Copperband Butterfly Primer
- Thread starter BrianD
- Start date
sanchoy
New member
glad to inform.
mine is still alive after 1 month. For the first week he did not eat, only pods and tasia. Then started eating frozen mysis and clam/shrimp mix. Doing well and holding his own vs my tang gang (sohal,horse shoe,purple,blue hippo,tomini,yellow,sail fin).
the sailfin was waring with the cbb at first, but now resides peacefully. probably due to the same striping on both fishes.
mine is still alive after 1 month. For the first week he did not eat, only pods and tasia. Then started eating frozen mysis and clam/shrimp mix. Doing well and holding his own vs my tang gang (sohal,horse shoe,purple,blue hippo,tomini,yellow,sail fin).
the sailfin was waring with the cbb at first, but now resides peacefully. probably due to the same striping on both fishes.
preef
New member
I lost my CBB yesterday. He was literally fine one day and dead the next. Not sure what happened. He was doing great. He ate lots of Rod's food and seemed to be doing well.
A few days before he died he seemed to be out of sight more than usual. I was a little alarmed when I couldn't find him but after about 5 minutes he came out and ate well.
I was feeding him every other day. I used a turkey baster to feed Rod's food to make sure he got enough. He would stick is mouth inside the end of the baster to get the food. Perhaps every other day wasn't enough.
Yesterday when I came home from work he was no longer able to swim. he had brown splotches on him as well as some white spots on the end of little threads hanging off his fins. He was still alive but barely. I had to go out and when I came home I couldn't find him again.
I had heard of other reports of CBBs that died suddenly. Not sure what happened in other cases.
A few days before he died he seemed to be out of sight more than usual. I was a little alarmed when I couldn't find him but after about 5 minutes he came out and ate well.
I was feeding him every other day. I used a turkey baster to feed Rod's food to make sure he got enough. He would stick is mouth inside the end of the baster to get the food. Perhaps every other day wasn't enough.
Yesterday when I came home from work he was no longer able to swim. he had brown splotches on him as well as some white spots on the end of little threads hanging off his fins. He was still alive but barely. I had to go out and when I came home I couldn't find him again.
I had heard of other reports of CBBs that died suddenly. Not sure what happened in other cases.
Neoz
New member
Preef sorry to hear about you CBB. But don't give up on them yet. They are too beautiful of a fish. How long did you have him?
When I first got mine he wouldn't eat any prepared foods. Just a few Aiptasia and thats it. Once he wiped that out it took him about a month too start finally eating. Today almost a year later mine will eat a variety of foods. Soo don't give up. You just have to find the perfect one..
When I first got mine he wouldn't eat any prepared foods. Just a few Aiptasia and thats it. Once he wiped that out it took him about a month too start finally eating. Today almost a year later mine will eat a variety of foods. Soo don't give up. You just have to find the perfect one..
bigworm175
New member
I posted about my voracious eater a while ago but it's gotten worse (better I guess). I have had my CBB for several months now and he has always done great. He cleared the tank of aptasia within a few days (there was a lot of it). I started him on black worms (he still gets those often) and then frozen mysis. I have tangs and he began eating more of the nori than the tangs. Two days ago he started eating the flake spiralina I feed my chromises.
Has anyone ever had a CBB eat these things? What a pig! He's also best friends with a yellow tang and I heard they would fight.
Has anyone ever had a CBB eat these things? What a pig! He's also best friends with a yellow tang and I heard they would fight.
nonimmigrant
New member
go buy some live small clams from the store and toss them into the freezer. each morning just as the lights are about to come on, take a clam and put it into a bowl and add boiling H2O. When the clam is about 1/3" open, toss it into the tank and watch the CBB attack. Mine is about 5" long now and he'll take 2 clams a day.
whatcaneyedo
Member
I've had a copperbanded butterfly for a full two years now. It is in my 120gal mixed reef tank along with a Purple Tang, Tomato Clown, Mandarin Dragonet, Snowflake Moray, and Fu manchu Lionfish.
When I bought it, it was about 1.5" long. I kept it in my fishless 50gal frag tank for the first two weeks so that it could quietly settle in. It quickly ate all of the spaghetti worms in that tank's sandbed. When I moved it into the 120gal my Purple Tang chased it for a few hours until I dip netted the Tang out. The Tang was so distracted it did not even see the net coming and so I just scooped it out with ease. For the next month the Tang lived in exile my 100gal sump while the Butterfly settled in. Upon returning the Tang to the 120gal there was no more aggression.
For the first few weeks the only food the Butterfly ate was spaghetti worms and fan worms. After about a month it began eating the aptasia that I intended it for. After two months it tried out some frozen mysis shrimp. Presently its eats all of these things including pods, bristle worms, grocery store clam and mussel. It has also begun eats several types of coral. My Pseudopterogorgia (eats the polyps), acans, trachyphyllia, and lobophyllia all had to be removed.
