Will a 55g work for a copperband butterfly?
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Jon Fishman
Cleveland Ohio, buy/sell local!
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Welcome to R2R!
Um, not exactly. :-(
At least you have a 4' long tank.
How long is the copperband already?
The good news is they are very peaceful fish.
They should get along with your clowns.
I hate walking nems that are not in a dedicated tank.
Many copperbands will eat aptasia. Can't say about eating the anemone.
The bad news is they are delicate feeders to start.
Saw your other post about feeding.
Basically they are on the "leave in the ocean" list.
We feed ours live blackworms, finely chopped frozen clams and Rods Reef and LRS frozen mash.
I waited 5 years before I got one because I was afraid it would die.
If yours ate in the store then it may be ok. Some will eat nothing and starve to death.
Try feeding it whatever they got it to eat in the store. Mostly mysis usually.
But the live blackworms, finely chopped clams are best for long term growth, or even just survival. They are very delicate and needs perfect foods to regain their weight.
Maastic is another excellent choice. Keep it on the dry side and stick it to the rocks.
They normally peck bristleworms and such from the crevices in the live rock.
Our 2" one now pecks thawed frozen clam bits from my fingertips. Very, very cool fish if you have the time to cater to its annoying needs.
Our 2" copperband is in a 75 gallon tank. We have had it for a year and a half. Last summer it went without live blackworms for 3 months and lost a lot of weight.
I wasn't feeding bits of clams yet, just the other frozen fish foods. Took 2 months of frozen clams and blackworms to get a decent weight back on it. I worry more about it surviving than getting our 125 for now. :-/
We are planning on getting a 125, hopefully next year. Other tiny fish have already passed the copperband in growth rate.
The *really* messed up answer is they often live less than a year without ridiculously perfect foods, so you might not have to worry about a bigger tank. :-(
If you are willing to cater to it and it is small enough then it will be ok for a while.
But longterm it will need a bigger tank.
They are an amazing fish if you have the time and patience for it.
Um, not exactly. :-(
At least you have a 4' long tank.
How long is the copperband already?
The good news is they are very peaceful fish.
They should get along with your clowns.
I hate walking nems that are not in a dedicated tank.
Many copperbands will eat aptasia. Can't say about eating the anemone.
The bad news is they are delicate feeders to start.
Saw your other post about feeding.
Basically they are on the "leave in the ocean" list.
We feed ours live blackworms, finely chopped frozen clams and Rods Reef and LRS frozen mash.
I waited 5 years before I got one because I was afraid it would die.
If yours ate in the store then it may be ok. Some will eat nothing and starve to death.
Try feeding it whatever they got it to eat in the store. Mostly mysis usually.
But the live blackworms, finely chopped clams are best for long term growth, or even just survival. They are very delicate and needs perfect foods to regain their weight.
Maastic is another excellent choice. Keep it on the dry side and stick it to the rocks.
They normally peck bristleworms and such from the crevices in the live rock.
Our 2" one now pecks thawed frozen clam bits from my fingertips. Very, very cool fish if you have the time to cater to its annoying needs.
Our 2" copperband is in a 75 gallon tank. We have had it for a year and a half. Last summer it went without live blackworms for 3 months and lost a lot of weight.
I wasn't feeding bits of clams yet, just the other frozen fish foods. Took 2 months of frozen clams and blackworms to get a decent weight back on it. I worry more about it surviving than getting our 125 for now. :-/
We are planning on getting a 125, hopefully next year. Other tiny fish have already passed the copperband in growth rate.
The *really* messed up answer is they often live less than a year without ridiculously perfect foods, so you might not have to worry about a bigger tank. :-(
If you are willing to cater to it and it is small enough then it will be ok for a while.
But longterm it will need a bigger tank.
They are an amazing fish if you have the time and patience for it.
ella.saltwaterfish
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O
No problem! Thank you very much! The LFS said it accepts frozen brine shrimp. But I'll still try to feed it clams. I really hope it can survive longer and live happily. Again, thank you for replying.Welcome to R2R!
Um, not exactly. :-(
At least you have a 4' long tank.
How long is the copperband already?
The good news is they are very peaceful fish.
They should get along with your clowns.
I hate walking nems that are not in a dedicated tank.
