Cooperband & purple tang
- Thread starter zabrazuma
- Start date
flfireman1
Wrasse aficionado
I have a copper band in my home reef tank. He is doing very well and has actually put on weight. Granted he has only been in the tank for a month, and just now started eating live brine shrimp. Make sure you have lots of "mature" live rock. Mine started eating off the rocks immediately once I put him in. They will eat the copepods and tiny crustaeceans that live among the live rocks. It also helps if you have no other fish that will compete for the same food source as them.
The only purple tangs Ive seen lately are in Broward. Big Als had a tiny one (smallest one Ive ever seen) and Pets Unlimited has a very large one but it looks to have head and lateral line errosion.
The only purple tangs Ive seen lately are in Broward. Big Als had a tiny one (smallest one Ive ever seen) and Pets Unlimited has a very large one but it looks to have head and lateral line errosion.
I have a mix of hard and soft corals in my tank and I've never seen my Copperband pick at any of them. It loves clams though, so do my wrasses. So I'd think twice if you have any decorative clams. Mine come from Publix as part of my cleanup crew. Once in a while a wrasse will dig one up and I'll shuck it for them 
Ding2daDong
New member
Coral Reef Farm usually always has purple tangs. I had a copperband but it ended up dying. I had to buy live brine and mix it with frozen for it to eat. Then I slowly took away the live brine and it started to eat only frozen mysis. In the end it went on a hunger strike and wouldn't eat anything, ended up dying not to long after. Very hard to keep and only would get one if it has been in an established tank eating pellets/mysis.
hth
-Matthew
hth
-Matthew
flfireman1
Wrasse aficionado
What do you mean it comes from publix as part of your clean up crew????<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11921873#post11921873 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pedromatic
It loves clams though, so do my wrasses. So I'd think twice if you have any decorative clams. Mine come from Publix as part of my cleanup crew. Once in a while a wrasse will dig one up and I'll shuck it for them
Young Frankenstein
New member
Yes I do have experience with a coper band ....................R.I.P. poor fella didnot want to eat..........it unexpired 
I mean that I occasionally buy clams from Publix (littlenecks) and throw them in my tank. I put them in a small container with a bubbler for a while to check that they're alive. Any dead ones I shuck and throw in (unless they smell bad), my fish love them. The ones that survive bury in the sand and help clean up and keep my sand bed healthy. Once in a while my Twin Spot Wrasse (avatar) will find one and dig it up. When he finds one he's relentless and won't let it bury itself, so I shuck it and throw it in... dinner.
Back on the subject of Copperbands, mine did well because there were plenty of worms and other little critters in my sand and rocks to keep him happy. Eventually he got used to the frozen stuff, frozen clams and PE Mysis, using his long jaws to deftly remove the shell and eat the meat. But he won't touch pellets or flake, so if that's what you're feeding, don't get a Copperband.
