Long-Nose and Copper-Banded Butterfly - Feeding?

richfavinger

richfavinger

Premium Member
Well, I either made the best choice and challenge of my reefing life or the dumbed choice ever.

I just purchased a Long-Nose AND Copper-Banded Butterfly from Divers Den tonight. Thats right, both fish...

CBB_071112.jpg


LNB_071112.jpg

Both fish are around 4"-4.5"

So, the question is... I know they can be picky. But I hope with Divers Den I can avoid this. But what would you feed them? I have the usual... assortment of frozen foods... mysis shrimp, bride shrimp, mixed foods, cyclop-eeze, IO's new "Gel" foods, New Life Spectrum pellets (standard), red and green sheet algae.

Tanks is well established and should have a nice pod population (and supplemented pods). All parameters are fine and stable. - and a planed tank upgrade to a 105 Rimless (maybe rimless) 48x24x21 in the next 6 months.

So was I really stupid or...? :rolleyes:
 
I've had 3 copperbands over the years, all of them loved PE mysis. Don't be fooled by their smaller mouth, they will rip it apart.

I also had a yellow longnose as well for 6 months. It devoured mysis and brine shrimp within in the first week. It was doing really well until it's mouth chased a mysis shrimp right into my MP40 vortech and then was dead the next day. I was really bummed out on that loss.
 
Actually, Den has a chart that tells you exactly what they are feeding on. Someone I know swears by live black worms, specifically to get picky butterflies to eat. Good luck!
 
naterealbig
Do you have a link to the info, or are you referring to the basic listing already on Divers Den?

Well no one yelled at me for getting a CBB and LNB for a 75g, I suppose thats good. They have been known to nip at cucumbers and star fish? I have a cuc' and serpent star. I also have an adult Fire Shrimp and Skunk Cleaner. Others should not be an issue I hope.. Yellow Eye Kole, Pink Spot Goby, 1x Green Chromis and Algae Blenny...
 
My ex CBB loved blue mussel!! Also krill (for color) and vitamin boosted brine, mysis and cyclop... Some flakes it nipped at, but I'm not sure it actually ate them.

Just a couple of weeks ago I got my F.longirostris. It luuuuvs mysis and brine, but hasn't nipped at anything else yet. My ex CBB ate all aiptasia from my tank, and that's nice :D
Just waiting if this longirostris will do the same...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=guP6eq65FAk
 
Last edited:
The CBB destroyed the whole visible aiptasia population in just a few days.
Is such a shame that later I had to put it to rest... It started to lose mass really rapidly but was still eating well. I suspect it had some parasite. One day it stopped eating and wobbled from side to side, so I put it out of it's misery :(
The day before it still ate a lot, but got more and more skinny...

Now with this new Forcipiger longirostris I'm going to pay extra attention on it's feeding. So far so good, but I have let myself understand that these species from the genus Forcipiger are not as extremely or excessively particular, exacting, and meticulous in taste as the CBB are.
I really hope so, cause these F.longirostris' are quite rare here! As far as I'm awere, there is non other here in Finland!
 
I would feed them mysis plus chopped scallop, clam and shrimp fresh from the grocery store. If they don't eat those, get some live blackworms. Be prepared to go the blackworm route as many cbbs won't eat anything else, at least at first.
 
Both fish arrived yesterday 7/13 at around 9:30AM
Acclimated well and are both swimming actively around the tank. They are both a little larger then I had really expected; honestly would not have minded them just a little smaller... LOL Oh well...

Both are actively exploring the rocks and picking. The Kole seems to startle them now and then and chase them off some. But other times he doesn't seem to care. So I hope thats as far as that goes.

I will try a feeding of Hikari Bio-Pure Mysis Shrimp later today...
 
Nami19 said:
I've had 3 copperbands over the years, all of them loved PE mysis. Don't be fooled by their smaller mouth, they will rip it apart.

I also had a yellow longnose as well for 6 months. It devoured mysis and brine shrimp within in the first week. It was doing really well until it's mouth chased a mysis shrimp right into my MP40 vortech and then was dead the next day. I was really bummed out on that loss.
Click to expand...

I have a copperband and this guy goes nuts for the PE Mysis also. He'll even eat them right out of my hand if I hold a chunk of it in the tank. Other frozen foods he may eat a bit of, but nothing works as well as the PE.
 
Well my Long-Nose Butterfly ate like a little pig as soon as the Hikari Mysis Shrimp hit the water like a little sniper. The Copper-Banded, not so much (to be expected)... Have to keep an eye on them, but all looks well for now.
 
Hi thanks for posting info on your purchase. I am also considering buying a CopperBand from Liveaquaria too. Please keep us updated with the progress on both fishes.

Thanks.
 
I purchased a CBB from Divers Den 3 weeks ago.
They stated that he was eating Mysis & Brine shrimp.

He did not eat anything I tried for the first week and a half.

Got him to come around with Live blackworms.

Now he is eating frozen well.

Good luck with the CBB!
 
My Divers Den CBB and LNB both seem to be eating well. Assortment of frozen foods. The LNB seems to eat just about any thing. The CBB seems to prefer the enriched brine shrimp. But does pick at other things. - Both explore the rock work regularly.

Both fish are very active swimmers and get alone just fine with my Yellow Eye Kole.

I use 1-drop of garlic extract on the frozen foods and feed about 1/2, then the 2nd half about a hour later.
A pinch on New Life Spectrum pellet in the morning, and nori for the tang.
 
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