questions about a copperband butterfly for aptaisia control

[rgentry123]

i am really starting to have a problem with aptaisia and was thinking about getting a copperband to control it but im on the fence as i also have sps/lps corals. how much of a threat are they to corals? is there a better alternative?

 

[snorvich]

They may or may not eat aiptasia. In fact they may or may not eat at all. Reef safe is not guaranteed.

 

[jamey1015]

Hi, I don't know if you have a local reef club but around here we have a few and members are usually trading around or selling ones that are known to already eat them and on top of that there already healthy fish. I just heard of a raccoon butterfly being passed along to another member and he did a great job of eating Aptasia and Majonos.

So that would be something to check into as I doubt the local pet store will be able to tell you especially if they are just selling really young ones.

 

[scapes]

I just heard of a raccoon butterfly being passed along to another member and he did a great job of eating Aptasia and Majonos.
.

Ha! there was an auriga floating around our club, and i'm the third recipient of this fish during the last two years and i wouldn't selling him for $500!! i had a massive outbreak of aptasias....i tried everything!! aptasiax, pep shrimp, boiling water, kalk, you name it! nothing worked ;( even though he's eaten about $300 worth of stuff, i still wouldn't let him go. he's not a big fan of the softies, but a lobo did fall victim and a very expensive hammer. so, gotta watch them for sure. but i'm grown to love him he's a gorgeous fish and big

but to answer your question on CBB, i've had two and they've both died. hard fish to take care of

 

[JR719]

As I've posted before, peppermint shrimp have worked for some friends of mine. I've never had luck with them. I think they are hit or miss. Copperbands have a rep for nipping what you've paid loads of money for.

 

[xxtriggermanxx]

I bought my cbb for the same reason .. and has yet to finish off the aptasia. to be honest I've never seen it eat any of it ! I've been lucky he's still alive and well after a few years now .but I would make sure they are eating aptasia as well as prepared foods before you purchase. also lost all my acans and an open brain . didn't see him do it but they were there in good shape before he got there and now ...not so much

 

[125G Reefer]

I've had a CBB for some time, and got quite large I might add. He ate all my Aiptasia and Mojano out of my tank. Never nipped at my Corals, and even ate Mysis Shrimp. Loved him, was a great fish. I would turn over the top rocks that I was able to move, just to let him pick at what was under there.

 

[Avengerx77]

I support the Peppermint route. The trick is that they do not eat the larger ones. You need to attack them first (maybe with Joe's Juice) so it can damage them enough so the Peppermint is able to eat it. It has helped me a lot in the past by doing that.

 

[johnike]

I had great success with a Matted Filefish.

 

[nsmith_mma]

I've heard good things about burghia. They are aiptasia eating machines from what I've heard from some good sources.

 

[jamey1015]

That is great! and the best part is you know he already eat's them. It still seems hit or miss with peppermints and I too heard that about a filefish just not sure about the other requirements of that particular fish.

Ha! there was an auriga floating around our club, and i'm the third recipient of this fish during the last two years and i wouldn't selling him for $500!! i had a massive outbreak of aptasias....i tried everything!! aptasiax, pep shrimp, boiling water, kalk, you name it! nothing worked ;( even though he's eaten about $300 worth of stuff, i still wouldn't let him go. he's not a big fan of the softies, but a lobo did fall victim and a very expensive hammer. so, gotta watch them for sure. but i'm grown to love him he's a gorgeous fish and big

but to answer your question on CBB, i've had two and they've both died. hard fish to take care of

 

[aftershock]

I had a pretty bad outbreak also. never tried a cbb but did have a long nose butterfly and it didn't touch it. peppermint shrimps didnt work for me either. tried aptasiax. didnt work. bought a majano wand. killed those in the open but it can't reach into ones that live and retract into holes after you **** them off.

eventually got a filefish and it wiped them out overnight. along with some palys, duncans, and half my blood shrimps legs. its a shy fish and kind of a slow eater at first. now, i've gotten rid of my lps and traded the shrimp in for more sps

 

[lgray13]

I have one and he doesn't bother any of my corals at all. I don't have any aptasia, my peppermint shrimp took care of them and haven't seen any since I added the peppermints but I do have some mojano (sp?) and the butterfly doesn't touch it either. I guess it just depends on the fish.

 

[SDguy]

Unless you actually really want a CBB, I'd say go with a matted filefish. Smaller, MUCH hardier, and guaranteed to eat both aptasia and majano. Very reef safe, IME.