Sexual dimorphism identification of Chelmon rostratus, the Copperband Butterfly,

Salty_Taste

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IMG_1290.jpeg

Best I can tell the female in front and male in the back
Beautiful specimens! Hope they do well. Can't wait to see you document them :)
 
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Wish me luck on this pair. My LFS got two CBB in about 10 days ago. They are adult CBB. I sexed them as male and female, asked the LFS to put them together. 1 week after they were put together I brought them home Friday evening.
IMG_1290.jpeg
IMG_1342.jpeg
 
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so in the LFS picture, left is M and right is F?
That is my opinion. The slope of the forehead here exaggerated a lot because the extension of the male dorsal fin. However, even if i only look at the fore head I can see the slope differences.
 
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They tolerate each other, not quite a pair yet, but well on their way. The male still picks at the female at times. However, after the whole week in a small aquarium at the LFS with no torn fin, I am certain that if I am not going to have a war in the QT. If I am not able to come up with the pair here, it is because of my inability to acclimate this two CBB.
BTW, I find that this type of acclimating is very helpful to acclimate sensitive wrasses and other delicate fishes.
 
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This is my new 2in CBB, Would you guess this is a male? Asking because I am receiving another 2in possibly and would like to try throwing them in together and see what happens

Both pics are the same fish.
IMG_6738.jpg
IMG_6692.jpg
My best guess is this is a female CBB. @ThRoewer ?
 
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@Salty_Taste
According to a CBB breeder, the best surefire way to get a pair is correctly sex the fish. Then use acclimating method where the two fish is in the same aquarium but separated by acclimating box or divider for 1 week.
They got 100% success with this method, 12/12
Throwing two correctly sexed CBB together, they have success 1/6 or about 16%
 

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Wish me luck on this pair. My LFS got two CBB in about 10 days ago. They are adult CBB. I sexed them as male and female, asked the LFS to put them together. 1 week after they were put together I brought them home Friday evening.
IMG_1290.jpeg
IMG_1342.jpeg
I read an article a few years ago about sexing butterflyfish and copperbands particularly. Males have a steep forehead while the forehead on females is a more gentle slope. Male on left, female on right in upper photo. The same technique is used to sex laterally compressed (flattened) freshwater fish such as discus and angelfish. A friend had a pair of huge copperbands for over ten years. As they age, the difference is more pronounced.
 

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This is fascinating. It would be great to see captive bred come to the hobby.
 
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Injury, wounds, rough scales and clowndy fins are going away. I was worry about infection for a few day. No treatment other than they were holding in copper medication at the LFS of unknown concentration.
A few pictures this AM with my dither fish. The Convict tang is a perfect dither fish this time. The CBB was eating aggressively this AM when I dump frozen mysis into the tank. They still swimming randomly about rather in pairs, but not fighting. The female was the more dominants one of the two fish. I am not sure if this is true for all CBB pairs.
Still thin but hoping they will get better and start on those Aiptasia once all the worms are gone.
IMG_1395.jpeg
IMG_1388.jpeg
IMG_1387.jpeg
IMG_1367.jpeg
 

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Injury, wounds, rough scales and clowndy fins are going away. I was worry about infection for a few day. No treatment other than they were holding in copper medication at the LFS of unknown concentration.
A few pictures this AM with my dither fish. The Convict tang is a perfect dither fish this time. The CBB was eating aggressively this AM when I dump frozen mysis into the tank. They still swimming randomly about rather in pairs, but not fighting. The female was the more dominants one of the two fish. I am not sure if this is true for all CBB pairs.
Still thin but hoping they will get better and start on those Aiptasia once all the worms are gone.
IMG_1395.jpeg
IMG_1388.jpeg
IMG_1387.jpeg
IMG_1367.jpeg
In your experience how have copperbands been with your non-aiptasia anemones jaja
 
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Well, this CBB pair is a no go. Both were doing OK then just stop eating and died. The rest of the fish in the QT was fin. My Mandarin, Silver belly wrasse and Convict tang are doing great. I was not sure why they died other than the fact that they were keep at the LFS for too long in the coppered treated system. I asked the LFS owner to keep them together to make sure they pair up, or at least tolerate each other. I never prophylactically treat any of my fishes and won't make the same mistake again.
I have since got a CBB from Aquarium Design in San Antonio. She is a small one, only about 2 inches. Looking at her, I would see her size is about a 50 cents US coin. Of course, the snout and clear tail does not count in this type of estimate.
She hunts all day, eating well with mysis feeding twice a day. Full stomach and pooping well. She has a bunch of lymphocystis lesions on her tail and both pectoralis fins when I first got her. Since she is in my QT system, the lesions on the tail and R pectoralis fins have resolved while the lesions on the L pectoralis fin is going away. I am officially in the hunt for a male CBB at this time.
Here she is new in my QT with empty stomach
img_1619-jpeg.3578680


Full stomach
img_1615-jpeg.3578679
 

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