Copperband/ other options

[allof fish]

Hey everyone so I just got a fish shipment in today and unfortunately one of the fish didn’t make it. I have some ideas for what to replace it with but not sure if it will work and need advice. I have a few pieces of aipstasia and thought a copperband would be great but I do have 2 tangs and the purple can be aggressive at times. Was even seen nipping at new fish today. I would be scared he would really do damage to copperband. Tank is 120 currently have purple/ chocolate tang. 2 clownish. Leopard wrasse and Midas blenny. Probably not worth risk? Should I just get another wrasse or what other options should I consider. Thanks for help

 

[Rocks reef]

@ReefSquad
@Fish Styx

 

[Fish Styx]

It sounds like you're purple is dominant and territorial*. CBBs are fairly sensitive and notoriously difficult to get eating. My concern would be that aggression on top of that. It would likely end poorly, IMO. Know, however, that IMMV. I would say more wrasses, for sure. I'm gonna tag out here, and tag in someone whose opinion I deeply respect. @Slocke you're up, bud.


*Expected behavior from this Zebrasoma.

 

[Rocks reef]

It sounds like you're purple is dominant and territorial*. CBBs are fairly sensitive and notoriously difficult to get eating. My concern would be that aggression on top of that. It would likely end poorly, IMO. Know, however, that IMMV. I would say more wrasses, for sure. I'm gonna tag out here, and tag in someone whose opinion I deeply respect. @Slocke you're up, bud.


*Expected behavior from this Zebrasoma.

I appreciate your response sir.

I agree with the CBBs. The only way I'd attempt that is if I had an acclimation box large enough to contain the CBB for a week or two. That way you can possibly reduce aggression and observe it feeding.

To the OP. If one of your reasons behind a CBB is aptasia, there is the Molly Miller Blenny that will take care of the aptasia as well. Aptasia eating file fish is another option. Or... you can manually remove the aptasia or use an aptasia paste if you are able to get to them easily.

 

[Slocke]

Hey everyone so I just got a fish shipment in today and unfortunately one of the fish didn’t make it. I have some ideas for what to replace it with but not sure if it will work and need advice. I have a few pieces of aipstasia and thought a copperband would be great but I do have 2 tangs and the purple can be aggressive at times. Was even seen nipping at new fish today. I would be scared he would really do damage to copperband. Tank is 120 currently have purple/ chocolate tang. 2 clownish. Leopard wrasse and Midas blenny. Probably not worth risk? Should I just get another wrasse or what other options should I consider. Thanks for help

120 is a 4 foot tank?


Adding fish when you have a dominant fish like that tang can be difficult. For the aiptasia I suggest getting a peppermint but you need to get it from a reputable source or else you will get a fake or worse a coral eating species. However with a real peppermint I usually see overnight results.

For fish I have a few suggestions.

1. Halichoeres wrasse. (You can copy and paste the Greek into liveaquaria to get the common species I am suggesting.) Just don't get any species that gets bigger then 5". They are tough and relatively unaggressive.
2. Fairy wrasse. May be a bit more difficult with tangs as they can be shy but see the chart I will copy below.
3. Genicanthus angel. Reef safe angelfish, great for a tank like that but may have issues with tangs. I wouldn't know, I don't keep tangs.
4. Basslets, just easy,hardy fish.

 

[allof fish]

It sounds like you're purple is dominant and territorial*. CBBs are fairly sensitive and notoriously difficult to get eating. My concern would be that aggression on top of that. It would likely end poorly, IMO. Know, however, that IMMV. I would say more wrasses, for sure. I'm gonna tag out here, and tag in someone whose opinion I deeply respect. @Slocke you're up, bud.


*Expected behavior from this Zebrasoma.

Appreciate he is dominate and gets into sometimes with the chocolate tang but majority of the time over the algae clip. I thought about an acclimation box but I just don’t wnat it to end poorly. I though I could always throw him in sump if he started pecking at corals or getting bullied but for that fish I want to see him than not.

 

[exnisstech]

I would pass on the CBB. I keep one (used to be a pair but my male died ) in with 8 tangs but it's a 7ft tank and I have a very long process to condition the CBBs in an observation tank before adding them to an acclimation box in the DT. I also have a pretty peaceful tank and the tangs take turns being boss so I don't have that one dominant fish.
I have had very good luck with peppermints and keep them in all of my tanks too small for a CBB

This is a good read.

Copperband Butterflyfish - A beautiful but hard to keep species.

Chelmon rostratus, one of the most iconic reef fish but one of the worst to attempt. If this wasn’t one of the first “unusual” fish to catch your eye then I’ll be surprised as many people will walk into an LFS for the first time and there will usually be one, two or in some cases four of this...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[allof fish]

I appreciate your response sir.

I agree with the CBBs. The only way I'd attempt that is if I had an acclimation box large enough to contain the CBB for a week or two. That way you can possibly reduce aggression and observe it feeding.

To the OP. If one of your reasons behind a CBB is aptasia, there is the Molly Miller Blenny that will take care of the aptasia as well. Aptasia eating file fish is another option. Or... you can manually remove the aptasia or use an aptasia paste if you are able to get to them easily.

Sounds good I have tried to manually remove it but can be difficult in hard spots. I think the main reason people are attracted to cbb is looks and it’s eating aipasia. I would love another show fish too but am worried about it. Purple tang is only about 3.5 in or so if I got a cbb bigger could that help with aggression?

 

[Fish Styx]

Sounds good I have tried to manually remove it but can be difficult in hard spots. I think the main reason people are attracted to cbb is looks and it’s eating aipasia. I would love another show fish too but am worried about it. Purple tang is only about 3.5 in or so if I got a cbb bigger could that help with aggression?

It could, but you'd likely get more mileage out of totally rescaping your tank and doing a total 72 hour blackout by completely wrapping the tank. I would, however, acquire one locally so that you can observe it for a bit to make sure it is healthy (appropriate weight, no sign of disease, fin damage from netting, etc) and eating. I would also recommend, as Rock stated, the use of acclimation boxes. This still may fail. Mirrors can curb aggression sometimes, but maybe only temporary, so I would have a rehoming plan in place that extends beyond your sump.