Copperband Butterfly ?

[mr_meoffiii]

I have a 55 Gal FOWLR with a Niger Trigger, Banded Moray & Volitan Lion. I was thinking of adding a Copperband Butterfly but wanted to know if any had any info on keeping them with aggressive fish.

 

[MtnDewMan]

The only thing I can tell you about them is that they are a very timid fish. They are slow eaters. They would rather look at their food at the tip of their nose a while then eat it. If any fish was a fast eater that will certainly intimidate a copperband. If the fish move a lot fast and furious during feeding it will intimidate a copperband. They are very finicky eaters to begin with, let alone in that environment. Personally I would think twice about that combination, for the Copperband's sake.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Chuck,
how did you feed your Copperband Butterfly? Was he able to compete with your other reef fish well?
I really like these fish and have added one to my 450 g reef tank. My CB pick at rock and do eat a little Mysis shrimp but he is too slow of a feeder to compete with my 4 tangs (Yellow , Purple, Powder Blue and Powder Brown). He was eating at the LFS, eating frozen brineshrimp. I feed mysis, mixed home made food , dry food and a few others dry food. I will get a oyster and then a few frozen steamer clams for him this weekend.
Any help from you or anybody who have keep CB would be greatly appreciated.
Minh

 

[fishermann]

to whom it concerns I have a copperband which i have had for over a year now. I have him in a 60 with a flame, some fire fish, a blue damsel. When i got him he was very small, to small to get on clams which is what they eat in the wild. I fed him Hytari frozen brine for a year or so 3 times a day. These fish do not compete well for food with aggressive fish at all. I would thaw about half the cube in a shot glass in ro/di water, rinse it good under the tap in a brine shrimp net so as not to damage the brine, fill the shot glass full again of ro water and turn the wrong side out and drop ack in the ro glass of water to wash the shrimp off the net. I would then pour a few pieces at a time and get him to come to the surface to feed. I would feed this way 3 times a day so as to make sure he got his share young butterflies need plenty of eats and most is eaten by the other fish before the copperband gets his share and for about the first 8 mos. i did not have the flame in the tank. I only put the flame in after i was sure the copperband was doing fine. I wanted one of these really bad and if need be would have kept only him in the tank. I still feed hatari frozen brine to him twice a day 4 days out of the week. I have him on clams now which you can buy live at the markets. You should freeze them first, then take one a tgaw it in ro water and as it thaws it well open slightly. I open it about 3/8 of an inch which allows him to get in to it and the flame not until the butterfly gets his share and then it is wide open by then. I only leave the clam in about 10 mins. until i se his belly full because it has a lot of phosphates and well dirty your tank. You corals well love it because when the copperband tears into it alot of small particles well float into the water. It took alot of time and patience[spelling] to get him on clams and if you have any aggressive eaters like tangs they well tear the clam open before he gets the hang of it. Once he does figure out what to do with the clam if you feed it as above he should do okay although i don't know about with tangs they are supper aggressive eaters and i have resisted putting one in the tank just for this reason. Don't be disappointed if he does not eat clams for a long time, mine took a long time to, but he was on the small side, maybe that was why. By the way mine to this day well not eat mysis, i have even mixed it in with brine and he well spit it out and then won't eat even the brine until the next feeding. Sorry to have rambled on but i really wanted one of these fish and made him the center of the tank and evewrything i do in this tank i take him into mind first. Theyrequire alot of love and patience but i think along with my powder blue which is in another tank they are one of the most beautiful fish there is. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask i love mine.

 

[fishermann]

i ment to write ==== rinse it under a very small drizzle from the tap so as not to damage the brine. Also make sure you LFS has not let the hatari sit around unfrozen because they well then look like SanFran brine which we all know are pretty much worthless as far as nutrition goes.

 

[MtnDewMan]

Glad to hear your fish is doing well John ...

When I had my copperband, I was lucky enough for it to like my fingers. So I got used to feeding it by hand. I would take frozen mysis shrimp and let it come to my hand and feed directly from me. I would make sure it received it's share of food from my hand and then fed the rest of the tank after that. Of course after a while all of the fish wanted to feed out of my hand so that made it more difficult. Before it would feed by hand I would try to make sure food passed by the fish a lot, but that was more difficult to keep it fed, so I was real happy to see it want to come up to my fingers to be fed.

I think the copperband is one of the best fish to keep, it is so pretty and has a great personality ... BUT ... it is also one of the most finicky to get to start to feed, so anyone interested please beaware it can be a very difficult fish to maintain in your aquarium if you can't get it to feed relatively soon after you get it.

