How to be successful with a copperband butterflyfish

[Fourthwind]

My CBB during the mysis feed. I feed LRS reef frenzy in the morning, and he loves all the chunks of various foods. Clam, squid, ect. In the evening I throw in a couple chunks of PE mysis into the slow feeder.

 

[Captain Quint]

My CBB during the mysis feed. I feed LRS reef frenzy in the morning, and he loves all the chunks of various foods. Clam, squid, ect. In the evening I throw in a couple chunks of PE mysis into the slow feeder.

Where the heck is either the 'Double Like' or 'Love" button?

 

[Pauley]

My experience has been that they're not bad eaters - they're just initially very timid and slow feeders (as are many grazers). Every other fish in the tank will steal the available food before they learn to go after it. Unfortunately, with that body type, they don't have long to adjust before they risk starving. I had good luck starting with masstick pasted into the rockwork. From there it was easy to transition to hikari mysis (smaller than the PE mysis), and then to the lump frozen mixes (reef frenzy, etc). I know one of the LFS here has had success with masstick as well.

 

[USMA36]

I picked one up about 3 months ago. Would not touch a thing for the first 3 weeks. After that live blackworms would be the only thing he’d eat. He absolutely loves the blackworms. He also eats whole clams now. I pick them up at the grocery store and freeze them. I put one in either after lights out or before the lights come on. Freezing keeps them longer but more importantly when I toss a frozen clam in the tank it will open just enough for the copperband to get his beak in but not enough for anyone else until it fully thaws and opens. It gives home a 30 min head start before the yellow tang and other fish join the party. Mine still,won’t eat frozen food. I feed LRS fish frenzy. He will chase it and check it out, but won’t eat it yet. I hope the worms and clams are enough to keep him healthy. Luckily he’s not shy when it comes to the worms. He goes against my aggressive yellow tang with no fear.

 

[Mal Cameron]

That's great! I heard australian butterflys are much hardier. (And more$$$)

They only cost $40 here in Australia.

 

[Mal Cameron]

They only cost $40 here in Australia BUT not sold as much as they used to be. Lovely fish but not long lived hence their cheapness. I can only get about 3 years out of them.

 

[Samandar]

Hi, I thank everybody who share his experiences although it would be perhaps repetitious. I am since 1977 in this hobby with fresh water and since 2010 with saltwater fishes. But I have learned a lot from the discussions of newbie. At the moment I have a CBB who take the food from my hand and eat pods and another things that are in the tank. According to my experience the color of the food play a role. I give sometimes lettuce to my tangs. CBB always come and nip the lettuce which are white color, while she dose not nip any other food which have other The same experience I have with banggai cardinals.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Has anyone kept 2 together in a tank successfully longterm? I know they are territorial and monogamous like most butterflies.

 

[Paul B]

I have tried to add another one and it seems to work when they are young, but the adults, not so much. I had to remove the last one almost instantly or my existing one would have killed her. I am not sure it is the same with all of them. I have added a long nose and they became instant friends.

 

[cracker]

I gotta say a proper varied diet is key in getting them to east & long term life. Quality,varied meaty foods from the sea. No pellets & flake. also they have voracious appetites. getting a new picky eater is to mimic the way they eat in the wild. A half open clam,meaty food smash into a crack in your rock etc. Mine loves oyster & shrimp heads !

 

[slowngreen]

Any LFS/retailers ever keep them till their eating frozen or flake before selling them?

 

[wowkingjames]

Always enjoy the information I get here at R2R, the awesome advise that reefers want to share we can applied it with our knowledge and it can make us a better reefer.....

 

[Neptune 555]

I am not a Mod but I am a Geezer and I don't like arguing. If I wanted to fight I would tell my wife she looks fat in those shorts.
I love copperbands and usually reply on copperband threads. I like all weird shaped fish. The OP is correct about their diet, I do agree with that. Many people try to feed them wrong.
I also wrote something about copperbands here, although I like everyone else am no expert and every copperband is different as they are one of the few fish that have a personality and I believe they are smarter than most fish as I mention here http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/succeed-with-copperband-butterflyfish-chelmon-rostratus-2888/

Hi Paul, ( I also posted to your article but I am not sure how that response would get to me)

I am investigating adding a CBB to my 180 reef. Yep I feed live clams and black worms to my tank after finding your articles a few years ago. My question is that in my 180 I also am adding a male / female mandarin (tank raised.) Does the Copperband also eat copapods? As in will my CBB compete with my mandarins for pods on the rock? I am nervous that my tank will not sustain all three fish. I was going to keep a refugium for pods and also hatch brine shrimp weekly. Will the CBB eat the baby brine shrimp? I remember reading a post from you where you shared that you used to collect food for the CBB at the docks? That they actually eat sponges? Can you provide more detail and a photo?

