Copperband SPS Safe?

[BusterTB]

Anyone been successful keeping a Copperband Butterfly in a reef with SPS? There is one for sale at my LFS for $29 and there are a few choice aptasia in my tank I would like for it to destroy. I just don't want it nipping at my SPS.

 

[jaa1456]

I had one with SPS for 2 years, but this is not one of the easiest fish to keep/ Make sure it is eating in the LFS before you buy it. It never touched any corals and did eat the aptasia, but I have heard other people say their CB didn't touch it at all.

 

[sucker_fish]

i had one for a couple years as well, he would eat mysis from my hand... when i first put him in the tank he ate the aptasia that was in the tank, he ate mysis, he would pick at some stuff in reef cuisine. He never bothered any sps or even lps, the only thing he ate that i didnt approve of was a nice big coco worm that I had in the tank for a while. I sold him when i moved and had to tear down my tank the guy that bought him seemed surprised that he would come up to you and eat from your hand .

 

[HugillSam]

ive had a few copper bands and i love them they are my fav. fish, i recommend to keep them happy getting a fire shrimp or cleaner shrimp, as tehy love to be cleaned and tickled, this keeps them unstressed and happy which makes them more likely to eat! when you get one just make sure they are eatting in the fish store already and you should be fine on brine and mysis shrimp... i also keep mine in a reef and he doesn't touch anything apart from my fingers when i put my hand in haha... great fish to have and watch!

hope this helps

 

[drukkosz]

I had one for few months, but he ate all my sps corals. He was eating only live brine, so make sure you LFS feeds him some frozen. Dont buy it if it only eats live brine. It wont last! Mine died after few months.

 

[sTefaniA]

I have had a few copperbands, none of them died, but all of them started eating corals (sps and lps) after a year or so. Too bad, because I really love them. I just love my corals more.

 

[dan-in-gr]

Hi, I had a Heniochus butterfly and I have about 30 SPS in my 120, it never touched a coral, but got rid of it and one other large fish as the butterfly grew very fast, it was over 5 inches tall. Copperband's are beautiful, you can try it and if it does not work you will have to take it out. Note: my tank is 100% SPS, so the appeal to butterfly may be minimal, not sure what they will do to softies or LPS.

 

[robs.mark]

Find out where he's from, the ozzy ones are a lot hardier than the Indonesian ones..

 

[GPB]

I love Copperbands. My tank is too small.

 

[APBonds]

I've never had much luck with a copperband. I have been able to keep a heniochus. It whipped out my aptasia and didn't nip at my sps. It did nip at zoas and lps but it never harmed anything until I got a acan. Soon as I put the acans in the tank the heni attacked it and was taking bites out of it.

 

[Surf&turf]

Mine is in an SPS dominate 90 gallon system. Eats out of my hand and hasn't nipped anything yet.

 

[dunc101]

I have a copperband in a 90 also that I've had for about 6 months now. Strange thing as he eats only DRY mysis. He won't eat the frozen mysis lol. He also has never touched my corals. One of the tricks that has really helped getting mine to eat is to make a "custom feeder" for him. I took an end of a PVC fitting and drilled some holes in the top. The bottom is just another end that the top slips over so I can easily pop on and off. You can see the feeder in this pic.

Excuse the dirty tank at the time =).

 

[snorvich]

It is a roll of the dice. Some eat aiptasia (usually aussie ones), some do not.
Some are "reef safe", some are not. Some eat, some do not. Peaceful tank mates help the odds of survival.