Guest Kimo August 11, 2004 Share August 11, 2004 I am curious about the successes (or failures) of club members in keeping Copperband butterflies. Michael - I saw on RC that you picked one up in June. How is it doing? Anyone else have one and care to comment on husbandry practices? Thanks, Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chideloh August 11, 2004 Share August 11, 2004 Jamie, I've been keeping a CB for several months and it's been doing fine. I don't see it eating anything that I feed but it's living. HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveller7 August 11, 2004 Share August 11, 2004 Mine eats brine and mysis. Another local's eats PE mysis. Both longterm captives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest clownfish4 August 11, 2004 Share August 11, 2004 Jamie, I've been keeping a CB for several months and it's been doing fine. I don't see it eating anything that I feed but it's living. HTH Do you ever see him eating aiptasia or anything else off the rock work? If you never see him eating, he may slowly starve to death like mandarins do. Hope it works out for you. I plan on looking at a small one in a couple months. The biggest challenge I have seen is getting them to eat. So I would buy CB if possible and quarrantine them and offer a wide variety of foods. Also may help to have aiptasia in the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale August 11, 2004 Share August 11, 2004 Michael got his from marine center in TX. Paid more for shipping, but he QT 2 weeks and get them eating. Plus, I think his was australian collected which should help on that aspect - net collected. Find a good source if you want one; don't just buy cheapo or might die w/in month or 2. IMO that is. He had few aptasia, forgot to ask him how it did with them. I think he said it was eating frozen stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miller August 11, 2004 Share August 11, 2004 i got one from ea was eating mysis but only laster about 2 weeks and found him stuck to the powerhead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardofNOVA August 11, 2004 Share August 11, 2004 I've been looking at getting one for a while now. I know a guy who got one eating dried flakes. I also heard they are nippers on corals, buy I believe Chip mentioned they do not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest clownfish4 August 11, 2004 Share August 11, 2004 Probably a hit and miss for corals, like angels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller August 12, 2004 Share August 12, 2004 I posted this in CMAS about a month ago. I still plan to get one or both (a copperband or long nosed butterfly) in the next couple months. I had good success with them in a FO tank. I did use lots of skimming and after some time had them both eating flake with the rest of the fish. I do not know or can't remember the area/ocean they were from. Too bad Reeftopia does't sell them. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUsnakebyte August 12, 2004 Share August 12, 2004 I had both a longnose and a CB in my 75 before I moved here to DC. Back then, I had LPS, softies, and anemones in my tank. Both were model citizens. They both "sampled" the feeding tentacles on my open brain once or twice, but then they let up and never bothered it again. Just before I moved, I was trying to lighten the load a bit, so I gave the longnose back to the owners of the lfs I was working at (knew they were a great home...). The CB died during the move here from Okla. :( The CB only ever went after the feather dusters. I think this is pretty well expected of them. I have read several other reports of this. I also found the best way to get them to eat is to put an open mussel in a clip. They will eventually notice it. Then I feed the other foods while the mussel is up there. This seems to get them to associate the other "stuff" floating around as food too.... Anyway, it worked for me. I have been wanting another one, just haven't gotten around to it yet. Also, while I have read that they won't bother clams, I did not have any clams when I had a CB. Anyone have luck with CB's and clams (I have three now...)? I think they will be okay, but firsthand experience is always nice... Cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUsnakebyte August 12, 2004 Share August 12, 2004 Oh yeah, they definitely go for pods on the rocks too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller August 12, 2004 Share August 12, 2004 I too have a descent sized clam I would rather not have anything happen to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kimo August 12, 2004 Share August 12, 2004 me too - that is another reason for the post. Marine Scene has a CBB in quarantine now, and it looks pretty good (not the sick one!) but I guess we will see. Any experience with clams? thanks! Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Stearns August 12, 2004 Share August 12, 2004 Eddi Should be answerimg this but he is out of town. He has a CB in his large tank with several clams- The CD does not bother them. Eddi feeds fairly heavily a good mix of chopped clam,squid,mysis,ect. The CB eats heartily form the entire mix. And I do not see any aptasia in the large tank though there is some in the fuge and sump attached, however I have not obsereved the CB eating aptasi, something is keeping it out of the main tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddi August 16, 2004 Share August 16, 2004 Lee is right, I do have a CB and clams. I will note up front that I have a large tank (360) so even though it is fairly well stocked there is plenty of swimming room. I have found that my CB tends to bother the clams only if they are in the sand bed. I had two Croceas on the sand and he would occasionally pick at them. I moved them up on the rocks and he has completely ignored them. Another interesting fact is that I have a large Squamosa (about 6") on the sand and he has never even looked at it. Good thing because I could not move it. I have also noted that my CB has started to pick on a couple of brains I have on the sand bed. I have several, all on the sand bed, and he is only picking on two that were showing signs of distress (some skeleton showing). My opinion, completely unscientific and totally unproven, is that they sense a coral's defenses are down and go after it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bill33 August 16, 2004 Share August 16, 2004 i no alot of people have cb in there reefs, chideloh has one in his 180 and he has not touched a thing, nice tank chideloh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacetypes August 16, 2004 Share August 16, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacetypes August 16, 2004 Share August 16, 2004 thats mine by the way, hes about 4 1/2 inches long not including the snout or whatver that thing is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddi August 17, 2004 Share August 17, 2004 Bill33, many people have them in their tanks, however you need to know what you put in your tank and understand their requirements as well as impact on the rest of the livestock. CBs are iffy in a reef tank. They will eat feather dusters. They are likely to pick at clams. They also can be difficult to get to eat. Jamie, if those arre acceptable risks to you they make a great addition to a tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bill33 August 17, 2004 Share August 17, 2004 i dont have one, :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kimo August 17, 2004 Share August 17, 2004 I think I will probably hold off for now - I love the fish but I have a clam that has been with me for 4+ years and I don't want to lose it for a new fish. Thanks for the feedback guys. Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg August 17, 2004 Share August 17, 2004 Hey Jamie, just got back from vacation. Here is the experience I have had with mine. I bought it early last june from marine center in dallas. Yes it was expensive, but the fish was incredibly healthy, so I think it was worth the extra cost. I for one am more than willing to pay extra for a fish that lives, and these are known to be sensative fish. Many do not eat- ever. It is australian collected. In addition to being net collected, these fish can be very sensative to handling in general, and reportedly the aussies are more accomidating to them??? Anyhow- the fish started eating frozen mysis shrimp (jemco stuff) about 1 week after I had him. He decimated all the feather dusters in the tank, as well as the aptasia. The tank is primarily SPS and no problems with them, including some harry milliepora. I have 2 clams as well, and it hasn't touched them either. Finally there are some zoanthids and gsp patches that I WISH it would eat, but it hasn't touched them at all. Beautiful fish, and great with the rest of the community. Was a little shy initially, but now fist one to the front of the tank when someone approaches. Now it eats any frozen stuff I put in, but still spits out flake food. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller August 17, 2004 Share August 17, 2004 Do you have any tangs (yellow in particular) that were in the tank prior to adding the CBB? I do and am getting both a CBB and a LNB early/late Sept. I have had both long term in my FO before my reef. I had both eating AQUARIAN flake food after several months along with frozen. Thanks, Chip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg August 18, 2004 Share August 18, 2004 No yellow tang, but there is a eibli mimic tang in there. No problems at all, though the big boss did give a little hassle to establish dominance at first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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