Copperband Butterfly, Keep in pairs?

[OrionN]

Should I attempt to keep a pair of Copperband Butterfly?
My tank is a 320 gal DT and I am not a novice reefkeeper; keep marine aquariums since 1980. I have one CBB in it right now. He is a medium sized CBB, 2.5 inches. I have done research about CBB. What I read said that CBB should be keep single, excepts when the keep in pair or group.

I like to pick the brains of people who have keep more than one CBB in their tank. Any problem? How did you choose the second one? How many attempt until you find a compatible pair/group? LFS experiences are welcome.

TIA

 

[jsker]

@eatbreakfast is very knowledgeable on compatibility.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I've never tried a pr of copperbands. I have had longnose butterflies pr, but that was just putting two small individuals together and may have had a helping of luck as well.

 

[OrionN]

Thanks guys

 

[michael giordano]

Yeah a buddy of mine had two in his tank for last 5 Year’s with no issues

 

[norfolkgarden]

Bump.

Anyone done this with 2 smaller CBB's?

Thanks!

 

[Jesterrace]

I would go with the general rule for saltwater fish, which is that unless they are a mated pair they won't get along. A 320 gallon is sizeable but Copperbands definitely make use of space and can get pretty good sized.

 

[JaimeAdams]

You know what we talk about only 1 of this and 1 of that. I say try it out. We only follow the norms because someone along the line made it the norm. You are certainly experienced enough to push the norms a bit.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Lol, Silver dollar is "1st fish" in the tank.
Every one else revolves around its needs.

Saw an even smaller CBB (barely) that looked thin at the LFS a few weeks ago.
Would have been a rescue effort and just barely happy with the condition Silver dollar is in after a year and a half.
Eats clam bits out of my fingertips and live blackworms. But if I'm working out of town for 3 or 4 days a week then it's a frozen mysis cube tossed in the tank. [emoji53]

Would have been a long on-ramp for the 2nd one and then still not sure the 2 of them would have got along.

Want to hear that at least someone else had tried it and have it work out before I jeopardize Silver dollar.

It would be really cool to know that I could 'save' other small ones and add them later without it becoming a problem.
Growth rate has been so painfully slow that it would be more like adding another 3" fish then the potential 7" fish it will become.

It really sucks when you can walk in the fish store and know which fish are going to be dead in the next 5 days without heroic efforts. And that if they had heroic efforts they would probably end up being fine. [emoji53]

Really fortunate to have a flame angelfish pair, a juvenile yellow and a juvenile purple tang that only dislike each other, and the 5 juvenile yellow 'coris' wrasse are doing well.
Just saw the 4th Royal gramma peaking out of the rocks today for the 1st time in about a month and a half.

I am not the maestro that @4FordFamily is. [emoji846] And the current tank is only a 75. [emoji53]
The 6' 125 is still in the planning
(begging) stage.

I'm afraid at some point I'm going to push my luck way too far. [emoji53]
Lol, yeah, with the current tank *and* with Better Half.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

I knew of a reef tank that had two cbb many years ago. One was in for quite some time, the other was added later as a rescue.

They were about the same size, medium ish. I do not recall them ever acting paired, but they got along well enough that there were no issues. The tank was probably a 180, possibly a 125.

Probably not overly helpful to you, but at least a bit of hope.

Good luck!

 

[OrionN]

I tried but have to remove the second one due to fighting. 2 bd one was smaller than the first

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

That's too bad. Will you try again?

 

[pcon]

The important thing about to know about butterflies before attempting pairing: they are Gonochoric. Unlike the other fish we commonly keep in pairs, Clowns and Angels, Butterfly's gender is assigned at birth. Placing two Butterflies of the same gender, in most any tank, will result in fighting. Additionally Butterflies wont accept a mate of insufficient quality, Big female small male=death fight. Even with a Big Male, too big or too small of female also equals issues.
There are suggestions of sexual dimorphism in the copperband butterfly. I don't remember what the distinction is exactly, I recall it has something to do with nose/face angle. I am pretty sure Chad Vossen, of Vossen Aquatics has mentioned the distinction here previously, or perhaps that was in the Marine Breeding Facebook group.

 

[norfolkgarden]

The important thing about to know about butterflies before attempting pairing: they are Gonochoric. Unlike the other fish we commonly keep in pairs, Clowns and Angels, Butterfly's gender is assigned at birth. Placing two Butterflies of the same gender, in most any tank, will result in fighting. Additionally Butterflies wont accept a mate of insufficient quality, Big female small male=death fight. Even with a Big Male, too big or too small of female also equals issues.
There are suggestions of sexual dimorphism in the copperband butterfly. I don't remember what the distinction is exactly, I recall it has something to do with nose/face angle. I am pretty sure Chad Vossen, of Vossen Aquatics has mentioned the distinction here previously, or perhaps that was in the Marine Breeding Facebook group.

Thank you!

All of my fish get added at 3" or less. Current copperband is still under 2.5".

Will juveniles 'shoal' or at least just tolerate each other?

Or does it have to be good fortune that the second just happened to be the opposite sex and 2 is the required stopping point.

The tiny ones come in so thin and sad. But I don't want to jeopardize the one I already have.

 

[OrionN]

I can try again but I am not sure. I would love to have a pair

 

[Haydn]

I attempted this in my 2000ltr tank unsuccessfully. The fish didn't fight but the dominant one always bullied the other and wouldn't allow it to feed properly. I had to remove it and move it on before it starved to death. Interestingly the dominant fish was the smaller of the two, both fish were added to the tank at the same time.

 

[Eoka]

I can try again but I am not sure. I would love to have a pair

Hey I just got a big copperband and I want to get a pair. I was wondering if you ever attempted a pair again. Also do you know how to sex copper bands.
Thanks.

 

[OrionN]

I have not. Sorry

 

[Miami Reef]

I had a Copperband for a few weeks in my tank. It wasn’t eating the aiptasia, so today I added 2 more from my LFS. The initial one was so aggressive to them. I didn’t know copperbands could be so aggressive. It chased both of the Copperbands into my powerheads. One died, and the other one was rescued and placed in my QT. I don’t know how long the second one was attached to the powerhead for.

 

[OrionN]

There is a way to sex CBB. It is the slope of the forehead. There is very minor differences between the two sex. I wrote and documented extensively with picture on this. Please do a search. You may be able to come up with the stuff I wrote on Thai subject.