Copperband Butterfly Primer

Jedheuer, the best place for pods is if you can find a muddy beach at low tide. Usually inlets or bays end up with tide pools at low tide.
I have never collected in Calif (but I will be there in April)
You need a beach with rocks, the pods are under the rocks by the hundreds.
If the water is not too cold for you , you can get into the water with another person using a scene net. We collect thousands of shrimp like that.
For a copperband you should collect the sand worms that should also be under rocks. They are reddish and they bite.
Don't forget, I live in NY so I don't know if California is similar.
Usually rocks will be near boat marinas, they use them to control erosion
 
^Thanks Paul B. When the weather passes I am going to get to the coast. If I have some awesome results I will post here about it.
 
I was excited. LFS got a healthy one in and I bought it for the restaurant 180. Let them qt it for a month in the 55 they had it in. I went out of town and came back to witness a good sized powder brown they stuck in the same tank beating it's corpes down after it had stressed it to death. They learned something at the poor guys expense and I set up MY qt again.
Similar sized tang I think the fin spike woulda worked even in such a small tank for the 2
 
An updated pic of mine taken last night. Recently I started taking a rock from my sump with Aptasia on it and placing it in the back of the display. The CBB cleans it in a day, I rotate the rocks several times per week.

IMG_0820.jpg
 
I have one for 2 months now, really love that fish. The best personality and the boss of the tank. He ate 5 min after being introduced. The first one to recognize me as the source of food only after 2 days after introduction and all the others fishes "followed is lead". So now all the fishes recognize me. Really active.

He doesn't eat flake nor pellets doesn't seem interested at all. Love mysis shrimp soaked in garlic. I'm trying to feed other froozen food but he's only eating mysis for now. Haven't tried blakcworm yet because I read that cholesterol in blackworm is too high for marine fish. He's eating aiptasia but I don't know how much I'm INFESTED.

Mine was eating at the store so I ran there the next morning to pick him up. When I introduced im I only had peaceful fish except my pair of cinnamon clown but they are small around 2" to 2.5" max and my CBB was 3-4".

Here a picture

DSC_0026RESIZED.jpg
 
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Since others have posted there CBB, here is mine. I have had him for almost 4 years now. He has survived 4 large tank moves (50 + miles each trip) along with other equipment faliures.
I bought 2 or 3 CBB before I heard from someone to make sure to have the LFS feed it before I bought it. If it didn't eat, dont buy it. That is about all I knew at the time I got this guy, but appearently I have done something right. He is still one of my favorite fish.
IMG_5598.jpg
 
Haven't tried blakcworm yet because I read that cholesterol in blackworm is too high for marine fish.
Click to expand...

The-Ryder
where did you get this, I would like to read about it.
I am very interested in blackworms as I feed them almost every day
 
I received my CB on a few days ago, and it's currently in QT with some rubble, pipes with aptasia, etc. It will go into my 200g SPS tank. Almost completely peaceful (clowns, leopard wrasses, tomini tang, and hooded wrasse), so hopefully no issues there.

I ordered blackworms, which EVERYTHING likes. The hooded jumps out of the tank to get to them. Ironically the CB has ignored the small hikari mysis, but eats flake. The blackworms are also devoured pretty quickly. I'm trying to feed it 3-5 times a day in QT, depending on how actively it's eating.

I do have one question, I've NEVER had a fish that is this social this quick. It's almost disturbingly calm, coming over when I approach the QT. I had my hand in the tank with the food 3-4" from the CB, and it just watch me. I could probably pet it. Is that at all normal?
 
Eric- I assume that is normal because mine is the same way. He never hides from me and is always front and center. I think it's because he is always hoping I'll feed him again. :lol:
 
I have mixed emotions when it comes to this butterfly fish, mainly due to its tendency to decline in captivity. I believe collection techniques, coupled with husbandry at our level are to blame. I believe the best food source per fish is to match what they eat in the wild, however, I also believe that commercial level food must be utilized, on the aggregate, if success in the hobby is to be achieved.

Sidebar: I can see the importance of the "black worm" conversation on here, but can also see the contra arguement. Not once, after twenty years of diving, have I seen fish eat dry flake food, but in captivity they can survive and thrive on it.

So it was with mixed emotions that I placed an order at my LFS for a small (3" or so), preferably australian, CBB. This would be fish #3 in the last year and a half (the two prior never made it out of quarantine). The fish arrived on a Thursday night, and I arrived well after closing time, to scoop up my new arrival and bring him home. I asked that they not remove the fish from the bag he was shipped in, and not acclimate him to a tank--I prefer to test the shipping water for specific gravity and pH, and adjust the QT tank accordingly. Anytime I think you can take a fish from the wholesaler to your tank, in essence removing the acclimation to the LFS tanks, the better. This is especially true when it comes to hard to care for fish such as the CBB.

After adjusting the QT tank's SG (down to 1.018, to match the shipping water) and pH to 7.8 (Pinpoint monitor), I temp acclimated to the QT (76 degrees), released fish without adding any shipping water, turned out all the lights (tank is in the basement) but plugged in a desk lamp about five feet away for some illumination. Let the record show it was way past midnight :D

IMG_0932_0010_2_Mar09.jpg
 
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Over the next few days I raised the pH to 8.3, and brought the specific gravity to 1.025 (which is what the DT runs he would be going in). I offered food but none was taken, however, he was curious so I was optimistic. I changed the entire contents of the QT about every third day, just keeping ahead of ammonia. In the QT was an aquaclear 150 for circulation and a 50w heater, along with a large ABS coupling. The lights are one NO.

On the seventh day (a day of rest by the way :D), much to my surprise a piece of mysis was taken and then spit out. He showed no signs of parasites after the third week, was eating my homemade food (shrimp, squid, mysis, selcon, garlic--frozen on sheets) so I decided that I would move him into the 65g display.

IMG_0929_0012_2_Mar09.jpg


IMG_0944_0003_2_Mar09.jpg


His tankmates are minimal, and will be for his duration in this tank (two occelaris, and an orchid dottyback).
 
Thanks Marc, maybe one day when you make a west coast road trip you can stop by for a visit and see her/him.

(I can't believe I misspelled 'ocellaris' in the above post....what a bummer, :))

He's eating, and has acclimated better than a lot of fish. I believe I'll hold my breath for the first six months and then start feeling better.

My goals are three fold:

(1) Keep him/her eating a diverse food supply
(2) Provide a stable tank; the tank perimeters I introduced the fish into (i.e. no whammys)
(3) Document everything (the good and the bad).
 
Where in California are you? I'll be at the MAX conference in about two weeks. It is in the Orange County Fairgrounds.
 
My wife and I live ten minutes south of San Francisco. I know about the conference down south, and still have my fingers crossed about attending, but I'm scheduled to go out of town on business the following Monday so a weekend road trip may be out of the question. It should be a blast though.
 
Northern Valley Reefers Association, April 24th,
Then I will be visiting friends there for a few days
 
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