A Copperbanded or Klein's Butterfly?

whatcaneyedo

whatcaneyedo

Member
Would a Copperbanded Butterfly or a Klein's Butterfly be aright in my tank? Which would be better for controlling aptasia and getting along with everything?

I'm not too worried about corals because I can move many of them to another tank without a problem, my main concern is would these fish be alright together in a tank this size.

Heres a description of my tank: 120 gal 3 years old, 55 gal sump, 20 gal fuge.

Fish: Volitan Lionfish, Snowflake Moray, Tomatoe Clown, Purple Tang, Engineer Goby

Corals: 30+ species of different soft, LPS and SPS

Other inverts: Sebae anemone, 2 crocea, 1 maxima, 1 derasa, tiger tail cucumber, green death brittle star, blue linka starfish

This picture is from January:
pic016.jpg
 
copperbanded butterfly DON'T work. let me tell you my story. my lfs told me it work so far i buy 5 of them not at a same time and they all die on me. don't buy them because someone told you they are aptasia control. ppl say klein's butterfly is aiptasia control? never ty so can't tell you but copperbanded they nip on my coral too oh! they kill my coco worm too! good lucky
 
Klein's is the better Aiptasia destroyer but it will also destroy other inverts more readily than a CBB- that's why CBB's are the preferred Butterflyfish for Aiptasia control.
Your aquarium is beautiful!
Personally, I wouldn't put a Klein's Butterflyfish in there- you don't want a cure that's worse than the problem. Kalk paste and a CBB might be your best bets to beat Aiptasia.
 
A kleins would have a hay day in there. I've tried them twice and they gorged themselves on everything but aptasia. And they were the hardest fish to catch, it took me 4 days on the last one.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
 
Aiptasia control

Aiptasia control

The Klein's butterflyfish is much easier to keep as it eats readily whereas the Copperband usually does not. Yet the Copperband has a somewhat better track record as far as not bothering corals. That doesn't mean that they won't do it. When introducing the butterflyfish the Tomato clown and the Purple Tang could act aggressively toward them at first but should let up after a while.

James
 
CBB are tough fish to keep. I would definately discourage casual keeping them simply to kill aptasia, which even then they may not even do. Ever try shrimp to eat them? Less risk of them eating your corals.
 
he can't use shrimp because of the fish in the aquarium ;)

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12145019#post12145019 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by whatcaneyedo
Fish: Volitan Lionfish, Snowflake Moray, Tomatoe Clown, Purple Tang, Engineer Goby
Click to expand...
 
i have four peppermints in my tank and they dont eat them. i witnessed them eat it when i was acclimating them but in the tank i guess there is enough steak to eat so the dont wont mustard sandwiches (aiptasia). the copperband is a risky option though. i have had 3 of them. they either starved or in the case of the last one succumbed to ich but he did get alot of the aiptasia and didnt bother my cocoworms or corals. i need another one but i am reluctant for several reasons. i kalk away and there is always one hiding that rebuilds there numbers
 
In my experience the peppermint shrimp only work in a smaller system where there are not as many food choices and as most of you noticed my fish would eat them... I once managed to get one of those aptasia eating nudibranchs. I fed it an aptasia in quarantine and it ate it but when I put it in my tank it just disapeared.

I kalk paste the larger aptasia that are out in the open but there are still so many (mostly little ones) in the rockscape.

I've also tried Copperbands in the past. The first one wiped out all of my aptasia in a week but then died because it was in an over crowded 30 gal... the second one was doing well but I gave it back to the pet shop because it was going after my Christmas tree worm rock. This time I can move the worm rock to a different tank so hopefully everything will work out.
 
CBB did the trick in my heavily infested tank. Maybe I got lucky but I found the CBB to be rather easy to keep. Ate everything I threw in the tank and spent the day poking around the live rock keeping the tank clear of aptasia. Jerry.
 
stay away from the klein as most people stated they will nip most of your corals the copper band is your best bet but when purchasing one it has to be eating at the lfs & body wise has to be plumped not skinny.i have tried 2 copper bands both with great success still have one thriving in my reef
 
djze said:
stay away from the klein as most people stated they will nip most of your corals the copper band is your best bet but when purchasing one it has to be eating at the lfs & body wise has to be plumped not skinny.i have tried 2 copper bands both with great success still have one thriving in my reef
Click to expand...

He is correct. I love my Kleins, aptasia did not have a chance. I can safely say that I had easily over 500+ of these little creatures. The Kleins took care of them in about a week. Now i have also lost a six inch welso, and slowly some zoas. I have yet to figure out what im going to do. Kleins might be going back to the store.
 
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