Copperbanded butterfly and sps?

[Clownguy]

I have an sps only tank and I am having trouble with aptasia. I have already tried 20 peppermint shrimp and joes juice. I was going to try an austrailian copperbanded butterfly, but was reading on one site that sps are there main diet in the wild. This is totally different from what I had heard in the past and was curious if anyone else has had experience with them in an sps tank. Thanks in advance!

Chris

 

[Woodstock]

I do not have any experience with the australian CBB, but the CBB's I have do not bother sps corals.

 

[MtnDewMan]

I bet the Copperband is like every other fish you get, very individualized behavior. But from my experience in my tank they have not touched SPS. They enjoy feather dusters and maybe even some occasional polyps, but have never seen them go after SPS. Clams ... they could go after clams ....

 

[kevinpo]

I also have not seen one go after SPS. They can be hard to get eating prepared foods and not all will go after those pesky anemones. An occasional one will become a clam nipper.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Michael7979]

Just use real hot water and a turkey baster to shoot the water at them. Seems to work well.

 

[Woodstock]

..... Clams ... they could go after clams ....

I would never add an ornamental clam to my tank for that reason alone. I would imagine my CBB's would tear into a pretty blue clam just as they do the ugly little-necks I occassionaly feed them

 

[Big E]

I'd recommend a Muelleri CBB...........they are a lot hardier & easier to get feeding. Mine has never touched any SPS. As woodstock mentioned I'd be wary of putting a clam in my tank as I've fed my Muelleri cherry stone clams & scallops & would guess just the smell would be enough for him to rip into an ornamental clam.

 

[Ed Hahn]

I have a fairly large CBB. He did go after a Bright Green Frogspawn, he ate it. I see him going after pods quite often. He was perfect for getting rid of my problem anenomes. He left my green bubble tip anenome alone. My Copper Banded Butterfly has not touched my SPS or Branching Hammer that I know of.
I hope this helps,
Ed

 

[Clownguy]

Thanks for all the follow ups. I got one last night and it started eating the feather dusters as soon as I put it in. We will see what he does after a while. Thanks again chris

 

[SueT]

My copperband butterfly has been with me for over 5 years now. It has been in my 180g sps/clam tank and never touched a clam or sps coral. It also never touched an aiptasia. I have just recently decided to sell my 180g and keep my 120g. So when the guy that came to take the tank down we caught the copperband and put it in my 120g. It has decided to now eat aiptasia, I had a couple, it has also now decided to nip my clams, which I have now in a egg crate cage, but I'm thankful that the sps are still not on it's dietary list.

Bad fishie... :lol:

 

[64Ivy]

FWIW, I've had my C. muelleri for over a year and while leaving my sps, lps, and zoanthids completely alone, it has totally ridded my tank (a 500g, mind you) of Aiptasia. Needless to say, it has become one of my favorite fish.

 

[The Claw]

I have one in my 150 that has totally whooped butt on the aiptasia population in the tank. My only beef with it is that it cleaned out my fan worms as well, including some very large pink ones and hawaiian feather dusters.

 

[damien_kee]

nice fish... but after all the aptasia is gOne, wat will u feed it?

 

[mungus]

Don't mean to hijack but will these eat soft coral? An LFS in our area has a beautiful one that is accepting prepared food. It's selling for $20.

 

[mungus]

BTW he is housed in an SPS tank.

 

[Joey French]

Mine has never touched an sps. He lives in my prop tank, where there is not an aiptasia in sight. He would not take foods when I received him, but as this was my second copperband, (first one with me for two years, had to give him away when I moved) I was ready to train him. He is a model citizen, and one of my favorite fish. He does not get along with my tang, though, as my tang is a bully, so that's why he doesn't live in the display.

The key to these fish, long term, is quarantine. Just my two cents.

 

[Barbie]

If you have an LFS near you that sells live blackworms for fw fish, CBB's seem to readily take to them as a food source. They are high in fat and actually very nutritious for a FW food, and once they eat them, they then will usually take frozen bloodworms, also. Just a thought. I've seen CBB's that decimated aptasia populations in a matter of days, to the occasional one that will eat flake and loses interest in working for it's dinner. They almost always take out the feather dusters first though .

Barbie

 

[damien_kee]

w0w! great idea........

 

[Greg Hiller]

While it's well known that CCB's will sometimes dine on clams, and certainly feather dusters, IME (I've owned several over the last 10 years) other than that they are quite reef safe. Mine is in with several clams with no problems. You can teach them to eat Aiptasia (or so I've been told, mine was eating it without training) by showing them some mysis shrimp (their fav.) then feeding the mysis to some Aiptasia. They will tear into the Aiptasia to get at it and then decide that Aiptasia tastes pretty good too. (might not want to try this with an LPS you want to keep!!!)

 

[tamarindthai]

i have my green wrease eat aptasia,,also eat mmy clam,,specially he love maxima :evil: