any success with copped banded butterfly in a reef?

[rpc07]

I would really like t get a small copped banded butterfly in my 55reef i love the way they look, anyone have any success with them

 

[DCG1286]

Not an easy fish to keep ... not too many people have success with them ... and seeing some of your other posts you are "fairly" new to this hobby.

I would recommend against it ... but who cares what I say ... It's not my tank ... and if you love it ... you are going to do whatever you want regardless. lol. Most of them refuse to eat prepared foods ... and your tank being on the new side plus a bit small, there definitely would not be enough food in there for them to sustain themselves. Also a small warning ... even if they are eating in the store it does NOT guarantee they will eat in your tank ... trust me ... have seen it happen MANY times ... to myself and others.

Just a thought.

 

[rpc07]

ill hold off then, any other free swimming fish you would recommend? the only fish i see out are the cream angel and my 2 clowns. the algea blenny is always roaming in strange spots and the red mandarin and watchman goby dont come out much but maybe thats just because there new to the tank

 

[bizarrecorals]

this sounds weird, you'll have much better success rate in a reef tank but you can't have one in a reef tank.

 

[ryangrieder]

ive had two in non reef tanks. did wonderful for a month, yet rarely ever ate. i fragged some xania and put it in my tank and he ate it instantly, did it for about a month and only lived of fthe xenia. soon after died. i am never getting one again. i like them too but feel they are better in the ocean. same with most butterflys. its cruel to them because then need ALOT of live rock to graze off of and do better extremely high number of schools of them. id leave them alone. stock with angels and tangs. then again... its only my opinion. and opinions are like a-holes. everyone has one, and some stink. good luck with what ever u decide.

 

[stedfast82]

ya they dont live long in a tank one of them fish that need's to stay out of this hobby.due to the death rate. Ive have had CBB the last one was a very good eater and was doing very good in the reef then i got the acan's the fish went off the hook so too say got him out after he went nut's on all my coral .LOL live and learn. but a very nice looking fish

 

[rpc07]

how about a yellow tang, prob not a good match for a 55dt im really looking for something colorful that will be out swimming and not hiding

 

[NYreefNoob]

fairy wrasse's, alot of different one, colorful, most are non-aggressive

 

[rpc07]

fairy wrasse's, alot of different one, colorful, most are non-aggressive

I gave them a quick look, maybe they'll grow on me

 

[marrone]

I know everyone want to get those hard to keep things but more people leave the hobby over failures, like trying to keep a CB BF, then you would believe. Not to mention that you're killing living things.

There are plenty of nice beautiful fish that are easy to keep. I keep what I like but I only keep what I know I can keep alive for a long time. You'll also find that it's not the rare, expensive or hard to keep fish that is a person favor but usually some Blennie or cheap Clown.

You should get fish that you know are hardy, and you can keep for a long time, in the end you'll be a lot less stressed and a lot more happier.

 

[Master Shake]

i think you mean copperband butterfly fish, they are hard to keep and you need a bigger tank for one of them

 

[SevTT]

I would really like t get a small copped banded butterfly in my 55reef i love the way they look, anyone have any success with them

I just got a CBB a few days ago from Country Critters. It had been in the store for a couple weeks, and it was eating mysis and clam bits in the tank, so I walked out with it. I'm using a little DIY feeder for it to make sure it gets enough food and to make sure it gets accustomed to other food, but it's eating actively, it's out and about, and I think one of my cleaner shrimp really pissed it off 'cause it's missing a couple of antennae. Whoops. (I stole the feeder from a picture I saw somewhere -- take two 3/4" PVC pipe caps, put 'em together with a piece of PVC pipe just long enough that you can fit both caps on securely. Drill some holes in it with a 1/4 or 3/8 bit and stuff it full of mysis or whatever that particular fish is eating, stick it on a string, and sling it in your tank. This lets the CBB pick at it over time without having to compete much and makes it so you don't have to throw a ton of food in the tank. And sticking its beak into holes to get food is natural for a CBB. Oh, and keep it off the sand or rock, or the hermits and nassarius and brittle stars will glom onto it. )

I wouldn't suggest a CBB unless you can get a healthy specimen, you can observe it eating before you buy it, and you've got a moderately established tank with plenty of worms and other critters in it for it to eat while you're getting it used to your tank and your foods. Oh, and you're dedicated to coddling the little bugger. It seems like they can also be easily harassed to death, particularly when first introduced to the tank, so it's best to make them one of the first fish you put into the tank and plan your acquisitions accordingly.

