Copper Banded Butterfly

[gaucho30]

I picked up a copper banded butterfly today and he seems to be doing fine so far. He has been going to town on the feather dusters, havent seen him go after aiptasia yet but im crossing my fingers. I have read that they can be a very difficult fish to keep, anyone have any experience they want to share?

 

[Shane Hoffman]

They thrive in a tank with a bunch of copepods. Hopefully your tank is well established. If you have trouble getting him to eat try some cyclops.

 

[HookedonReef17]

I had to try 3 times. The first two were smaller when i got them. The third one was an Australian and he was full grown. I fed him live brine and clams on a half shell for about two weeks, Then he ate mysid and cyclops! The first two i just tried mysid and they never took. It sucked so bad! But i gave my tank a year to establish itself before i tried my first one. At my lfs they sell copepods that i put in once or twice. He seems to be doing very well and it took him probably a month before he starting eating my aiptasia. But once he started it went pretty quick. Good luck with yours. They are awesome fish!!

 

[evogames]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15338845#post15338845 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shane Hoffman
They thrive in a tank with a bunch of copepods. Hopefully your tank is well established. If you have trouble getting him to eat try some cyclops.

Agree... Or try using live brine shrimp.

 

[cdbias2]

That's a fish that you should see it eat before you buy it.
A store should be more than willing to show you if a fish eats or not.

 

[reidcrandall]

Mine has been doing very well on frozen mysis. Start trying to train him to eat that while there is still natural food in the tank. If you don't get them eating frozen and prepared foods, they will starve after they eat everything that they like in the tank.

 

[gaucho30]

He already took some frozen brine shrimp, well atleast a couple pieces. He didnt spit them out so that is promising. My tank has been established for about 3 years, albeit only 5 months with me. There is a good pod population that I can see when the lights go out so hopefully all will go well. Thanks for the tips and hopefully I can make this guy thrive.

 

[HookedonReef17]

Good luck! More pods wouldn't hurt.

 

[jhentr]

Mines been with me for about 7 months now. Doesn't touch pellets, but does eat flakes sometimes. Mostly, 90% of his bulk diet is just freeze dried mysis shrimp and frozen mysis shrimp.

Mines did eat live blood worms at the store before I bought it. I would say it grew about an inch since I got it.

 

[coral_lagoon]

Re: Copper Banded Butterfly

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15338804#post15338804 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gaucho30
dusters, havent seen him go after aiptasia yet but im crossing my fingers.

You have a better chance with a few peppermint shrimps..

 

[gaucho30]

Re: Re: Copper Banded Butterfly

Re: Re: Copper Banded Butterfly

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15340358#post15340358 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coral_lagoon
You have a better chance with a few peppermint shrimps..

Ya I am picking some up wed, but I got the copperband for 25 and I want to transfer him over to my 120 so i figured why not go with both.

 

[snorvich]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15339110#post15339110 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by evogames
Agree... Or try using live brine shrimp.

Ok, to start them eating, but brine shrimp are inadequate nutritionally. they will eat live black worms, sort of like crack for fish.

 

[snorvich]

Not all CBB eat aiptasia and in fact not all will be reef safe. Good luck with yours.

 

[KyleO]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15343068#post15343068 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snorvich
Ok, to start them eating, but brine shrimp are inadequate nutritionally. they will eat live black worms, sort of like crack for fish.

I agree with the Black Worms........my CBB will eat as much of them as he can hold......every time I put them in.

Oh yeah, the rest of the fish do what they can to clear the water of Black worms immediately.

 

[jimroth]

Agree with most of the above. FYI my CBB waited almost two months to start eating aiptasia, then wiped them all out in a day.

 

[gaucho30]

He seems to eating frozen brine shrimp, what else do I need to supplement his diet with?

 

[Znut Reefer]

Mysis shrimp (Frozen)

 

[snorvich]

+1 with mysis. Blackworms always work.

 

[psykokid]

Hrmm.. I may have to give this a go as peppermint shrimp are just an expensive appetizer for my flame hawk. Tried aiptasia X and it gets rid of them for a while, but in the end they usually come back.

 

[gaucho30]

Just a little update, I moved my CBB to my 120 and he is thriving. He even wiped out all the aiptasia! He takes frozen food, albeit he wont eat it until it is freely floating in the water column away from other fish. This isnt much of a problem though, I simply turn the pumps off, and when the other fish seem like they have had enough I turn the pumps on and Mr. CBB goes to town.