Copperband butterfly

[Elrond]

I was wondering what experience people have had keeping a copperband, I'm relatively new to the hobby I'm setting up a 312 gallon tank upgrading from a 125 fowlr I have now. I have heard these guys are difficult to keep, is that the case? Thanks for any advice ahead of time

 

[theMeat]

They can be hard to get to eat and they generally don’t do well with much aggression at all

 

[Elrond]

They can be hard to get to eat and they generally don’t do well with much aggression at all

Probably wouldn't do well in my tank then, I have triggers and tangs

 

[Elrond]

They can be hard to get to eat and they generally don’t do well with much aggression at a

They can be hard to get to eat and they generally don’t do well with much aggression at all

How about emp angles?

 

[PeterC99]

Copperbands are great community fish. Ive had my for 2 years with an Orange Shoulder Tang, Fox-face, Majestic Angel, Coral Beauty Angel, Long Nose Butterfly, clowns, and damsels. He holds his own very well and keeps my aquarium free of aptasia.

If you get one, you MUST see it eat at the LFS before buying.

 

[theMeat]

How about emp angles?

Should be good

 

[Elrond]

Should be good

Seeing them eat wouldn't be possible, I'd have to order from an online seller

 

[Elrond]

Seeing them eat wouldn't be possible, I'd have to order from an online seller

Oh lol sorry I responded to the wrong person, so is it hard to get emps to get the nutrition they need to transition well? I had heard that

 

[Elrond]

Copperbands are great community fish. Ive had my for 2 years with an Orange Shoulder Tang, Fox-face, Majestic Angel, Coral Beauty Angel, Long Nose Butterfly, clowns, and damsels. He holds his own very well and keeps my aquarium free of aptasia.

If you get one, you MUST see it eat at the LFS before buying.

They are such cool looking fish, I was worried though about their stress level in my tank especially with triggerfish I keep them well fed but still, I was planning to add a clown trigger soon also

 

[Reef Stu]

My CB just points his dorsal spines at other fish when they are being aggressive towards him. He gets along fine with my Achilles tang. The moorish idle is the only one that bothers him time to time. CB eat a lot, I feed mine a hole frozen little neck clam a day. He also eats vitamin enriched frozen from the water column. I haven’t found a CB to be hard to keep, or hard to get eating. I don’t have any triggers so I can’t speak to that. Good luck.

 

[Elrond]

My CB just points his dorsal spines at other fish when they are being aggressive towards him. He gets along fine with my Achilles tang. The moorish idle is the only one that bothers him time to time. CB eat a lot, I feed mine a hole frozen little neck clam a day. He also eats vitamin enriched frozen from the water column. I haven’t found a CB to be hard to keep, or hard to get eating. I don’t have any triggers so I can’t speak to that. Good luck.

Thank you for the info, I will try one once I have the big tank up I think I always wanted one

 

[Gtinnel]

My first copperband only lived a short time and eventually died because I was never able to get him to eat.
I later tried another copperband and I have had it for coming up on a year. It eats aggressively, but unfortunately only live foods. I have tried everything and can’t get it to reliably eat frozen foods.
If you decide to get a CBB I strongly recommend making sure you have a live food source first. I feed mine white worms that I keep a few cultures of.

 

[DaJMasta]

As said, it's important for them to be healthy when you get them - you can try training them to eat, but know it is a risk that they won't convert fast enough, and the timer is basically how well fed they've been prior to you getting them and how free they feel to explore the tank.

If you can get it at a local shop and see it, it will be better, but if you're getting from a reputable online place (or one in a WYSIWYG section where perhaps you can confirm it's been eating), it could certainly work. If you are able to observe it but not see it eat, you want to see foraging behavior - usually prowling around and occasionally pointing its nose down in pursuit of something on the substrate or rocks, and of course you don't want the mid and rear section of the center of the fish to look thin - their head area doesn't expand or contract much with weight, but their mid section shows underfeeding pretty clearly. If they aren't hunting for food or are swimming at the top or hiding all the time, they aren't engaging in the behavior they need to realize prepared foods are good to eat, and in my experience it's unlikely they'll be able to live long enough to convert.

If you get one without confirming it eating, ideally, you want a lot of life on your rockwork. Their normal diet includes fan worms, small bivalves, and other rock dwelling (but not copepod) creatures. If they have some food they can get in the interim before they recognize the food you're offering as food, that will give them a lot more time to learn. When offering food to transition them to, offer frozen, especially in chunks just a bit smaller than their beak, and while I haven't had specific luck with it, offering masstick on a rock or on a clam shell (or just frozen clams on the halfshell) could be a good first food for them to start eating. I don't have proof, but I believe it's also better to feed with the powerheads off until they are eating prepared foods directly from the water column.

In my experience, if you can get them to the point where they will start eating some frozen food that's resting on the rock work, you're basically in the clear as they should only take a day or two to recognize it in the water column.

