Copperband Butterfly Help

[leftyblite]

Saw a Copperband butterfly at the LFS yesterday. I had never seen one up close before and immediately wanted one. I have a 150G with a foxface, blue tang, fuzzy dwarf lion, and soon to be flame angel(currently in QT). Would a copperband be compatible with these fish?

I read somewhere that caution should be used with the lion. I've always though caution should be used when introducing any fish to the main tank. Just curious as I would like to make it an addition to my tank.

 

[05xrunner]

copperbands are very hard to care for.
They are very picky eaters and most usually die.

 

[saltn00b]

i dont know alot about lions, so maybe somebody else can chip in on that, but the rest of the stock list is fine.
do you have a reef tank? they are sometimes known to be nippers, but it happens less often. they are sensitive fish, so make sure the LFS has kept them for a few days. also take the time to acclimate to a QT tank at least 3-4 hours and watch them for 6 weeks for ich, or black ich, lympho or bacteria infections. i have seen all of them on a CBBF. the tough part is getting them to eat. but if you start with live brine and start mixing in mysis, its a pretty easy way to ween them.

 

[saltn00b]

also, they will decimate your worm population and possibly clam mantles. any feather dusters (mini or large hawaiian) and coco worms are pretty much doomed.

 

[05xrunner]

6weeks in QT will def kill that fish.

 

[saltn00b]

not in an established QT of proper size.

 

[05xrunner]

its hard enough to get that fish to eat properly. a QT isnt going to do it established or not. They like to eat off the live rock and well thats not in a QT. I think Copperbands are almost up there with Morish Idols

 

[saltn00b]

not quite. are you talking from experience? i am. i have kept 3 small-medium CBBFs in a 29g QT for the proper time required.

 

[05xrunner]

yes..I have had a copperband for a while but it still didnt survive.
It would eat like a pig at first then they just stop eating. and it eventually died.
I dont QT anything.

 

[dischirm]

I had same experience as Runner... Got one, It ate like a pig, and I was so happy and thought everything would be fine, that I had gotten a "good one", but then it stopped eating after about 2-3 weeks and died within days of that.

 

[nybyrne]

Have had my copperband for about month now and have not had any problems. He was picky at first but he eats my homemade fish food when ever I feed it to the tank. He did wipe out my feather duster population in a few days. Fish is very cool.

 

[saltn00b]

what did you guys feed? if you provide a homemade diet including clams / mussels it should do very well.

 

[xdave]

For every Copperband you buy, thousands are killed.

 

[waterlogged]

I've had one for 6 months. He eats frozen mysis like a pig.

 

[dinogeorge]

IMO, the majority of the folks who buy copperbands do not do enough research to keep them. They die because people don’t understand their feeding habits or what they require in their diet. Just looking at the fish tells you that they are specialized feeders. It’s not the fish….it’s the keepers.
Indeed there are some fish that require such a specialized diet, or just do not do well in captivity, that trying to keep them is a disservice to the industry. But from my real experience, these fish are not among them, provided that you know what you’re doing.

 

[leftyblite]

OK, this is why I love this site. I have tried to do research on this fish, but there is nothing like personal experience to help. Im just not sure if this is the right fish for me at this time. Thanks for all the help and advice.

 

[dinogeorge]

Now THAT is good fish husbandry. You did your research and decided that this fish is not for you. GREAT example of responsible fish keeping.

 

[saltn00b]

+1 , good call lefty. maybe when you are more advanced you can try again.

 

[leftyblite]

Thanks, been at this for over a year now but sometimes I still feel like a newbie.

 

[xdave]

Originally Posted by Dinogeorge
IMO, the majority of the folks who buy copperbands do not do enough research to keep them. They die because people don’t understand their feeding habits or what they require in their diet. Just looking at the fish tells you that they are specialized feeders. It’s not the fish….it’s the keepers.
Indeed there are some fish that require such a specialized diet, or just do not do well in captivity, that trying to keep them is a disservice to the industry. But from my real experience, these fish are not among them, provided that you know what you’re doing.
Actually, the 1000 dying I was referring to was before that one people buy ever gets to the store. I can only guess the home aquarium survival rate.
When I worked at a distributor, 30% arriving live and 50% of those making it through the following 48 hours was considered a good batch. (BTW, we paid big extra $s to have them individually bagged) Only 5% - 15% survive the actual capture, 10% - 25% of those make it through the trip to the collection station. They loose another 25% -50% in the next 48 hours.