Copperband butterfly reef safe?

badstorm48 · May 30, 2016

I have read that they are, but you can get one that does. I just wanted to hear everyone's personal experience with them in a reef tank and how it went. I really like them, but want to get as much info on them as I can to make an informed decision. Thank R2R community for the info.

dbl · May 30, 2016

Important to try to find one that's eating already. Make the seller show you it will take frozen or other prepared foods, if at all possible. I personally didn't have any trouble with it in my reef, but that's just one sample. Others may very.

badstorm48 · May 30, 2016

Okay. Do they eat regular flake food or do they need some type of special food to keep them going?

dbl · May 30, 2016

Mine ate frozen and pellets...never much cared for flakes. No special food that I'm aware of.

badstorm48 · May 30, 2016

Okay thank you. Anyone else have any experience with these fish?

Naiad · May 30, 2016

I have had them in a reef. No issues unless you are very fond of feather dusters and coco worms. You really want to get one already eating frozen. It is the key to success with them.

badstorm48 · May 30, 2016

Okay cool. I think I might give it a try.

maroun.c · May 30, 2016

I got a lot of CBB as I enjoy the challenge of training them to eat, I shared a few with friends and kept some in my tank over the years. They are hard to get to feed and even if they do they can still fade away and die slowly over 6 months. Not all of the, will eat aptasia which is the reason many reefers want them for, a few will nip on some LPS and on clams.
Very beautiful fish and adds loads of color and character in a tank. Last one I had used to eat straight out of my hand and also from a cup and couple of feeding tools I made to allow it to feed more than other fish in the tank. Ate like a pig but kept loosing weight till it died.
I advise to quarantine to get it feeding and fatten up before introduction. Also treating for internal and external parasites.

4FordFamily · May 30, 2016

Typically, but not always

eatbreakfast · May 31, 2016

They are usually safe, though the long nose that they have is for the purpose of eating tube dwelling worms, such as feather dusters and coco worms. They may also pick at clams, and on rarer occasions fleshy LPS.

Docile, calm tankmates are a must when getting used to captivity. Once established they can handle more active and fiesty tankmates.

4FordFamily · May 31, 2016

eatbreakfast said:
They are usually safe, though the long nose that they have is for the purpose of eating tube dwelling worms, such as feather dusters and coco worms. They may also pick at clams, and on rarer occasions fleshy LPS.

Docile, calm tankmates are a must when getting used to captivity. Once established they can handle more active and fiesty tankmates.

I agree on the calm tankmates. Most tangs (even non aggressive specimens) will stress this fish and will make it very difficult for them to feel comfortable enough to eat, which IMO is the biggest struggle with Copperbands. I've succeeded in the past with tana and active and even aggressive tankmates to have them stress when moved to the display to abandon eating again. :/

badstorm48 · May 31, 2016

Interesting. Thanks for the feedback.

zoomonster · May 31, 2016

I never has a problem with them in a reef tank. But like others have said whether or not they are eating and what they are eating is important to determine before leaving a LFS. I would never buy a CB online. As far as special food that just depends and they can be a pain. Personally I have never seen one that would eat pellets or flake food. More often it it is a combo of frozen mysis, live brine, frozen brine, cyclops etc. and not uncommon for them to only eat one of those items. Just need to determine that at LFS and make sure they are somewhat enthusiastic about eating. If shy about eating and just maybe nibbling I would pass.

badstorm48 · May 31, 2016

Okay I may pass on them then. I'm not very experienced with that and don't want to kill a fish due to being inexperienced. If I do come across one though that is eating very well and doing good I might contemplate it, but for right now I'm going to pass. If I was to get one now I would have to have my lfs order it for me and then there's no guarantee it will eat. So, I'll pass until I get more experienced with the harder to care for fish.

Outdrsyguy1 · May 31, 2016

i've had 3 CBB's. 2 from quality online retailer. those 2 never ate anything but my tubeworms and starved over about a month. 3rd i bought a larger one from a local store that was eating mysis. But it didn't handle qt well and succombed to a parasite outbreak. Love the fish, but personally have had terrible luck with them. May try again someday. I do know people that have had them for years, but it takes skill and some luck. Once they settle in good, they seem to do well long term from what i've seen.

badstorm48 · May 31, 2016

Yeah that's what it sounds like. If you can get one going they will last a long time. The problem is getting them to where they will eat and get fat

nex64 · May 31, 2016

Tube anemones, feather dusters , coco worms, clams, scallops, rainbow acans from my experience with my CBB.

zup33r · Jun 1, 2016

Mine just loved acans.
So i had a very bad experience with one.
I had to place an acan in a fish trap to catch him out of my 9x3x3

bblumberg · Jun 1, 2016

If you are wanting the copperband to eat aiptasia, I would consider a matted file fish (aka aiptasia eating file fish). The fish is so ugly that my wife and daughter think it is cute. I bought mine online and quarantined it for a month. During this time, it ate mysis and pellets without much enthusiasm. I had 2 tanks with aiptasia problems (came with some newly added live rock, as usual). I put the filefish in the 24g nanocube and it apparently did nothing for weeks. Then one day the aiptasia were all gone. Every single one. After another week to make sure, I moved it to my 75g corner reef. It didn't like the flow in that tank much and hid a lot. However after about a month, the aiptasia are all gone. I have not seen the filefish nip at zoas, acans or other corals in either tank. Not nearly as pretty as a butterfly, but gets the job done.

Bruce

Paul B · Jun 1, 2016

I have been keeping copperbands since they became available about 1973 or so. They are normally reef safe but some may have a taste for polyps. They will 99.99% of the time not eat flakes or pellets and even if they eat them, do not feed that to them (or any fish) In the sea they eat worms as I have spent time with them underwater. Feed them live blackworms, clams or frozen Mysis. Nothing else if you want to keep them alive and thriving for many years.

Video eating some live worms.