copperband butterfly

Tonytouch · Feb 6, 2013

I currently have 3 green chromis, 2 clowns, a starry blenny, and a diamond goby. None of the fish are very aggressive, though the chromis do mess with each other from time to time and one of the clowns goes after me whenever he gets the chance. Do you think that a copperband would be ok to add? I cant really move my rock work around as its mostly glued in and has attached corals. The tank is a 54g corner.

Thanks
Anthony

D311 · Feb 7, 2013

54g is way to small for a copperband. They need like 120g minimum and aren't the easiest fish to keep.

Perched Urchin · Feb 7, 2013

CBBs don't swim like tangs, but a 54, especially a corner tank, is pretty small.
Maybe even more of an issue would be that these guys can be very difficult to get to eat and a smaller tank won't have enough live rock for it to pick around and feed off of if it doesn't take well to prepared foods.
And that is if you can even get it through QT. Some people have very good luck with them, but I think a lot die very quickly. The ones collected from Australia are said to be a better bet than those from Indonesia because of better collection laws/practices, but just getting them to eat in captivity whether completely healthy or not seems to be very problematic.
They are personally one of my favorite fish and one I always thought I would have in my dream tank, but based on mortality in our hobby, I have decided to leave them in the ocean.

Haddonis Reef · Feb 7, 2013

I think if u get one to start eating your doing pretty good! He two I have took a few weeks to start eating, I had best luck feeding pe mysis!

D311 · Feb 7, 2013

Still, 54g too small for it to thrive.

Tonytouch · Feb 7, 2013

From what I have read online 50g min was recommended. But I do trust the info and advice here more than what a fish retail site says.

Guess I need to think on the last fish I want to add to the tank. Any recommendations of something larger than my chromis and colorful?

Thanks
Anthony

D311 · Feb 7, 2013

Flame angel or coral beauty maybe. They are hit or miss munching on coral but CBB can nip at some too. And I just checked Live Aquaria they have 125g min for CBB. But then again they have 70g min for the 2 angels I listed and people keep them in smaller tanks. But still the CBB some room and a good amount of rock work. These guys are hard to keep as is.

frezel · Feb 7, 2013

as with all my fish i make sure the fish has been eating frozefood prior to buying if he does not he will starve for you in your tank, both my cbb were from a place that feed them frozen food and lfs also had fish for a few weeks and has been eating frozen food, i also make the lfs feed the fish in front of me and i watch to see how eager the fish is to eat. my most recent cbb ate like a slob and have had great luck with him, well we are getting over a traumatic eye injury but oher wise hes great.

frezel · Feb 7, 2013

wrasses are nice too

and flame angels all pussycats in my tank

Zack · Feb 7, 2013

The cbb sure is a nice looking fish

cbb_70 · Feb 7, 2013

Yeah CBB's are hit and miss... I've tried them before and out of the 3 that I tried I could only get 1 that ate and it ate like a pig. Sold it back to the LFS when I moved a while back. It was in a 65 tall and seemed a little cramped for it.

Reef keeper · Feb 7, 2013

If your looking into getting one def before you buy it ask the store employee if they can feed it and make sure its eating if it isnt eating dont even bother. PE mysis i have found they absolutely love! I also found that if you get the older larger ones their more likely to take to frozen. Right now i have one that i have one PE mysis, Ive gotten him to eat mysis from my hand and hes even tried seaweed and a special food formula i made. So yeah really hit or miss just make sure its healthy and eating before you get it and 54 gallon is a lil small imo