Copperband butterfly, Advice please!

[porcelaindoll]

I need some honest opinions here. I am getting many different opinions from employees at the LFS. Some say they are hard to take care of, some say easy. I understand it is because of their diet so....

what is best to feed a Copperband?

[FreddytheFish]

In a reef tank, they will eat small inverts. They will also eat Aiptasia anemones and some will eat brine shrimp.

[oscar83]

the copperbanded that we have at work will eat pretty much anything we feed the fish. brine shrimp, blackworms, blood worms, flake... yeah, pretty much anything. however, my copperbanded was eating only live brine and then died after about a week for some unknown reason.

[Mahlhavoc]

As far as these and most butterfly fish go, they aren't an easy fish to maintain feed wise nor water quality wise. While the Copper-band Butterfly fish is a beautiful and elegant species, this fish uses its long snout to pick out and feed on coral polyps and tube worms. It is a popular aquarium species, but is delicate and difficult to keep alive and best left to long time SW pros.

[Oliver]

they are not easy to take care of, from what i have heard from people who have them. the biggest problem is getting them to eat at the start. one person i know owns a lfs and has been keeping tank for 30 + years. he said that it took his copperbanded 8 days to eat, it nearly stuffed up the whole tank. unless you know your ****, don't get one

[USCavalry19d]

I have a copperband butterfly and I find them to be pretty simple to care for. The hardest thing about them is finding a food they like. Mine seems to love frozen blood worms, actually he won’t eat anything other than frozen blood worms. Most people say that the copperband will eat corals and such but mine doesn’t mess with them. They will eat the aipstasia anemones though which is a good thing. However if you have any aggressive fish in the tank I would recommend you not to get a copperband. Copperbands are a peaceful fish and can’t handle being picked on.

[FloridaBoy]

PD, I see you value honest opinions...
Considering one of your latest posts showed confusion between ich and sand, I would avoid this species. At your level of experience, Oliver and Mahlhavoc are giving you great advice, my friend. Leave all the Butterflyfishes in the LFS, plenty of other species will bring you more joy, less headaches. Your questions will lead to success.

[porcelaindoll]

I know the difference between ich and sand! :duh: and it did turn out to be sand/debris after all. this was just some weird lookin' stuff that anyone would have been confused by.

and my copperband has being doing great! ;)
he loves vitamin enriched brine shrimp.

-Even the "experts" can get confused sometimes-.

[FloridaBoy]

Yes, I get confused often. No offense intended my friend, I was going by what you wrote. BTW, the brine shrimp/vitamin solution is worthless IMO. The brine shrimp have no nutrients and the vitamin stability is doubtful at this point. Give the CBB to someone with an established reef system if you want to see it live for more than a few months.

[porcelaindoll]

thanks for the advice but I'm not getting rid of him. ;)
Not everyone has the exact same experiences with the same fish.

as they say, Live and Learn. :D

[Mahlhavoc]

Keep us updated ;)

Question, why did you start this thread and ask advice if you were going to do something anyhow regardless of peoples answers? Just curious.

[FreddytheFish]

How big is the tank he is in? What kind of filtration?

[mysis]

i see copperband butterflys at my LFS all the time, they are only $33 AU. i was considering one, but i hear that they demand a large tank, and also may nip at clam mantles, and i also saw one in with a Calloplesiops altivelis, i thought it may have given some problems for the fish store, but it seems to be living ok, and isnt getting picked on.