Copperband Butterfly

[Jnance]

I want to know anything and everything that people know about this fish, including personal experiences in your tanks if possible!!!! are they aggressive towards shrimp or clownfish?

 

[CarlaW]

I have found that if you can get the thing to eat, they are a great fish. The one I bought, from Kevin, had been trained to eat mysis shrimp, so I didn't really have a problem acclimating mine. I know they can be tough to get to eat!!!! Mine has not been aggressive towards anything in my tank so far, but like any fish it is all a gamble. Good luck.

 

[NC2WA]

they can be very difficult to feed. a lot of patience is required when acclimating this fish to eat. IMO, an advanced hobbyist should only keep this fish.

If I am buying one in the store, I asked that it is fed in my presence. I have owned two CBB; one died in 1 month due to starvation and the other ate from my hand. I had to sell him when I moved from NC. I have had great luck with PE Mysis food. My CBB was all over this food. They should not bother your shrimps or clownfish, but every fish is different. The tank that I had set up in NC was a 125g with cleaner shrimp, starfish, and a maxima clam and a host of LFS corals The CBB didnt bother any of it.

FWIW, I do plan on getting another CBB and possible a Golden Masked Butterflyfish in a couple of months. I plan on purchase PE Mysis from this vendor, Coral Dynamics. This is a store I visited frequently when I lived in NC; the owner Steve is a great guy.

HTH,
Kirk

 

[Jnance]

Thanks for all the info! Everyone i talked to told me that he would have trouble eating, thats probably the case most of the time but i must have lucked out.. i bought one today and had something pretty unexpected happen. after about three hours of acclimation, it only took about ten minutes of being in the display and he was picking the smaller glass anemones off of the live rock!!! since thats the main reason i bought the fish im pretty satisfied.. thanks again!

 

[mcvicker]

I got one to eat glass anemone's as well. It was okay for about 3 months great fish and then starved to death with 20 or so aptasia still in the tank. I then did some reading and searching to discover this is somewhat normal. That some of them are finicky enough to stop eating and starve to death with food in the tank they have previously been eating. I would work on feeding mysis and other foods to try to get it to also eat prepared foods right away.
-chris

 

[NC2WA]

Jnance,

I agree with chris. Do not let this give you a false sense of security. I will still try to get him to eat prepared foods, so when the day comes you are aptasia free, your CBB won't starve to death.

Kirk

 

[Boomer]

Well, I have had 3 of them and all 3 I managed to keep for years, one 8 years. It is my favorite fish One of the keys is size and where it came from. Usually younger ones are better than older ones, which are more set in their ways. Red Sea CBB are by far the best and easiest to keep for some unknown reason. They will eat many frozen or live foods, i.e., Mysids, Brine shrimp, Krill (frozen, not freeze dried), Glass worms, Black worms, Blood worms. It is easiest to start them on Brine shrimp. I have yet to see a CBB not accept brine shrimp.

 

[Jnance]

thanks everyone, it nibbles on mysis but its been spitting them out... ill give it a few days and well see...

 

[NC2WA]

Might want to try and soak the mysis in garlic. This may help in inticing the CBB to eat.

 

[NC2WA]

Boomer,

Can you recommend some online vendors that sell a Red Sea CBB. I never knew CBB came from there. I was aware of Golden Masked Buttefly, Emperor angels, and Naso Tangs, but not CBB.

Kirk

 

[Boomer]

Not any more Kirk but you may try to call Kevin a F & S. I'm sure he can muster one up. Just tell him I said so It is probably more accurate to say the Gulf of Aden which the Red Sea runs into, Central East African Coast or lest just say Yemen. They probably will not be cheap

Red Sea/Yemen
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/red_sea_87.jpg

CBB map
http://fishbase.sinica.edu.tw/tools/aquamaps/receive.php#

 

[NC2WA]

Boomer,

And by F&S, you mean Foster & Smith ??

 

[Boomer]

Well of course

 

[krisfal]

thanks everyone, it nibbles on mysis but its been spitting them out... ill give it a few days and well see...

I finaly got mine eating by pressing clam meat into the live rock. At first it would not eat anything but was always picking on the liverock. So I got the idea to place food into the rock, he began to pick at it within minutes. In just a couple days he would go to the spot where I was placing the clam and wait when I was feeding. About a week later he began to grab the clam meat before I could even get it to the rock.

 

[AquaKnight]

krisfal, what type of clam meat and where'd you get it?

Also, what you be the minimum tank for CBB?

 

[rjarnold]

I got my CBB from Denny's Pet World and it didn't eat at first, but after watching all the other fish voracious devour the mysis after about a week it ate. Ever since that point it ate like a pig until I sold it to someone on RF because I got clams and it liked them too

 

[krisfal]

krisfal, what type of clam meat and where'd you get it?

Also, what you be the minimum tank for CBB?

I use razor clam as we go dig these up for fun locally. When we dig we usually end up with a few that are crushed in the process. I freeze these and use them in my blender mush but will also freeze some clam (after running it whole through the food processor) seperately to entice picky eaters. I have also heard of people buying live clams at the fish market (or occasionally a grocery store will have them) freezing them whole and when they are thawed the shell will pop open. You can then place the whole clam in the tank for the fish to eat. (Tip from Lee, make sure the clam is alive before freezing, a live clam will be very hard to open up). The clam is good for getting a fish to eat but cannot be the fishes sole food. Once my butterfly was eating clam I began introducing other types of food. It seemed to only take food that was white in color so I created a blender mush with whole clam, whole shrimp, mysid and vitamins. I was constantly trying to get my CBB to accept other foods, usually placing them in the rock where we began the feeding process, however, it would always spit most things out. Unfortunately I lost this fish when I introduced ich into my tank (A lesson hard learned, always, always quarantine new fish, or you will lose your favorite) I am planning to get another CBB soon.

As far as tank size, the following web site shows 55 gal minimum.
http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/butterflyfish/copperbandbutterfly/

From experience these fish are grazers so the more room, the more rock = happier fish, IMO. Lee has indicated the the CBB is one of the leaner reef fish

Kris,

The 'lean' fishes are those that are particularly stremlined and/or laterally compressed.

and therefore have less of a bio load impact than other fish. However I do not think the bio load capacity alone should be the determining factor. We also need to consider our ability to allow the fish to thrive, not just survive. A fish that likes to pick and graze on the live rock all day needs a lot of live rock to pick at. If the live rock is covered in coral the fish might resort to picking on the coral. Many factors need to be considered when deciding on adding a particular fish. Lee has a couple of great threads on this topic.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29287

Ok Lee where is that thread where you discuss thriving vs. surviving??

Hope this helps

From Charlotte, NC (this week)

 

[krisfal]

Oops double post, see above

 

[NC2WA]

Aquaknight,

The CBB I owned when in NC loved PE Mysis. It would eat this from my hand.

Minimimum tank size for a CBB is around 75 gallons. They need some room to roam.

 

[AquaKnight]

Awesome thanks for the help! I've always thought of comparing them to dwarf angels size-wise (though I have seen CBB's over 5").

A bit O/T, but do would they go after a sponge (specifically red tree sponge)? What about dwarf angels (flame)? I know sponges are large angels main diet in the wild, but never could get an answer about dwarfs.