 

[Reef Stu]

My first copperband only lived a short time and eventually died because I was never able to get him to eat.
I later tried another copperband and I have had it for coming up on a year. It eats aggressively, but unfortunately only live foods. I have tried everything and can’t get it to reliably eat frozen foods.
If you decide to get a CBB I strongly recommend making sure you have a live food source first. I feed mine white worms that I keep a few cultures of.

Have you tried dropping in a whole frozen little neck clam? As they thaw out the clam begins to open up and your CB may pick at it, opening it more and more. If that works then you can try reusing the clamshell by placing some frozen food in the empty shell, with an Elastic band or Zip tie to keep it relatively closed. Around 1/4 inch or so, just enough to keep the frozen cube from floating out. If all goes well the CB will pick at the frozen and some will float out. Then the CB will start eating the floating frozen food, and start eating from the water column with your other fish. Angel and butterfly formula frozen food worked well for me in the beginning using this method. Now my CB eats the prepared Vitamin enriched food I prepare for all my fish.

 

[jmichaelh7]

I’ve had one for a month now..

at my LFS I was surprised to see it there. I asked him if he could feed it so I could see if it eats and he nonchalantly said no I fed already .

Long story short it was worth the risk because my tank anemones that are aka aiptasia are almost eradicated

One thing I feed 3-4 x a day is Mysis . That’s a must

 

[Crabby48]

What others said but if you pick a winner with time you can have a great fish. Mine is the boss in a wrasse dominated tank with tangs. They all know at feeding time the CBB is boss. He is a porker. I feed him from my hand and others get what he doesn’t eat

 

[davidcalgary29]

Mine refuses to touch the softly waving arms of the aiptasia inviting it on to an anemone banquet. It did, however, devour a torch and a nice lobo that I was trying to rehabilitate. It will also only eat mysis, and turns its long, long nose up at clams.

That being said, it's an incredibly personable fish. Be warned, though, that they can be determined corallivores. My spotband butterfly (in another tank), is, by comparison, positively genteel in nature.

 

[Gtinnel]

Have you tried dropping in a whole frozen little neck clam? As they thaw out the clam begins to open up and your CB may pick at it, opening it more and more. If that works then you can try reusing the clamshell by placing some frozen food in the empty shell, with an Elastic band or Zip tie to keep it relatively closed. Around 1/4 inch or so, just enough to keep the frozen cube from floating out. If all goes well the CB will pick at the frozen and some will float out. Then the CB will start eating the floating frozen food, and start eating from the water column with your other fish. Angel and butterfly formula frozen food worked well for me in the beginning using this method. Now my CB eats the prepared Vitamin enriched food I prepare for all my fish.

I have tried clam, but I didn’t put the whole clam in, I would open it up and put a half shell in the tank. I will try it with the whole frozen clam and see if I have any better luck with him being able slowly pick at it.
I’ve gotten to where mine aggressively eats from the water column with the other fish but he goes through picking out the live worms from the food I feed.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Mine refuses to touch the softly waving arms of the aiptasia inviting it on to an anemone banquet. It did, however, devour a torch and a nice lobo that I was trying to rehabilitate. It will also only eat mysis, and turns its long, long nose up at clams.

That being said, it's an incredibly personable fish. Be warned, though, that they can be determined corallivores. My spotband butterfly (in another tank), is, by comparison, positively genteel in nature.

Oh ! Yes I forgot to mention my chalice a have couple pecks

 

[Elrond]

As said, it's important for them to be healthy when you get them - you can try training them to eat, but know it is a risk that they won't convert fast enough, and the timer is basically how well fed they've been prior to you getting them and how free they feel to explore the tank.

If you can get it at a local shop and see it, it will be better, but if you're getting from a reputable online place (or one in a WYSIWYG section where perhaps you can confirm it's been eating), it could certainly work. If you are able to observe it but not see it eat, you want to see foraging behavior - usually prowling around and occasionally pointing its nose down in pursuit of something on the substrate or rocks, and of course you don't want the mid and rear section of the center of the fish to look thin - their head area doesn't expand or contract much with weight, but their mid section shows underfeeding pretty clearly. If they aren't hunting for food or are swimming at the top or hiding all the time, they aren't engaging in the behavior they need to realize prepared foods are good to eat, and in my experience it's unlikely they'll be able to live long enough to convert.

If you get one without confirming it eating, ideally, you want a lot of life on your rockwork. Their normal diet includes fan worms, small bivalves, and other rock dwelling (but not copepod) creatures. If they have some food they can get in the interim before they recognize the food you're offering as food, that will give them a lot more time to learn. When offering food to transition them to, offer frozen, especially in chunks just a bit smaller than their beak, and while I haven't had specific luck with it, offering masstick on a rock or on a clam shell (or just frozen clams on the halfshell) could be a good first food for them to start eating. I don't have proof, but I believe it's also better to feed with the powerheads off until they are eating prepared foods directly from the water column.

In my experience, if you can get them to the point where they will start eating some frozen food that's resting on the rock work, you're basically in the clear as they should only take a day or two to recognize it in the water column.

Thank you for all that, I feel like reading it that I'm not experienced enough yet to keep one and had better wait on it