Long nose butterfly fish experience?

[Jase4224]

Great fish. Peaceful and great for reaching aptasia with their long snout but not the hardiest of fish and often not long lived in a tank unless WELL ESTABLISHED.
I carried them at my store when I was in business and always a quick seller. I personally had one but made it 7 months.

That sucks losing a fish after 7months, do you know what happened to it? I have mine eating mysis but I feel like it needs more variety. I’ve seen it peck at and aiptasia but hasn’t gone back to finish it unfortunately!

 

[Fishfinder]

I’ve got one and a copperband. They are great together. He doesn’t eat any coral but will occasionally try to snag a polyp off an acro. But he does no harm. He’s a very non aggressive fish that minds his own business. But he will stand up from himself in a fight. I often find him swimming upside down trying to pick at the rocks.

 

[sam.veilleux30]

It went #1 with the cbb. With them it's hit or miss, the one i have now is great (1 year).
Thanks for the comment, the little reef is doing fine presently.
For the full tank shot you can check my build thread.

Build Thread - My sps journey

Cool, I found someone with a Papi Chulo Frag. A fellow Canadian too! Not many "Papi Chulo" out there doing a google search. Your thread was a Google Search HIT. I got one about 8 months ago from Reef Raft Canada here in Toronto and it lost it's TWO-TONE Coloration after couple of months. I...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[sam.veilleux30]

Thanks for the info. Beautiful tank btw just from those two pics it looks great don’t be afraid to put up a fts!

I’d say I won’t be adding my purple tang for a good six months yet so should be plenty of time to settle. It seems very settled now already but still early days.

Out of interest how did it get on with your copperband? They look great together. I tried one but unfortunately I couldn’t get it to eat

Again, forgot to clic on "reply".
Your answer is the post above

 

[Jase4224]

Update: my longnose butterfly is doing great, eats like a pig and after a week of pacing the glass early on seems to have gotten over that behaviour and now explores the rock work. Very peaceful yet bold fish. Lovely personality.

HOWEVER.. I did have to remove a 4” sand sifting starfish because the longnose has in the last week or so continuously picked at its feet, preventing it from coming out to feed. Did not expect this and kind of ruin some my plan to eventually add a blue linkia starfish. This is unfortunate but the star is happy in the fuge and I really am happy with my butterfly.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Update: my longnose butterfly is doing great, eats like a pig and after a week of pacing the glass early on seems to have gotten over that behaviour and now explores the rock work. Very peaceful yet bold fish. Lovely personality.

HOWEVER.. I did have to remove a 4” sand sifting starfish because the longnose has in the last week or so continuously picked at its feet, preventing it from coming out to feed. Did not expect this and kind of ruin some my plan to eventually add a blue linkia starfish. This is unfortunate but the star is happy in the fuge and I really am happy with my butterfly.

Old thread I know, but how is your longnose doing? When it gets mad or scared, does it ever change colors?

 

[Jase4224]

Old thread I know, but how is your longnose doing? When it gets mad or scared, does it ever change colors?

Unfortunately it only lasted a few months.. they swim all day and all night and seem to have a high metabolism so even though it ate mysis well twice a day it slowly wasted away I guess it may have had an internal parasite but I don’t think so. Not sure why it never slept, the tank was peaceful. If you can get one to eat flakes or pellets they are beautiful fish.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Unfortunately it only lasted a few months.. they swim all day and all night and seem to have a high metabolism so even though it ate mysis well twice a day it slowly wasted away I guess it may have had an internal parasite but I don’t think so. Not sure why it never slept, the tank was peaceful. If you can get one to eat flakes or pellets they are beautiful fish.

Sorry to hear it did not make it.

 

[Elliott ll]

I've got a nearly 5" LNB, purchased from Liveaquaria.com. He came with an injured mouth due to the workers netting and hurting him. He's nearly fully healed now after treating with Kanaplex. This while being in copper treatment as well. Besides that he's super healthy and an absolute pig!