If the fish looks a little iffy, DON'T BUY IT.
If it just keeps hiding in a corner, DON'T BUY IT.
If it looks thin, DON'T BUY IT.
If it won't eat in front of you, DON'T BUY IT.
And, of course, if you're not willing to put forth extra effort to ensure this fish's survival, DON'T BUY IT.
Also, aim for something in the 3+ inch range.
Also, make sure you buy a pack of whatever the CBB's eating at the fish store.

That being said, it's a beautiful and useful fish with a lot of personality. I'm really hoping that mine not only survives but thrives, and so far, it hasn't given me any indication that it won't.

 

[marrone]

It's not that the CB BF is eating but that it's eating the correct thing to keep it alive. Eating Mysis, Brine Shrimp, and either clams or mussels on the shell, something that LFS will do to try and get CB BF to eat, isn't what the fish requires to survive long term, or in most case even short term. So getting what the CB BF is eating at the store isn't something that you should do, especially if it's not what is needed to keep the fish alive long term.

As for buying them to remove Aiptasi, which it seem most people do, is a bad thing to do. A lot of the times they don't even eat the Apitsia and even if they do, once they're all gone the fish will usually dead of starvation.

Sizes wise, the smaller ones seem to do a lot better, as the larger ones don't seem to adapt to prepared foods or being kept in captivity. Larger ones also attract more attention from other fish, and usually are attacked and bullied, which more than not results in a dead fish. Which is very important that tank mates are peaceful, which eliminates a lot of fish, especially Tangs. A good size tank with plenty of hiding space will also help. In the end most CB BF die, even the best specimens.

 

[SevTT]

It's not that the CB BF is eating but that it's eating the correct thing to keep it alive. Eating Mysis, Brine Shrimp, and either clams or mussels on the shell, something that LFS will do to try and get CB BF to eat, isn't what the fish requires to survive long term, or in most case even short term. So getting what the CB BF is eating at the store isn't something that you should do, especially if it's not what is needed to keep the fish alive long term.

Well, yes, that's true -- however, it's a given that you're going to have to wean this animal onto other foods, and the fact that it's actively eating -something- is both a good sign and it means that you'll be able to keep it alive for an extended time while you're attempting to get it to eat a broader range of foods. It's the difference between a fish dying in a couple of weeks and one that'll last for months and months, even if you're not feeding it quite the right thing, which gives you plenty of time to get it to eat the right things.

Having the critter feeder-trained makes it easier to get it familiar with other types of food, too.

Anyway, within three days I had it switched over from PE Mysis to H2O Life Mini-Mysis, which is both more appropriately sized for its mouthparts and a marine mysid shrimp, so, along with whatever it eats in the tank and Selcon fortification, I think it's getting adequate and appropriate nutrition. The switch from regular mysis to saltwater mysid shrimp is, well, a non-issue, given that they pretty much look and apparently taste similar to eachother.

Sizes wise, the smaller ones seem to do a lot better, as the larger ones don't seem to adapt to prepared foods or being kept in captivity. Larger ones also attract more attention from other fish, and usually are attacked and bullied, which more than not results in a dead fish. Which is very important that tank mates are peaceful, which eliminates a lot of fish, especially Tangs. A good size tank with plenty of hiding space will also help. In the end most CB BF die, even the best specimens.

Agreed. I think the main reason these fish die in captivity is simply because they're skittish and dealing with unfamiliar food sources. I've seen my CBB eye a tidbit for a good couple of minutes before deciding to eat it, and the least little thing bothered it, at least at first, and interrupts the feeding cycle. This is why I recommend making a feeder like I described previously: it keeps the food in one place for the fish, and it's a more natural feeding mode anyway. (That fish is designed to poke its snout into cracks and crevices and such to winkle out worms and pods, and a PVC pipe full of tasty shrimp flesh plays well to that behavior.)

(I was worried at first because even the cleaner shrimp were scaring the fish off with their attentions. But apparently it decided that food was the better part of valor, and after ripping half of the antennae off of one cleaner shrimp that got too personal, it's started bum-rushing them out of the way, and even whirling on my clownfish to snap at it when the clown starts acting like the damsel schmuck it is. I'm happy it's not a complete wuss. Oh, and the cleaner shrimp's antennae grew back when it molted the next week.)