I do not know what area my copperband was collected from but prior to it I tried one from Indonesia which died within a week.
Considering how quickly this fish decimated the population of worms, pods and aptasia in my tank I have to agree with others recommendations in this thread that they are best kept in sparingly stocked large mature tanks (over 100gal) with plenty of liverock.
mjoener
BAMs BAMs... I have a ton
could you be a little bit more specific? I am going to be getting my CBB tomorrow he eats frozen brine, but I want to know how I can supplement his diet. Your clam idea sounds great.
So you pick them up from the grocery store, freeze em, then boil em for awhile then toss em in? Why not buy the pre-frozen ones?
OneArmedBandit
New member
My CBB devours blackworms and just picks at mysis; however, I did see it pick at some flake yesterday. Every fish in my tank eats the black worms, I have an Occy Clown, 2 Firefish, Midas Blenny, Burgess Butterfly and a Lemon Butterfly, my emerald crabs and Cleaner shrimp eat them too! -Steve
tibob32
New member
My CBB testimony: I got a CBB 5 months ago. The thing was fat and healthy and started eating prepared food the day it was introduced in my tank. No aggressive tank mates, well established SPS tank, fed mysis 3x daily. One morning I wake up and it's MIA. I tore down my tank 2 weeks later (moving) and not a trace of the poor thing.
So this is +1 for "CBB has a short lifespan in captivity". I won't be replacing it. I think they're best left in the ocean.
So this is +1 for "CBB has a short lifespan in captivity". I won't be replacing it. I think they're best left in the ocean.
I looked at your previous picture before reading this and was wondering if your fish didn't have some kind of parasite... it looks like it has isopods or something on it in the picture you posted.
What a wonderful thread. I recently obtained a mysis eating CB from NY aquatics that unfortunately went through traumatic shipment/broken box. The CB seemed unharmed and went into a 20 gallon long QT. The first 4 days I struck out with blackworms, PE mysis, fresh mussel, and anything else I could think of. Another fish in the order, a pink tail trigger showed signs of flukes (white moving spots in his right eye) in a different QT. A freshwater dip was performed on the trigger and 40 or so flukes fell off after just 3 minutes. The CB was just swimming back and forth along the wall rubbing its nose against the glass. I thought surely he was a goner in due time. Then I noticed a spot and thought well it is stressed and getting ich. I did run a 9 watt UV in the QT the entire time. I was going to do hypo but was worried because it still was not eating.
After seeing the trigger and several other spots arise, I tried a freshwater dip temperature and pH matched. Without a net I gently trapped in a specimen container, drained the salt water and performed a 5 minute dip. I slowly watched about 15 1mm spots ball up and fall off. After 5 minutes, I placed the CB back into the QT and he was a different fish. He started cruising around, studying crevices, and swam with more energy. So I tried PE mysis a couple of minutes later. He ate it up. I tried Hikari dipped in selcon, he ate it up. This afternoon I tried Ocean Nutrition, Formula One, he ate it up. I just tried IO marine blend, he ate it.
Anyway, I read a great thread here on flukes and believed the stressor for my CB was flukes because there was a noticeable change immediately after the dip. I have a fedex package of prazipro coming tomorrow to treat the rest but I wanted to share my experience. Consider flukes, definitely QT, and have prazipro on hand.
Thank you for those who contributed to this thread and the one on flukes. Both a must read for CB owners or those looking to acquire a new one.
After seeing the trigger and several other spots arise, I tried a freshwater dip temperature and pH matched. Without a net I gently trapped in a specimen container, drained the salt water and performed a 5 minute dip. I slowly watched about 15 1mm spots ball up and fall off. After 5 minutes, I placed the CB back into the QT and he was a different fish. He started cruising around, studying crevices, and swam with more energy. So I tried PE mysis a couple of minutes later. He ate it up. I tried Hikari dipped in selcon, he ate it up. This afternoon I tried Ocean Nutrition, Formula One, he ate it up. I just tried IO marine blend, he ate it.
Anyway, I read a great thread here on flukes and believed the stressor for my CB was flukes because there was a noticeable change immediately after the dip. I have a fedex package of prazipro coming tomorrow to treat the rest but I wanted to share my experience. Consider flukes, definitely QT, and have prazipro on hand.
Thank you for those who contributed to this thread and the one on flukes. Both a must read for CB owners or those looking to acquire a new one.
Tracey2
New member
My copperband would like to thankyou all for this thread, her live blackworms came in yesterday and she loves them. I have had her for a couple of weeks in QT, she was only picking at anything I put in the tank and I tried everything. She is not shy and always comes to the front of the tank to see what I will try to feed her next, I was feeling pretty bad for her until yesterday.
