Copperband Butterfly reef compatability

ksicard

ksicard

New member
Hello all,
I have a 75g reef tank that has everything from LPS, SPS, and zoas etc.... my main concern is that if I were to get a copperband butterfly that he might pick at my clam or anemones. The clam is a foot ball sized deresa clam and the anemones are BTA. Can anyone chime in on how the copperband butterfly would respond to the live stock in question?
 
ksicard said:
Hello all,
I have a 75g reef tank that has everything from LPS, SPS, and zoas etc.... my main concern is that if I were to get a copperband butterfly that he might pick at my clam or anemones. The clam is a foot ball sized deresa clam and the anemones are BTA. Can anyone chime in on how the copperband butterfly would respond to the live stock in question?
Click to expand...

My copperband is in with 7 clams, hasnt touched them. As for nems i dont have any...
 
I've never had a CBB go after LPS or zoas, but that doesn't mean they won't tho. Each one is different. My last CBB I had for 3 years. I got him cause I had a growing problem with aptasias. He was great, right off the bat he gobbled up all the aptasias, and the longer I had him the more he started mimicking my tangs. A few weeks of getting him he started eating frozen foods. Then after a few months he had even taken a liking to pellets. For the first two years I had him he never once touched any of my large clams. Then I made a mistake of buying a 2" maxima and he was on it like white on rice. Then he grow taste from clam and started nipping at the 3 other large clams. Well I ended up selling the clams and keeping the CBB cause he was so great at eating aptasias. Here's a vid of my tank right b4 the CBB passed
http://youtu.be/DV1MAGO6T2I
I lost the CBB cause of a stupid mistake on my part not remembering how sensitive these fish really are, now in my defense I had this guy for 3 years and he did fine through a 180 to 300 gallon upgrade so I thought he was bulletproof. But I was wrong. So one sat morning a buddy called me and said the seam on the bottom of his tank sprung a leak and he was taking down his tank. He asked if I could take his fish and put them in my 300. I told him if they went in there was a big chance I wasn't getting them out. "That's fine I'm taking a break" he replied. So that night I got home and acclimated all 14 fish into my system (they were all small fish chromisus, Cardinals, a set of clowns, and a few others. Nothing over 2"s in size tho. Well by dumping 14 fish so quick i spooked the CBB and he stopped eating. Then died a week or so later. I was so mad at my self. I had people offer me big bucks for him cause he was a proven aptasia eater and kept my tank clean. I wasn't mad about the money tho, I had him for so long he was like a family member like all my other fish are.
So fast forward to recently. I've been getting another aptasia breakout. Here's some pics
7495d2dbb500d673d0062de6e036bb8f.jpg

That was from 8/23/15
Yea I know right pretty bad, and I've gotten a case of red turf algae too that stuff is horrible. So I decided to try my luck again at another CBB. So the shop by my house had one that looked pretty decent and he was picking at the rocks in the tank so I bought him. Well the first few days were rough. The tangs were picking on him and as well as these dumb little yellow chromisus I had gotten from my buddy. But a day or two in he started eating tube worms in the tank. But I knew there was no way enough tube worms in my tank to keep him alive so I started feeding brine and mysis heavily. Well he took to it after a few days. But I was still upset. This dang CBB wasn't even looking at the aptasia sin my tank. So I'm thinking dang I'm going to have try peppermints. Well to day a guy came over to see my tank and while we were standing there chopping it up about fish nerd stuff I noticed that looked like a zoa polyp or Xenia stock floating around and the CBB chasing it. So I took a closer look. By d** it was an aptasia he was picking. Omg I was dancing for joy. The guy at my house must of thought I was nuts I was so happy. Anyone that has dealt with an aptasia out break knows that feeling of thinking h*** yea there going to die. So I started checking rocks. He's been busy cause look at this same rock
18b323feb2559acc502a1362271cfb70.jpg

Picked clean. Only time will tell how long he lasts. But the one thing I need to remember is no big changes to the tank.
 
I have kept one for 40 days without any problem.Feed 4-5 times a day with home made food. Many zoa, hammer ve candy in the aquarium. If you feed enough i don't think will be problem.
 
So, it's probably not coincidence that my trachy has been shrunk up almost to nothing since a few days after I added a CBB?
 
My Copperband has been reef safe for the year that I've had him. He eats aiptasia too. Great addition to a reef in my experience. Like any fish I'm sure it's luck of the draw with them though.
 
Mine eats one astrea snail a week. It does not touch coral and removed the few aiptasia I had in the tank. Love it. Also it's super easy to catch him if needed. Mine eats blackworms inside a net.
 
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