Copperband?

[Greneis]

I have a 150 reef with a 30 gal sump. I have a very peaceful tank (except for the Scopas Tang who gets moody around dinner time). I have seen many tanks (reef too) with Copperbands and I think they are awesome looking. I am just looking for some input from people who currently have them or have had them in the past??? Is this a friend I would be okay adding?

 

[zapbap99]

yea its good in a 150 gallon, It's just they do not live insanely long unless you are a lucky one.

 

[35ppt]

Biggest issues I've had with them is bacterial infections in QT and getting them eating prepared foods. I suggest a fully cycled, large QT with lots of hides and possibly do a round a NFG prophylactically. Feeding can be tricky at first but once they settle in they're pigs. I've used live blackworms as a start then move to clams and frozen foods in grazing pads. Mastick is also a good tool to get them eating, push it into rocks and shells or on the glass.

 

[Snoopy 67]

Wherever you decide to buy make sure the fish eats & find out what it is they feed it.
Mine ONLY eats Mysis. PITA

 

[vetteguy53081]

getting them to eat will always be the biggest challenge as well as no aggressions from others as they tend to be shy at first. Verify it eats before Paying.
I have a 5" one who lucky me ate since Day one.

 

[35ppt]

Wherever you decide to buy make sure the fish eats & find out what it is they feed it.
Mine ONLY eats Mysis. PITA

Good point, always verify with your own eyes that it eats and not just snacks some but really goes after the food.

 

[aherre07]

In my experience zebrasoma tangs can be somewhat territorial towards copperbands due to similar body shape. I would definitely use an acclimation box or something similar to minimize initial aggression. My yellow and purple were not very accepting to the one I tried and ultimately led to stress on the fish and the common bacterial infections. The agression also kept mine from wanting to feed.

 

[Big G]

Biggest issues I've had with them is bacterial infections in QT and getting them eating prepared foods. I suggest a fully cycled, large QT with lots of hides and possibly do a round a NFG prophylactically. Feeding can be tricky at first but once they settle in they're pigs. I've used live blackworms as a start then move to clams and frozen foods in grazing pads. Mastick is also a good tool to get them eating, push it into rocks and shells or on the glass.

This ^^^ exactly

 

[AtulR]

I've found the Australian Copperbands (C. marginalis) acclimate to aquarium life a lot better than the similar looking Copperband Butterfly (C. rostratus).

Usually Copperband's have dismal survival rates, so finding one eating in an LFS would probably be the way I'd go. Chelmon marginalis is a lot more expensive, but worth it IMO.

 

[VJM 21]

I had one for about 2.5 years, which was a pretty good run, I suppose. Beautiful fish, and very friendly. I got lazy as I stocked my tank with fish that were aggressive eaters (tangs, primarily). I didn’t notice how thin and weak he had become from not getting enough food until I found him stuck to the side of an mp40. Not sure how long he was there, but he couldn’t overcome the damage and died a day later. Sad day in my house. My advice is to find a way to specifically feed the CB when you feed the rest of your fish.

 

[ReefHog]

I just got one through Six weeks quarantine last month. He was eating good at lfs. Even then he went on various hunger strikes throughout quarantine. One day he’d eat one food for days then the next week he wouldn’t touch it. Lucky I always have a huge variety of foods available. Mine ate live black worms, mysis, clam, blood worms and brine shrimp at one point or another. He’s now been in the main 220 DT for a few weeks and doing great eating mysis, clam and black worms everyday. I’m still holding out hope he will start eating LRS. My advise would be that in addition to making sure he’s eating before you buy him, keep a wide food supply available. Especially live blackworms and clams.

 

[Joseph Disalvo]

If they eat they live; beautiful fish,

 

[Greneis]

After reading the input, I think I am going to just love them in someone else's tank... thank you friends!

 

[George81]

I just added one a few weeks ago, I paid extra for a qt’d one.....they lied to me of course...I told them I had to break down all my qt tanks because of renovations.... Mine has the bacterial Problems but it’s a pig and eats so I’m not too concerned. I made sure it was eating at the store. he gets picked on by the powder brown tang every once in a while. He does a little dance everytime he sees me come to the tank... frozen mysis, frozen brine shrimp, spurlina mysis mix is all he will eat. And eats whatever is living on my rocks. Hasn’t touched my acans and left the inverts alone
i add selcon and garlic to the frozen foods..so far he eats anytime I feed the tank which has been twice daily to help fight off the bacterial infection.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Something to add is that it’s not uncommon that even if they do eat they slowly wither away.
I’ve found that they really benefit from several feedings of frozen a day, one just doesn’t seem to be enough for them to maintain weight.

 

[ApoIsland]

The key with the copperband is to get them eating out of a net in QT. You can then make sure they get enough food in the main tank as most other fish will avoid that be like the plague. Unless of course you have also trained them to eat out of the net, in which case the whole exercise would be pointless. They are smart and can quickly learn to eat out of the net. Once you do that you will have no problems unless you drop them in a tank where they are constantly harrassed.