish will go after worms in the DSB if you have them.Aiptasia cleanup may take months or even years... Gary

[yznhmr]

My CB has been in my tank like a week now.. he has almost demolished my little featherdusters( dont mind) but he has also eatten almos all of my terribellied worms out of my sand bed. I bought 3 terribellied about 4 months ago and they multiplied to about 15 of them, now all i ce after a few days is a few left..
havent seen any aptasia gone either.. Bastard is gonna eat everything else before he starts on the aptasia...:eek1: :mad: :( :eek: :eek2:

[Organicj]

I too love the Copper Band Butterfly. I had one in a 40 gallon about ten years ago and I miss it so much. It was one of the most spectacular fish I have ever owned. It developed a powder blue trim to it's fins. The color of the bands wasn't just a brown color but rather many subtle degrees of copper. He was a ravenous eater that endured all. I would though not always recomend it to just any beginner. Nor would I recommend it to anyone with a lush reef. You can get peppermint shrinp that will perform the same task and will not die on you. They seek and destroy all aptasia anemone, then become foraging detritivores. Just a word, but don't get me wrong I would almost be willing to risk a certain amount of reef damage if they were just more hardy in general. Good luck to all...

[Nanook]

I got a CBB a couple weeks ago...it is a BEAUTY. It is eating mysis shrimp and picking at the rocks, possibly eating the devil's spawn...aiptasia. That is one gorgeous fish with it's bright orange bands and silvery-white body. My wife and I love that fish and hope that it does good in our tank. It is now holding it's own with the Purple Tang too.


Nanook

[Goby1Knoby]

Fascinating reading all

Read all the above with great interest :)

Likewise I have one now in a 5' Holding tank ,awaiting the completion of my new system.

Have had it for 5 Months and , for some strange reason , I have really grown attached to it. OK I know its a fish and this is a one way relationship :D , but it just has the behavioural edge over the other inhabitants, though my Z.Flavescens & Xanthhurum are up there too.

Just the way it is so bold, I have even had to VERY gently brushed it aside as it tries to muscle in when im target feeding my Plerogyra Sin.


Nathan

I don't think this is killing the snails as I've still got a good population of them, but that has to hurt!

LOL :D Mine does the same, and I always think the same when I see it ...Yeooowww, bet he felt that ! :)



And as stated above the way it follows you up and down the tank, and comes right up against the glass.

Not to mention the BEAUTIFULL colouration and shape.

Though ( and I know it has been said above, just to reiterate )

If buying one ensure the following


1.It is actively feeding visibly in your LFS before you purchase it.

2.Your system is such to provide it with optimum water conditions and non agressive tankmates ( adding to an established tank containing YellowT/Zeb.Flavescens can be a problem , leading to the C.Band being harrassed to death/to ill health )

3.Check in detail for any signs of illness, flashing/rubbing off rocks, loss of colour.

4.Check carefully their beak/snout area for damage , which they can be susceptible too from transportation, if evident do not buy , as this can lead to non feeding and their demise.

This is the second one I have had , the first wasted away, and never fed, due to my , well , stupidity , in not checking it was eating before purchasing it. It refused all manner of foods offered to it.

So sad to see it wasting away.

As said by a previous poster, for that reason I get such enjoyment out of watching the one I have now wolfing down food. :)

Other things I have noticed are that

1. They do take a while , even when bought actively feeding to settle in, and be able to get their fair share of food added. Especially so with specialist active water coloumn feeders such as Damsels, clowns, chromis etc.

We gotta remember that they more so than a lot of the other spp. we keep in our Aq's are used to picking their food from rockwork. Therefore take a while to adapt to our usual method of " dumping " a frozen blend of food into the swirling water coloumn. Hence I have found it very usefull to target feed with a turkey baster untill confident that he can " mix " it with the rest in feeding terms.

2.They are very active at our simulated Dawn/Dusk, and this is a good time to feed them, if they are having probs getting food during the normal photoperiod, due to competition.

3.They need feeding more than once a day.


Cheers


Brian.
:)

[cbbutterflykiss]

Hello, I'm new at the posting stuff, and i just a cbb 2 weeks ago. She is beautiful, was very shy..... but not now. She hasn't picked at my corals or my aptasia as of yet. She didnt eat for the first week exsept for my bristle worms I watched her pull them right out of the gravel. But as far as prepared foods now she loves MarineQuisine,frozen food. Good luck they are incredible fish. thanks cbbutterflykiss

[Gary Majchrzak]

cbbutterflykiss: I just noticed your first posting!
WELCOME to Reef Central!
Make sure to listen for a popping noise- that is the sound of an aiptasia getting slurped up by a CBB!

[Nanook]

Gary...welcome like this:

[welcome]


Nanook:D

[Gary Majchrzak]

I have to learn how to post that !
BTW Nanook, everytime I see your snowman AVATAR, I think of a can of 'Nestea' iced tea! :p

[Organicj]

Check this out G-1-K, the one that I had was in a 55g fish-only. That isn't so unusual, the thing that WAS lays in the other inhabitants. It held it's own with an 18" bamboo cat shark, niger and undulated triggers, a snowflake moray and a common carribean stingray. I know you're saying to yourself, man that sounds overcrowded. You would be correct. No matter what I did I couldn't get my Nitrates below 110ppm. Can you believe that? Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't believe it. That's what made this guy so incredible. Beleive it or not this guy was growing and feeding and doin' great for almost three years. No, he didn't die in that tank. I traded him in when I went to a larger tank. Man, that was stupid of me. Word to you all...If you get one eating and doing well, don't let it go. I have sought to replace him for almost ten years and haven't found one yet that even comes close. I worked as head of the aquatics department for two years while I was in college and never had one move through that I would take home. Great to see sooo many others that love this fish as much as I do.

[Gary Majchrzak]

Organicj: Cool insight! I hope to keep this CBB of mine a very long time!
I waited six years before attempting to maintain one!

[Technobuyer]

I added a CBB to my tank about 3 weeks ago. I made sure it was eating at the LFS first. My hope was that it would help with the aiptasia problem I was having...boy did I get lucky! It eats frozen mysis and Aiptasia! Actually cleaned the aips out of the tank in about 3 weeks. If you can meet their care requirements, and can find one already eating, they are a wonderful fish!

[Wind]

i would like to bump this up !!..

they eat bristle worms/??

so are they reef safe??

thanks

[Stevenx2]

It's an old thread, but I thought I'd bump it before I open a new one.
I am thinking of adding one to my 90G tank. The thing is I've already got a yellow tang in it. Will that be a big problem, or will they get along with each other? Experiences please.

[BryanJ]

Got mine the first weekend in December last year already eats out of my hand. Definitely the coolest fish I have ever owned.