LF copperband butterfly

badbreath

New member
Apitasia spreading and since moving the tank back to my classroom, my bta has had trouble finding a comfortable place to settle down. If someone out there in the OC has a cbb that has cleared the apitasia out their tank and is ready to pass him along I'd be happy to take it off their hands and give them a new home with plenty to eat.

Thanks guys.
 
So I've been doing a little more reading and it seems that cbbs can be sensitive, is that your experiences? Have you guys had better success with filefish? I have not had success with peppermints...something (i think the brittle star...i plan to take him out soon) keeps eating them, and I've been told to steer clear of nudis (too expensive and too sensitive). The thought of Kalk injection is not too appealing...that maybe the best option though.

Thoughts?
 
I had Copperband for about two months before he stopped eating for no apparent reason and died. He ate up all my apitasia, but about a month after he died the apitasia came back in the same spots, and now there is more.
 
I saw one the other day at Pacific Reef in Fountain Valley. I'd love to have a CBB, but I also heard they're tough to get eating. If you can find one from an established reefer, I'd take the chance.
 
Matted Filefish, hands down. Not a trace of Aiptasia left in the tank.
I had a CBB that mowed 'em too, but perished like most butterfly stories you hear.
 
If you really want a CBB, get one from Australia. They seem to be hardier than the IndoPacific variety, but are more costly. I got one from liveaquaria that eradicated my aiptasia in a week. Now he is eating mysis, cyclopzee, and home made seafood with gusto. If u got a CBB that doesn't eat, you can start him off with some blackworms which they will definitely eat. Then wean them off to frozen/dry food.
 
I had a CBB that lived for over 5 years, he was the first one I bought. Since I had such good luck with him, I thought I'd get another since he was one of my favorites. I've tried 2 since then that ate in the store and never ate again.
That said, 405 has 2 that looked good on Weds.
 
I've tried them all.. nudi's, file fish, copperband, aiptasia x. I bought 5 nudi's for my tank and after getting them acclimated they went to work on the aiptasia then about 3 days later they were gone, out of sight, my wrasses thought they were bite size morsels and ate them. Later, I bought 2 file fish to mow down the aiptasia, they both died after about 2 weeks in the tank, I think that they were bullied by my wrasses or tangs (I never witnessed them eat aiptasia). I even spent the money for a Burgess butterflyfish, this guy ate aiptasia like crazy, but because they are hard to keep in captivity he only lasted a week in my tank. I then bought 2 copperbands and one survived but doesn't lay a finger on the aiptasia, I've had the copperband for about 5-6 months now and all he does is graze on copepods all day and wait for the meaty frozen food to be delivered at dinner time.

In the mean time, aiptasia got so bad that people started joking that I was farming the pest, haha we joked about it but the last straw came when they started to sting and kill the coral, it was then I resorted to aiptasia X. I spent probably 2 hours with my hands in the tank feeding this delightful poison to the pesky buggers. I went through 1 1/2 bottles that time and after about 2 weeks later I went back in and got the rest of the ones I could reach. Now, my tank is virtually free of them they pop up every now and then but when they make the mistake of staking claim on an easy to get to rock, I lay waste to them in seconds.

Although I was a skeptic of the aiptaisa x it's the only for sure method of getting rid of them. You can buy fish, inverts and hope they eat aiptasia and also survive long term, but that's all hit and miss. Because I bought so many bottles of aiptasia x, I was able to take the "needles" and connect them all together with an empty ink pen tube so that I have a longer reach, now I can weasel may way into those hard to reach crevices inside the rock work.
 
Of course aiptasia x only works on the ones you can see and not the ones you can't. the goal is to be persistent and stay on top of them. They usually uproot themselves and move to another spot and when they do, hit em.
 
Back
Top