 

[fishermann]

copperband

Hi chuck I agree 1000%, unless you are willing to take alot of time to work with this fish, DON'T GET ONE! because they are very timid and require a lot of coaching to get ENOUGH food to them. A lot of them well eat but they don't get enough to sustain them over a long period. Mine has grown half again his original size in a year and a half. Mine was to skittish to eat from my hand, when he was young, don't know about now but he holds his own now, especially with a clam which he nails the shell 2 or 3 times on its way down to the bottom, he is a kick to watch. See you sat. John

 

[Montanarocknreefer]

Hello there! I have had a copperband butterfly for nearly a year now and got it for aiptasia removal which I no longer have. My copperband eats really well as I witness this at the LFS before buying it.

It loves frozen mysis shrimp and my home made "mush". It is a beautiful fish and quite a personality around feeding time.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

My Copperband Butterfly I got a few days ago is doing very well. I got a ton of tiny Spagety worms on the sand and lots of tivy red feather duster in Hard tubes. These are no more in my tank after two days and my CBB is full for two days now. I know this woudl happen and it si fine with me. There are still tons of these in the sump. This weekend , I will get several pounds of steamer clams and freeze them. Hope he will start to eat clams. I don't think I will be able to train him to eat out of my hand like Chuck.

My CCB is small, His body fit a 1/2 dollar coin. The snout to tail lenth is about 2 inches. He is not thin but I hope to get him fatter. The first day, he hold up in the corner of the tank because of the tangs, but the next day on he have beeing all over the tank. He even try to spear any tang that start to go after him, with his dorsal fins. I guess CBB are not easy intimidated, consider the three tangs are 4+ inches and the Powder Blue Tang is about 2.5 inches.

I think he will do well. There are plenty of food for him in my tank,. He even go after the mysis that I feed every morning (mainly for my Yellow head Jawfish and my Marine Betta pair. The tangs are not really interested in meatty food. They just bite and spit out the Mysis most of the time. The tangs do go after my Nori clips with gusto and always full by the end of the day. I have increase to 1.5 sheet of Nori per day for my 4 tangs in my tank.

I will try to get some picture this weekend.

Minh

 

[mr_meoffiii]

Thanks for the posts, sound as if I might pass on this fish for my tanks. Most of my fish are aggressive eaters.

 

[Ray Pollett]

I have a 55 Gal FOWLR with a Niger Trigger, Banded Moray & Volitan Lion. I was thinking of adding a Copperband Butterfly but wanted to know if any had any info on keeping them with aggressive fish.

A votan Lionfish grows to 15 inches, is a messy eater and should not be expected to live in a 55 gallon tank.

A niger Trigger grows to almost 20 inches and is unsuitable for a 55 gallon tank. They will quickly out grow it.

I have no idea what a banded Moray is. Could you supply a scientific name? Most Morays grow to over 3 feet and push the limits of a 55 gallon tank.

In my opion your 55 gallon tank is already grossly over stocked. You should be considering getting a much l;arge tank or getting rid of the Lionfish and the trigger; not trying to find another fish to put in your tank.

Ray

 

[mr_meoffiii]

The Lion is still small enough for the tank. It has a home in a
125gal FOWLR when it is large enough.

The Trigger is still very small under 3" .

A Banded Moray will only grow to 30" and fairs well in small tanks.

 

[David Winther]

I had one for about a year and he did very well. Then again, I didn't have hyper-aggressive fish in the tank either. He would swim right in with the other fish when I feed the tank and he ate very well. Maybe I just got lucky. I did have a 180gal tank however, so it isn't like the fish where all cramped together when it came time to eat as I would put food along the entire length of the tank. I got mine as well to rid the tank of some aiptasia that had started to grow in the tank. He had them gone within a matter of days and I never saw another one even start to grow. Gotta like that. I had a Yellow Tang in the tank as well. When I introduced the CB, they fought (slightly) for a few days but I kept the stress in the tank to a min and after that there was no problems. A good fish in the right environment.

 

[Crows Ridge]

Since we are talking CCB. I got one 3 weeks ago and he was doing very well.

I know they are sensitive too alot of things including salinity, BUT, anybody have an idea on this? I was filling the top off ( I dont have the float switch on yet) and it makes a cloud of FW in the tank. All the fish swim into the FW and have no problems. THe CCB was doing great, I turned back around about 5 minutes later and he was laying on his side haveing a siezure looking fit.

Do you think they are "that" sensitive to salinity? I put some blender mush in too. Do you suppose he choked on too big a piece of food?

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Thanks, Chris

 

[Ray Pollett]

I doubt what you did caused his dismise.

I do more to my tanks with copperbands. One problem is they are still catch using drugs. That very well could have been all he would have lasted.

Ray

 

[Sealab2021]

One problem is they are still catch using drugs.
Ray

drugs?!?
what like holding burning "j's" on the top of the water cause it's easier to catch stoned fish?

 

[Wolfesbane]

More like using a cyanide solution to stun the fish so they're easier to net.

~ Steve