If you're gonna add a CBB, I'd add it as one of the first fish in the tank, and I definitely wouldn't add it to a tank that already contains tangs or aggo damsels or anything like that. (Seriously, I wouldn't even add this fish to a FOWLR if it had an established pair of clownfish in it that -weren't- hosting in an anemone. When clownfish aren't hosting, their aggro knows no bounds -- when they are, it's about 4" from the anemone. ) While I'm planning on adding a tang (a hippo tang,) the tang'll be significantly smaller than the CBB when it goes in, and they're dissimilar shapes and colors anyway. Ultimately, I'm going to try and add a flame angel, but if it picks on my corals or on the CBB, it's coming right out again.

It would also definitely help if you could add it to a tank with a well-established population of larger amphipods, worms of all sorts, and mysid shrimp. This way it can forage and at least partially supplement its diet.

Any kind of marine husbandry is a bit of a crapshoot for the organisms involved, and, frankly, if it weren't for people who kept buying fish that kept dying and trying to figure out how to keep them alive longer, we wouldn't have the wonderful reef tank systems we do now.

...Of course, the important part there is that the people who kept buying the fish that kept dying kept trying new things to keep the fish alive. It's unconscionable to just buy a fish that's pretty much doomed in your tank 'cause it's pretty. (Most of those little blue-lined cleaner wrasses, for example.) It's another thing when you buy a fish that demonstrably -can- thrive in captivity but has a poor record of surviving in the hands of aquarists, particularly when you've done a lot of research on what exactly the fish needs to survive, and you're willing to give that fish the extra attention (both literally and in terms of things like thinking out your stocking list/stocking order beforehand.)

As to the aptasia control -- well, it looks like mine's been picking at them, but hasn't wiped 'em out. And even if the fish doesn't eat your aptasia, it's still a beautiful fish. It seems about 50/50, from what I've heard from other people. I admit that I initially bought mine in the hopes that it would control aptasia, having tried and failed with other methods, both biological and chemical/mechanical. However, I realized well before I bought it that it might not eat 'em. *shrugs*

 

[ZBT3091]

I think a 55 is too small for a copperband. Iv tried two when I had a 75 gallon reef and one died within 2 weeks and the other lasted about 4 months because I was continuously feeding it live blackworms which was all that it accepted. If you want something colorful maybe try a flame angel? They aren't 100% reef safe though neither are CBs.

 

[ZBT3091]

I just noticed you have another thread that says you have a singapore angel and a sailfin tang in your tank. If this is your 55 reef than your tank is already stocked and then some.

 

[ReefFan]

I have a CBB in my 75 reef and 1.5 years later hes absolutely thriving. That being said I still dont reccomend them for even the moderately experienced reef hobbiest. IT took alot of personal attention to get this guy to where he is now. He wouldnt take any food for the first few weeks except the rock surface he scoured free of any sessile inverts. After he decimated that supply ( i made sure to leave several large aipatias in my MT to provide an ongoing food source for him), i finally got him to eat live black worms. After i startd dipping them in garlic extreme for a short while before the solution killed the worms, he finally started to associate the smell and taste of the garlic with food he wants. Then he started sucking down Piscine Mysis/garlic then spirulina brine/garlic. Now he takes alot of different foods without the garlic. Hes fat and healthy. He still occaisionally nips at some corals now and again but does no real damage... unless you want feather dusters in your reef.

They need a very docile tank. Mine got through 2 outbreaks of Ich, one that was caused by the stress of an aggressive Sailfin tang that shouldnt have been in a 75 in the first place. I got rid of him and the Ich went away. Then 3 months ago i had an incident where 80% of the water in my tank got pumped out. 8 out of 10 fish got Ich including him but I got all but 1 to pull through it. One coral died but all the Coraline that was bleached came back within a few weeks.

Anyway, keeping a CBB happy in any tank is very hard. I may have had luck with mine but you take full responsibility of the life thats been plucked out its natural habitat and acclimated to your closed environment. If youre not up to the challenge equipment, knowledge and time wise, you really shouldnt buy it. If everyone followed this advice LFSs wouldnt be stocking them because most of em would have to watch them waste away in their own holding tanks. If you REALLY just have to have one, read, read, read before your buy and make sure youve proved you can keep your tanks parameters ideal for at least 6 months straight. Thats my advice and experience with a CBB.