copperband butterfly fish?? should i or not????

[bigkai]

ok im done with pepperment shrimp. i thanking about trying a copperband butterfly (cbb) for aiptasia control. so how many of you guys have them? or have had experience with them? what are the pros and cons to keeping them in a reef tank? what did you feed them how often did you feed them? what kind did you have coral sea or eastern asia or any other? any and all info is welcome good or bad. thank guys hope i get a lot of responce for you all.

 

[swannyson7]

They're passive feeders, so if you have any aggressive feeders, you may encounter problems. As far as eating aptasia, they seem to be hit or miss and the same goes for behavior in a reef tank. They have been known to eat feather dusters & coco worms as well as pick at clams and the polyps of corals, but some people have had no problems with nipping at their livestock. If you decide to grab one, make sure it's readily eating before bringing it home and best of luck to you!

 

[mobyreef]

Get berghias. Stop wasting your time and money chasing a possible fix

 

[ThaBeast]

I've had mine for over two years, came from the Solomon Islands. I feed him 2x daily, and until recently he would only eat pe mysis. My copperband won't let me add new acans, but leaves the current acans alone. He is becoming more and more aggressive during feeding time, has recently started 'spitting' water at me when I am looking down into the tank.

 

[milkman]

I would recommend the CBB solution. It worked for me.

I got a large CBB which did not eat for several days and had me worried, but then he proceeded to decimate the aiptasia population in my 120 gal which was overrun with the pest. Cleaned up every last one of them over a 2-3 week period.

Unfortunately, I found him impaled on my birdsnest coral a few weeks back. He has just started to eat mysis when I fed the tank, but that was not until after he had cleaned up the aiptasia. He has been gone about 3-4 weeks and I still have not seen one aiptasia return.

Best $45 I have every spent on pest control.

 

[AcroholicReefer]

ok im done with pepperment shrimp. i thanking about trying a copperband butterfly (cbb) for aiptasia control. so how many of you guys have them? or have had experience with them? what are the pros and cons to keeping them in a reef tank? what did you feed them how often did you feed them? what kind did you have coral sea or eastern asia or any other? any and all info is welcome good or bad. thank guys hope i get a lot of responce for you all.

What size tank do you have and do you have any tangs?

 

[Troylee]

I had a cbb he did his job ate all the feather dusters and aiptasia... After a month or so of eating pellets and flake I thought all was well then he took my clam out attacked my acans and my scolly before I had enough.... For those reasons I wouldn't recommend it just my 2 unless you can catch him easily when the job is completed...

 

[nixer]

honestly i would just get the zapper.
none of these animals can really be kept for long periods

 

[bigkai]

its a 75gallon and i dont have any tangs i had one for about 2 years and i got ride of him aout a year ago.

 

[maharsreef]

Ive had mine a years. Got rid of all aptasia. Nips my clams once a while,
I cant keep acans or otherii fleshy corals, or the will get eatin by him. But its a trade off. I dont worry about aptasia. I let it grow in my over flow just to provide it with food sources, he wont eat pelets.

 

[studentdriver]

It'll eat Acans

 

[cabi]

Good fish to control it but it will nipp Lps corals.

 

[gws3]

I think more people are unsuccessful with CBB than successful with them in the long run. I don't think purchasing an animal for an immediate solution is a healthy long term environment for it.