Copperbanded Butterfly Fish

[Paul B]

I've had him about 5 months now, bought him "used" from someone who had him over a year. Eats like a pig! Gets Ocean Nutrition, frozen blood worms twice a day.

Notice the "worms" in the diet? These fish really should be fed worms. We really have ro realize that different fish have different requirments. You can feed a copperband anything it will eat but give it a lot of worms and you will get ten or twelve years from them. :bum:
Paul

 

[Flatlander]

And dont forget the live clams sold at grocery stores. Since reading about others feeding them, I purchased some. My sump jailed poor guy, eats one every day. It comes out shiney clean.

I have though about putting him back, but find it very hard to believe, as some have said, that they can tell the difference between ornamentals like my crocea,s and the feeders he eats.

 

[Paul B]

Doug, clams are the other thing I feed almost every day. I collect them in the summer and buy them now. I feed these to all my animals including the corals.
Paul

 

[delafe]

Since so many in this thread have a CBB, what corals have your CBB gone after?

I am really considering getting one. But I am afraid that it will go after my "meaty" LPS corals. (Elegance, frogspawn, brain, favites, etc.)

Thanks,

Alfred

 

[Paul B]

Doug none of my copperbands ever went after corals.
Paul

 

[Flatlander]

Mine never bothered anything for almost 2yrs. I recently added some lps, like frogspawn, hammers & bubble. None of the more slurpy type, like brains though. He never even looked at them.

Just decided to taste my nicest blue crocea one day. He pecked at it for several days in a row before I removed him.

 

[mrcrab]

I think it basically depends on the fish.

You may get lucky...you may not.

 

[delafe]

But the question is, what corals (or not) did your CBB go after?

I am trying to decide if the risk is small enough to get one for my 180 reeftank.

-Alfred

 

[Flatlander]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6717976#post6717976 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by delafe
But the question is, what corals (or not) did your CBB go after?

I am trying to decide if the risk is small enough to get one for my 180 reeftank.

-Alfred

Only the clams for me. Never looked at the lps I have. Remember though, brains type corals are like popsicle,s to many fish, including tangs. Once they have a lick, its hard to resist trying again. :lol:

 

[raddogz]

Mine has gone after the the green candy cane feeding tentacles much to my dismay.

Merlin has not touched any of the various sps (millies included). He picks at rocks.

Dumb question, but do you chop up the clam or do you throw the whole clam in the tank?

 

[Paul B]

You must chop up clams very fine for a copperband and feed with a turkey baster. Don't just dump it in. These fish have weak mouths and can not really deal with anything large.

 

[Flatlander]

Paul, mine seems to do fine with the complete clam. He gets his snout in there and makes quick work of it. Shiney as heck when it comes out. :lol:

I agree they do have problem with anything large though. He grabs the larger pieces of plankton and shakes them, trying to break a piece off.

 

[Paul B]

Yeah, they go crazy with large food. If I put an entire clam in my tank I think all the other creatures would eat much of it before the copperband could get much.
But then again, I eat most of the clams myself.
Paul

 

[jimbo045]

Mine passed away, they may not like auar. life.

 

[TerryB]

I have had two copperbands. Look at the mouth and you should get an idea of what they eat in the wild. Has anyone noticed that they love worms? That would be a clue to feed them some. I had my first copperband for 5 years and the second one for 8 years. Both were kept fish only systems without live rock. Mine ate adult brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, frozen black worms, Pacifica plankton (like krill but smaller), frozen formula one and two. They would also eat scallop, shrimp, clam and uncooked prawns if I cut the seafood into tiny pieces. They seem to have a fast metabolism. I fed mine several times a day. Mine would not eat flake or freeze-dried foods. It may make a difference what region the copperbands come from. I think both of mine were from Indonesia.

Terry B

 

[Serioussnaps]

Here is the simple truth. Tried and true. If you only want a CBB to get rid of Aiptasia then don't get it. Add peppermint shrimp(s) and within a month all will be gone. The larger the aiptasia the longer it will take the shrimp to eat them. You will notice the small ones vanishing quickly.
Had a CBB for 2 years now. Mysis and not the cube mysis. Use the brand: Piscine Energetics and enrich it with a selcon or zoe. Garlic helps for the first month to get him eating. Once he's eating with gusto, dump the garlic it will fill your water with nutrients.

 

[Ritt]

I am also thinking of getting a CBB. What size tank is recommended? Is 58 gal big enough?

Thanks
Ritt

 

[Paul B]

Copperbands were always my favorite fish.

Whats not to like.:lol:

 

[Steve Atkins]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6717219#post6717219 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by delafe
Since so many in this thread have a CBB, what corals have your CBB gone after?

I am really considering getting one. But I am afraid that it will go after my "meaty" LPS corals. (Elegance, frogspawn, brain, favites, etc.)

Thanks,

Alfred

I have had one take a few polyps from a Favites several years ago. This occured only a couple of times so I assume the CBB did not really like it that much. The coral recovered quickly and I still have it, unfortunately the CBB had an accident with an overflow. This fish also really liked live mosquito larvae, at least it did once it learned how to hunt them before the other fish polished them off.

I am currently planning to get another one, which is why I am here, and have been letting aiptasia grow a bit in preperation. The main problem I see at this stage is that I have some big bruisers in the form of a blue tang, 2 adult javanese damsels, a regal angel and the ever unwelcoming yellow and purple tangs for it to contend with.


Oh yes, and it never bothered my clams or any other coral, including an open brain.

Steve

 

[frags4u]

I have one and it eats almost anything even a marine flake food so I think it depends on the fish