More feeding questions bc I do think proper feeding equals healthy fish! You never mention feeding fish oysters only clams? Why is this? I am trying to keep their diet varied for health so I give clams / steamer clams / oysters / mussels / shrimp / scallops. Why no mention of oysters? Also since I have been feeding more live food it has been hard to keep my nitrates low... They are going up.. and currently I am at 20/40 nitrates? What do you think is acceptable nitrate level and how do you manage this? My tank looks good and corals are growing...

thanks!!
Neptune.

I have tried to add another one and it seems to work when they are young, but the adults, not so much. I had to remove the last one almost instantly or my existing one would have killed her. I am not sure it is the same with all of them. I have added a long nose and they became instant friends.

I am also investigating the long nose to add to my 180. If they are easier to maintain I might go that route.. I never buy a fish unless I am 98% sure I can sustain its food requirements. hence all the research first. Given the snouts I was thinking they would both be as hard as each other.

 

[Paul B]

Neptune, no problems. A copperband will not compete with a mandarin and they do not eat pods or baby brine shrimp unless they are very tiny copperbands. They won't even see them. Copperbands do not eat sponges. In that article you are quoting, that was for Moorish Idols.
I feed clams because they are about half the price of oysters and I like to eat the oysters myself.
But any shellfish is great except for scallops. When we buy scallops here in the US we just get the aducttor muscles that close the shell. It is an OK food but the real nutrition is in the guts which you are not getting in store bought scallops.

Mussels are also great, and cheap. I don't like to eat them as much as clams so I normally have clams in my house, but mussels are fantastic.

Your nitrates are not high for fish but certain SPS corals will be tough. I use an algae scrubber for nitrates.
It is hard to keep corals and fish happy because healthy fish require a lot of good food and corals prefer cleaner water.

For the mandarin, they will not find new born shrimp in your tank, you need to make a feeder.
http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/diy-target-feeder-mandarinfish-pipefish-2804/

 

[Neptune 555]

Any LFS/retailers ever keep them till their eating frozen or flake before selling them?

Neptune, no problems. A copperband will not compete with a mandarin and they do not eat pods or baby brine shrimp unless they are very tiny copperbands. They won't even see them. Copperbands do not eat sponges. In that article you are quoting, that was for Moorish Idols.
I feed clams because they are about half the price of oysters and I like to eat the oysters myself.
But any shellfish is great except for scallops. When we buy scallops here in the US we just get the aducttor muscles that close the shell. It is an OK food but the real nutrition is in the guts which you are not getting in store bought scallops.

Mussels are also great, and cheap. I don't like to eat them as much as clams so I normally have clams in my house, but mussels are fantastic.

Your nitrates are not high for fish but certain SPS corals will be tough. I use an algae scrubber for nitrates.
It is hard to keep corals and fish happy because healthy fish require a lot of good food and corals prefer cleaner water.

For the mandarin, they will not find new born shrimp in your tank, you need to make a feeder.
http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/diy-target-feeder-mandarinfish-pipefish-2804/

Paul, I did make the mandarin feeding station previously for my mandarins. I was trying to get a pair of them. After 2 attempts to add a second mandarin and the new mandarin dying... I stopped trying. The mandarins found the feeding station BUT for some reason the baby brine shrimp kept dying in the feeder. I tried a few different types of nylons b/c I thought maybe the mesh was to thin? I am posting the photo b/c I want to try this again and I am unsure what was flawed in my design. I hatched the BBS used a BBS net and manually add to the feeder fill w/ salt water from the tank and manually sink the feeder and placed a rock on top to hold it down.

The original larger mandarin is still w/ me now in a 55 gallon tank. He is the only pod eater in the tank and has learned to eat black worms and bits of clam so he is doing fine. I want to try this feeding station again for 2 matted mandarins that will go in my new tank.

thanks!!
Neptune

 

[saltyhog]

Ive never had a problem getting a CB to eat. they are in nature finicky and can be challenging to the most experienced hobbyist. It is trial and error in essence to get them to feed but overall they do and will come around.
Live foods, Nori and aptasia are the best enticers but not limited to such

I've never gotten mine to eat nori. He eats anything frozen though LRS is his favorite.

 

[Paul B]

Neptune, I think your feeder is to small and the shrimp are using the oxygen before they can get out.

 

[Gools]

Has anyone had luck feeding clams to their copperband while having tridacna clams in there tank?

 

[Paul B]

Yes, I have had tridnacna clams for years while feeding clams to my copperband. None of my copperbands touched the tridacna clams but maybe I am lucky.

 

[nkarisny]

I don't know why many people think copperbands are a delicate fish but I think it has to do with quarantine. I have been keeping copperbands since the early 70s and although I used to have a problem keeping them much longer than a year, I learned that copperbands hate quarantine like so many fish do.
If they feel comfortable and are fed things like you mentioned, worms and clams, they should have no problems as long as they are in a natural, not to new reef.
I think this one is about 8 or 9 but I got him when he was as big as a quarter, maybe a nickel, I forget but he should live at least 7 or 8 more years. I am not sure how long they live but I think about 14 or so years.
Good luck with yours. They are a beautiful fish

what do u feed ?