Yesterday I saw a 2" LNB at the LFS... couldn't resist attempting a pair... I think I got very lucky and they have already paired up after a single night... They slept cuddled together upside down in their cave and are swimming/eating together, zero aggression or posturing. I couldn't have asked for a better result... Will keep everyone updated!

 

[Paul B]

I usually have the two of them and have been keeping those butterflies since the 70s. (not the same fish. I wish)

 

[FAHADREEF]

I’m considering one of these for my tank. Never really see many people with them.. anyone keeping these I would appreciate any info regarding hardiness, coral risk and feeding would be appreciated as well as any other interesting information.

Cheers

copperbands in my experience are so hard and picky eaters and will kill you just to get them to eat and you will need so calm tankmates along with it becuase its just a sensitive fish, so yeah dont for a copperband unless its eating from day one and you have peaful fishes if not longnose or pyramid are the easy option and are way easier

 

[i cant think]

copperbands in my experience are so hard and picky eaters and will kill you just to get them to eat and you will need so calm tankmates along with it becuase its just a sensitive fish, so yeah dont for a copperband unless its eating from day one and you have peaful fishes if not longnose or pyramid are the easy option and are way easier

What?.. So how come mine is thriving in a tank with the more aggressive fish - Jade wrasse (This girl is being removed because in this tank Radiant first, Jade wrasse later), Twin spot bristletooth tang (Although he’s almost never gone after anything), Foxface (Supposedly these are aggressive, I’ve never seen it), Black margin fairy wrasse (Same with the Foxface). And when I say thriving, I mean it. It went in after the tang and had no aggression from day 1, these fish aren’t difficult you just need the secret weapon:
Aptaisia, if you get a large one that the CBB doesn’t want to touch then that will start multiplying and the CBB can pick off the smaller ones. That is why I don’t try to kill all my aptasia when I’m planning on CBBs, I get one that grows nice and big and then add the CBB in.
Mine has been with me 2 and a half years. Went in 2 months after my tank was cycled and loved it. Here’s an old photo from 2 years ago:

and today:

So, the key to keeping a thriving CBB is just getting one that eats but also get one that eats aptaisia (Much easier than one would think). The instant you check those boxes you know yours will most likely thrive. IME CBBs need to be fed constantly through the rockwork so the fauna needs to Atleast be stabilised, that’s not just talking about pods but also aptaisia.
(The Foxface is 5”, the CBB is 2.5”)

 

[Paul B]

My last copperband, this guy lived almost 10 years. Their life span is probably longer than that but it isn't to bad. Most of mine live about that long.




I know many people have problems with them but I think those tanks are not set up properly and the correct food isn't fed.

Also copperbands don't do well in quarantine as they are very skitish and it drives them nuts. I don't quarantine anything so that is not a factor for me.

They need a tank with a lot of "natural hiding places and swimming room".
I never had any problems getting them to eat but I have a very natural looking tank.

 

[i cant think]

My last copperband, this guy lived almost 10 years. Their life span is probably longer than that but it isn't to bad. Most of mine live about that long.




I know many people have problems with them but I think those tanks are not set up properly and the correct food isn't fed.

Also copperbands don't do well in quarantine as they are very skitish and it drives them nuts. I don't quarantine anything so that is not a factor for me.

They need a tank with a lot of "natural hiding places and swimming room".
I never had any problems getting them to eat but I have a very natural looking tank.

That’s the same experience as me. I had a CBB die because of a scopas tang but when they’re added when the tank is 3-4 months of establishment and aptaisia/pods have formed and are repopulating Thats when it’s time.
I find adding CBBs straight into the DT adds much more to the success rate over QT first, let the LFS qt the fish, mine ate from day 1 and thrives because of being constantly fed by aptaisia.

 

[Paul B]

Here is mine eating clams, which I feed all my fish. He was about 8 years old here.