Copperband butterfly tank mate.

[SHAIN]

Hi guys.
I have a reef pro 1500 5x2x2 mixed reef.
I have a copperband butterfly and looking into adding a magnificent foxface.
I just wondered if any of you have kept both together as I don't want to stress out copperband.
I've had the copperband for about 3 years years so is very settled and feeds frozen food from my hand.
Thanks
Shain

 

[i cant think]

Hi guys.
I have a reef pro 1500 5x2x2 mixed reef.
I have a copperband butterfly and looking into adding a magnificent foxface.
I just wondered if any of you have kept both together as I don't want to stress out copperband.
I've had the copperband for about 3 years years so is very settled and feeds frozen food from my hand.
Thanks
Shain

I had my magnificent with a CBB for 4 years

The tank is the same but the CBB unfortunately passed. I then added a gorgeous Yellow Long Nose and they’re fine (The Foxface and YLB actually gang up on other fish together haha).

 

[CasperOe]

I have a one spot fox face, a magnificent one and a copperband as well - all together! Happy happy happy!

The magnificent one, although being the smaller of the two is the king of the tank!

 

[smitten with ocean life]

hi! is it ok to jump in on this discussion? i currently have three tangs and was advised to get a copperband butterfly to help with my aiptasia problem. the tangs have been in there for a few years. im worried that theyll beat up on the butterfly. the place i was going to order him from said itll be fine. what do you think?

 

[i cant think]

hi! is it ok to jump in on this discussion? i currently have three tangs and was advised to get a copperband butterfly to help with my aiptasia problem. the tangs have been in there for a few years. im worried that theyll beat up on the butterfly. the place i was going to order him from said itll be fine. what do you think?

It depends what the tangs are and the tank size.

 

[Tonycass12]

I've got them both in my tank with no issues. Probably the 2 least aggressive fish I have

 

[smitten with ocean life]

my tank is 125 gallons. the one is a hippo tang. hes the biggest. and the meanie im not sure what the other two are because they came with the tank. the one is all black and the other is dark blue with yellow fins and tail

 

[exnisstech]

my tank is 125 gallons. the one is a hippo tang. hes the biggest. and the meanie im not sure what the other two are because they came with the tank. the one is all black and the other is dark blue with yellow fins and tail

I keep a copperband with a yellow tang and a 2 spot bristletooth tang. They get along fine but you never now with tangs. The problem I see adding a copperband to a tank with existing tangs is getting the copperband healthy and eating before adding it. Many people aren't prepared to do that. They tend to be a bit shy natured and usually won't get to aggressive going after food, at least when new. They do have some feeders being made now that allow frozen food to be placed inside and the cover has holes so the butterfly can get to the food but the other fish can't. Mine have figured out how it works. I put the feeder in and they wait for food to come out when the butterfly eats to get theirs

 

[Chris Spaulding]

My tank is 150 G 5x2x2 and have both the CBB and Yellow fox face np at all the they have been together for over 3 years without any problems. Also np with the tangs in the tank Purple , Tomini , PB.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

ok. good to know. i have a small (15 gallon i think) tank i was thinking of setting up for him so i could monitor.

 

[Oldreefer44]

hi! is it ok to jump in on this discussion? i currently have three tangs and was advised to get a copperband butterfly to help with my aiptasia problem. the tangs have been in there for a few years. im worried that theyll beat up on the butterfly. the place i was going to order him from said itll be fine. what do you think?

I have a CBB with three tangs and they get along fine but it was purposely added along with a few other large fish at the same time so that the aggression would be spread between them. IMO, adding only the CBB to a tank with three tangs with an already established pecking order would likely not go well.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

i was afraid of that. i'm getting a little tailspot blenny at the same time. would that help? also, ive read some about using a mirror. is that a good idea? im just desperate to try something else. ive spent a huge amount of money on berghia and that was a few months ago since i added the last batch. cant tell a difference. so was going to try the CBB.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Agree that they are great at controlling Aiptasia. I even cultivate them in my sump just to feed it. I probably have 30 in the sump and overflow alone but never see any in the display. When I added mine I also added an Emperor, a Powder Blue and a Bristlenose and even then there was some aggression towards the CBB. Considering that IMO, an optomistic survival rate for them is probably around 20%, I just don't see it. IMO, the Blenny won't even be noticed.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

thank you for your thoughts!