Many copperbands will eat aptasia. Can't say about eating the anemone.
The bad news is they are delicate feeders to start.
Saw your other post about feeding.
Basically they are on the "leave in the ocean" list.
We feed ours live blackworms, finely chopped frozen clams and Rods Reef and LRS frozen mash.
I waited 5 years before I got one because I was afraid it would die.
If yours ate in the store then it may be ok. Some will eat nothing and starve to death.
Try feeding it whatever they got it to eat in the store. Mostly mysis usually.
But the live blackworms, finely chopped clams are best for long term growth, or even just survival. They are very delicate and needs perfect foods to regain their weight.
Maastic is another excellent choice. Keep it on the dry side and stick it to the rocks.
They normally peck bristleworms and such from the crevices in the live rock.
Our 2" one now pecks thawed frozen clam bits from my fingertips. Very, very cool fish if you have the time to cater to its annoying needs.
Our 2" copperband is in a 75 gallon tank. We have had it for a year and a half. Last summer it went without live blackworms for 3 months and lost a lot of weight.
I wasn't feeding bits of clams yet, just the other frozen fish foods. Took 2 months of frozen clams and blackworms to get a decent weight back on it. I worry more about it surviving than getting our 125 for now. :-/
We are planning on getting a 125, hopefully next year. Other tiny fish have already passed the copperband in growth rate.
The *really* messed up answer is they often live less than a year without ridiculously perfect foods, so you might not have to worry about a bigger tank. :-(
If you are willing to cater to it and it is small enough then it will be ok for a while.
But longterm it will need a bigger tank.
They are an amazing fish if you have the time and patience for it.
Good that it is eating *anything*.
Lol, a steady diet of brine shrimp is like feeding me nothing but doughnuts. ;-)
But thrilled that it is eating anything right now.
Very often they go on a hunger strike from the beginning and starve to death. :-(
Do you have access to live blackworms locally?
Picking at live wiggling blackworms is what ours started eating at first. Lol, ideally no more than 25 to 30% of it's diet.
Never did the frozen clam in the beginning. Kind of a PITA.
But once you and the fish are used to it, it is like feeding a dog treats.
Ours needs really tiny bits of clam because it is so small.
What size is your copperband?
What type of clownfish did you get?
Lol, a steady diet of brine shrimp is like feeding me nothing but doughnuts. ;-)
But thrilled that it is eating anything right now.
Very often they go on a hunger strike from the beginning and starve to death. :-(
Do you have access to live blackworms locally?
Picking at live wiggling blackworms is what ours started eating at first. Lol, ideally no more than 25 to 30% of it's diet.
Never did the frozen clam in the beginning. Kind of a PITA.
But once you and the fish are used to it, it is like feeding a dog treats.
Ours needs really tiny bits of clam because it is so small.
What size is your copperband?
What type of clownfish did you get?
Maastic is another great local or mail order solution.
Californiablackworms.com sells a freeze dried version of blackworms.
Shredding half a dry cube with my fingertips and sticking it to the glass is enough to get copperband to pick at it.
Mine already associates the smell with good eats.
Not sure if that will make a difference.
4" is a little big for a 55. At least it's a 4' tank.
With their slower growth rate you should be able to get at least a year? out of that tank.
4" is a great size in terms of trainable to aquarium foods.
The huge ones usually have a harder time converting to aquarium foods.
There sre several awesome links I need to stick in here.
Lol, need to set that up as a quick file.
Californiablackworms.com sells a freeze dried version of blackworms.
Shredding half a dry cube with my fingertips and sticking it to the glass is enough to get copperband to pick at it.
Mine already associates the smell with good eats.
Not sure if that will make a difference.
4" is a little big for a 55. At least it's a 4' tank.
With their slower growth rate you should be able to get at least a year? out of that tank.
4" is a great size in terms of trainable to aquarium foods.
The huge ones usually have a harder time converting to aquarium foods.
There sre several awesome links I need to stick in here.
Lol, need to set that up as a quick file.
http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/succeed-with-copperband-butterflyfish-chelmon-rostratus-2888/
Best starting point.
Search under copperband in R2R and you will find plenty of information.
Best starting point.
Search under copperband in R2R and you will find plenty of information.
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