Chelmon rostratus-Copperbanded Butterfly

[Minh Nguyen]

I added this small Cobberbanded Butterfly into my reef last wednessday 02/11/04. He is very small. His body will fit on a 1/2 dollar coin. I guess from snout to tail is about less than 2 inches. He was eatting frozen brine shrimp at the LFS, so I got him. I have always love these fish but this is the first time I try to keep one. I know that they are hard to start to feed. This guy is healthy, not skinny, and is eatting. I also have lots of feather duster and lots of worm in my tank, so I hope he is well fed until I get him to eat frozen clams. Here are two pictures of this little guy. He was hunting for worms and feather dusters in the sand and rock here.

 

[Montanarocknreefer]

Very beautiful copperband! I have one as well. I love this fish! Mine eats frozen mysis shrimp and home made mush.

 

[kevinpo]

One of my favorite fish as well. Yours is very nice. It looks healthy and great color. I feed mine freeze dried plankton and raw shrimp (41-50 count size).

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Minh Nguyen]

After about 2 weeks, I have trained my CBB to eat frozen steamer clams. I drop a frozen clam into the tank every morning and remove the clam every evening. He is eating it and is full everyday.
Picture later
Minh

 

[ggarner]

i want one of those soooo bad! I am going to be removing my large sailfin from my tank and replacing it with a small CBB and also a small personifer angel i cant wait!

 

[fishermann]

glad to hear your cb is eating clams, it took me forever to get mine on them, but like yours he loves them. i don't know if i would leave that clam in all day, i leave mine in about 20 mins., he tears into it and 75% is gone and he is full, i then take the clam out of the tank

 

[Minh Nguyen]

My CBB is too small. As you can see, he is only slightly bigger than the clam, one of the smallest clam. Some of the clams are bigger than he is. At the end of the day, 75% of the clam is still there.
Here is a picture of him feeding. My glass have not being clean for weeks so please ignore the coraline algae and other algae on it.

 

[fishermann]

i was just worried what well happen to your water quality leaving the clam in all day? every day. Mojo says they are pretty nasty as far as water quality.

 

[MCSInc]

Nice!

Ohhh.... Ahhhh...... look at the zenia in the right had edge of the original picture. Isn't it cool!

And... yes it is really is a beautiful fish.

MCSInc~Candy

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Re: Nice!

Ohhh.... Ahhhh...... look at the zenia in the right had edge of the original picture. Isn't it cool!

And... yes it is really is a beautiful fish.

MCSInc~Candy

That Xenia is a little touchy in my experience. It is the Xenia originally from the Red Sea (I was told). I think it is one of the most beautiful of all the Xenia. Stay small, compact, very thick tentacles and slower growth than the White tip or other Xenia sp.

 

[piercho]

Minh,

my tank is overgrown with small fanworms and tiny colonies of hydroids to the point that I could really use a grazer of such things for control like a CBB. The warning I always get is that CBB can turn on Tridacna or certain corals. My instinct is that the risk is overstated and it probably happens most often in tanks that are overcrowded or where there is insufficient graze for these fish. I do remember reading one Knop article where he talked about a single CBB that "went bad" and started attacking Tridacna and was a bugger to catch while it continued to do damage.

Just wandering what your feeling on this are. I think you value your clams above the CBB so I'm curious how you weigh the risks. TIA.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Minh,

..........

Just wandering what your feeling on this are. I think you value your clams above the CBB so I'm curious how you weigh the risks. TIA.

I got a 125 g tank as refugium light with 400 W MH. If there is any problem, I will just remove all my clams to the refugium and trap the CBB out. He really eating steamer clams now, so it will be very easy for me to trap him out.
As long as the fish a a favorite food, they are easy to be remove from my tank.

Minh