“Bah” The Copperband Butterfly, still kicking since April 2020

[Glenner’sreef]

This is one of the best threads I’ve seen this year

Agreed. Lol It’s definitely worth our time on this forum to analyze the lives and habits of our livestock and pass the data on to their benefit.

 

[inetjnky]

my first one ate Mysis and LRS from the water column when I broadcast my tank. It went missing while I was on my honeymoon while I had sitters watching my tank. New one I have now eats clams, salmon, and scallops. But all my fish are aggressive eaters and this CBB is very slow to eat and picks all day. So I made a pipe that’s closed on each end with holes drilled all over it that I stuff with it’s good and let it sit in the tank for a day or two before I replace it.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

my first one ate Mysis and LRS from the water column when I broadcast my tank. It went missing while I was on my honeymoon while I had sitters watching my tank. New one I have now eats clams, salmon, and scallops. But all my fish are aggressive eaters and this CBB is very slow to eat and picks all day. So I made a pipe that’s closed on each end with holes drilled all over it that I stuff with it’s good and let it sit in the tank for a day or two before I replace it.

That brilliant invention may drive your other fish crazy. Nice move.

 

[LaloJ]

Nice thread, I have been tempted to get a CBB, I would definitely do QT and although I'm concerned about the feeding issue, I'm just more concerned that my coral beauty angel would be waiting for him at the dt, he is an aggressive guy. I have always had the idea of making a dedicated butterflyfish tank and CBB would be on my list.

 

[Gobi-Wan]

I've had my CBB for a year and a half now. I had to do everything you can imagine to get him happy and healthy. I had killed a CBB in the past from inexperience and prepared as best as i could beforehand for this one. I created a live culture of blackworms in a 20L freshwater setup months beforehand. He did not accept them. I had masstick prepared, he did not accept that. He finally started eating a live clam that i busted open for him. I was able to keep him alive on those. He developed ich (or already had it) and 2 freshwater dips plus a therapeutic chelated copper treatment finally cured him of that. eventually i was able to get him to eat the blackworms out of a turkey baster and used this to safely add him to the display. (he would stick his beak all the way into the baster and i could target feed him without the other fish stealing everything) I transitioned the baster to Reef Frenzy and eventually created a feeder that he eats out of. I still feed all the fish from this feeder because the CBB eats what he wants and the rest floats out to the other fish as it thaws. It's pretty convenient for feeding frozen in general actually. I feel like I had the most difficult scenario, i often read about people whose copperbands eat frozen readily.

 

[Gobi-Wan]

Also worth noting- I had to stuff my CBB to the point of having a big fat belly for 4 months before it gained weight back to normal. Just seeing it eat isn't enough.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Do you want to know the coolest thing about my copperband is that after about a month finally last night I watched him decimate aptasia tearing it apart shaking his head with it in his mouth this morning I wake up all the aptasia’s gone best darn Fish I’ve ever bought

 

[OrionN]

CBB are dimorphic. We can sex them. It is actually fairly easy to pair them.
Female

Male

Pair

 

[Glenner’sreef]

CBB are dimorphic. We can sex them. It is actually fairly easy to pair them.
Female

Male

Pair

Interesting, where do you see the differences in this pair?

 

[OrionN]

Please my thread on CBB dimorphism here:

Sexual dimorphism identification of Chelmon rostratus, the Copperband Butterfly,

From the horse mouth, people who successfully pair, breed and raised Copperband Butterflies Jirayuth Ruensirikul, Mavit Assava-aree, Atra Chaimongkol, Sirawan Bunchai, and Khwantana Ongart of Coastal Aquaculture Research Institute and Nakhonsithammarat Coastal Fisheries Research and Development...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Borat]

It's actually very easy - the one that uses the lipstick is female..

 

[OrionN]

Somebody told me a sure fire way is to put a credit card in the tank. The one that go after it is the surefire female
I have not use this method

 

[Paul B]

1. what is your CBB success story?

This guy died after 10 years. He got a weird neurological condition where he could see the food, but kept missing it with his snout. But 10 years seems fine. I think I had another one many years ago that also lasted about that long. He is eating clams and worms here



This is before he got "senile"

 

[OrionN]

This guy died after 10 years. He got a weird neurological condition where he could see the food, but kept missing it with his snout. But 10 years seems fine. I think I had another one many years ago that also lasted about that long. He is eating clams and worms here



This is before he got "senile"

That is a clearly Male CBB. It seems quite a few butterflies have bump of the forehead as dimorphism characteristic. This seem to be IMO. I have not done extensive research on it.

 

[Dburr1014]

It's actually very easy - the one that uses the lipstick is female..

Not by today's standards...

 

[OrionN]

This guy died after 10 years. He got a weird neurological condition where he could see the food, but kept missing it with his snout. But 10 years seems fine. I think I had another one many years ago that also lasted about that long. He is eating clams and worms here



This is before he got "senile"

@Paul B
That is a fat CBB with a clear fore head bump of a male CBB

 

[mtfish]

I received my CBB from Bluezoo on July 11, 2014, so I am almost at the ten year mark. I will try to take a picture and see if @OrionN can tell me the sex. I did QT this fish, but not treat with copper. More of a observation tank, but did treat for flukes as they are known to come in with parasites. I believe my trick was being able to collect live polychaetes from Padre Island beach to get it feeding. It now eats pellets, nori, and is looking all day for stuff to eat. As stated before, if you can get them over the hump, they are a very hardy fish.

As a side note, I foolishly had a single mushroom coral on a rock that has now taken over my tank. I have to go in at times and start to pull them off with tweezers. My CBB will follow me around the tank and clean up little bits that I miss with the tweezers. One of my favorite fish in the tank.

 

[OrionN]

I received my CBB from Bluezoo on July 11, 2014, so I am almost at the ten year mark. I will try to take a picture and see if @OrionN can tell me the sex. I did QT this fish, but not treat with copper. More of a observation tank, but did treat for flukes as they are known to come in with parasites. I believe my trick was being able to collect live polychaetes from Padre Island beach to get it feeding. It now eats pellets, nori, and is looking all day for stuff to eat. As stated before, if you can get them over the hump, they are a very hardy fish.

As a side note, I foolishly had a single mushroom coral on a rock that has now taken over my tank. I have to go in at times and start to pull them off with tweezers. My CBB will follow me around the tank and clean up little bits that I miss with the tweezers. One of my favorite fish in the tank.

I would love to see pictures of 10 year old CBB. I am glad to see a reefer from CC, TX

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I looked back at my records. I have my copperband since 2019. He’s in the tank with tangs. He thinks he’s a tang now. He will even tail slap like the tangs and he holds his own at feeding time. He just will not eat anything that’s not frozen thawed. He spends his time on aptasia patrol. I haven’t seen one in years.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Bah, cruising the reef a couple of weeks back. Another thought was: How would one introduce a new CBB into the tank? Are they really that receptive?