Copperband generally reef safe?? Calling all copperband owners!!

Cassian · Nov 29, 2019

Hello all!! One more fish question before I place an order. XD. So I’ve always loved copperband, but I love my corals as well. From what I’ve read, they generally seem reef safe except for tube worms. What about my clam and RBTA? Any long term owners of CBB have experience with these in a reef??

pcon · Nov 29, 2019

Search bar is your friend. There are dozens to hundreds of posts on this exact question. Clams are high on the menu. They have been known to harass splitting bubble tips to death. Acans and zoanthids often are a favorite. I had one that ate a conch. if you value your clam more than you would a copperband I would skip it. With any reef safe with caution fish it can come down to do I want this fish or do I want this coral/invert.

Cassian · Nov 29, 2019

pcon said:
Search bar is your friend. There are dozens to hundreds of posts on this exact question. Clams are high on the menu. They have been known to harass splitting bubble tips to death. Acans and zoanthids often are a favorite. I had one that ate a conch. if you value your clam more than you would a copperband I would skip it. With any reef safe with caution fish it can come down to do I want this fish or do I want this coral/invert.

alright, thank you!

LC8Sumi · Nov 29, 2019

Mine ate my elegance coral. It also picks on my lobophyllia - that said, I love my CBB more than my corals, so I'm ok with this
Edit: you also need good filtration and preferably a large tank (mine is in a Reefer 250, which is too small IMO), because at least in the first couple months you have to stuff it real well with food, and that'll kick the nutrients, nitrate, phosphate in the water up real high, especially in a small system.

Cassian · Nov 29, 2019

LC8Sumi said:
Mine ate my elegance coral. It also picks on my lobophyllia - that said, I love my CBB more than my corals, so I'm ok with this
Edit: you also need good filtration and preferably a large tank (mine is in a Reefer 250, which is too small IMO), because at least in the first couple months you have to stuff it real well with food, and that'll kick the nutrients, nitrate, phosphate in the water up real high, especially in a small system.

Thanks for the info! I have a 180 gal 8 foot tank

LC8Sumi · Nov 29, 2019

LukeWolf said:
Thanks for the info! I have a 180 gal 8 foot tank

That’ll do

)

GoldeneyeRet · Nov 29, 2019

My CBB has only eaten a trumpet coral and nothing else. I do not have clams or nems currently but I would expect them to be lunch along with anything fleshy like acans.

Totally worth it IMO.

Cassian · Nov 29, 2019

GoldeneyeRet said:
My CBB has only eaten a trumpet coral and nothing else. I do not have clams or nems currently but I would expect them to be lunch along with anything fleshy like acans.

Totally worth it IMO.

Nice to know. Thanks!!

mfinn · Nov 29, 2019

My CBB has been a pretty good reef fish so far.
I say that with hesitation though.
I suddenly lost a small torch, several heads on another a 1 head on another.
I can't prove it is him, but I'm watching.
I've had it for 5-1/2 years.
He took care of the aiptasia problem I had.
From everything I've read on the subject, I wouldn't trust it around clams.

MadCityReefer · Nov 29, 2019

Mine ate one of my favorite corals a beautiful trachy I had for years but didn't touch my acans go figure. Has touch anything else.

Bob Weigant · Nov 29, 2019

Thats one fish I haven't been able to keep alive

Cassian · Nov 29, 2019

I appreciate all of the replies everyone!! As far as I can tell they are kinda 50/50 on clams. I’m gonna give one a try. Maybe I’ll get lucky

GoldeneyeRet · Nov 29, 2019

I'm curious how you get 50/50 on clams?

Littleneck clams are one of the CBBs favorite foods and nobody here has mentioned success with a clam.

Its your call, but dont go into this thinking you have a 50 percent chance of longterm success in keeping g a copper and with a clam

Cassian · Nov 29, 2019

GoldeneyeRet said:
I'm curious how you get 50/50 on clams?

Littleneck clams are one of the CBBs favorite foods and nobody here has mentioned success with a clam.

Its your call, but dont go into this thinking you have a 50 percent chance of longterm success in keeping g a copper and with a clam

I’m seeing about 50/50 success from other research I have done. And I completely understand what you mean. I don’t expect it to be a 50% chance of keeping one with a clam. I may end up not getting it, but I’m not sure yet.