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- Feb 17, 2016
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My experiences with copperbands is pretty extensive. I've owned a few myself and have a few within customers tanks I take care of. For the most part they are a very peaceful and shy fish when first introduced. Making sure any specimen you may be interested in is readily eating is the single most important thing.
Due to their demure personality I have had much greater success with them in smaller tanks. In smaller tanks it is much easier for them to get at food being fed. And while they are constantly occupied exploring every nook and cranny, I haven't observed much of difference in behavior of copperbands in larger tanks vs smaller tanks. The only significant difference is that copperbands in smaller tanks acclimate to captivity faster and are much bolder than those in larger tanks.
Having peaceful, smaller tankmates that also require multiple feedings also is pivitol to success with copperbands in the beginning. I've had copperbandd be fine with bolder species, but they thrive with calmer ones.
The tank that I have personally dealt with that has had the most success with delicate species, including copperbands is a 24"x 24" 60g cube tank. They have an almost full grown copperband that just 2 years ago was a tiny juvenile. It's growth rate is great, it is incredibly bold, always greating anybody at the front of the tank. The tank is aquascaped as a single tall structure with a cave in the bottom 1/3, so the copperband can swim around and explore. They feed heavily for other tankmates which include a trio of randalls anthias, a tiger jawfish, multibarred angel, banded pipefish, seahorse, among a few others.
Feeding, peaceful tankmates, and properly aqua scaped surroundings, as well as water quality are all of far greater significanse than tank size.
Would a pair of O clowns and 2 pygmy angels be too much competition, do you think?