copperband butterfly...
 

i've heard that copperband butterflies will eat aptasia... but when i talked to the person at the LFS were i got one, he said that they'll eat aptaisa if you starve them a bit. so my question is, are they known to eat aptasia only... or do they eat it as a last resort? also, i usually feed my tank frozen brine and the older inhabitants love it (2 clowns, 1 damsel, 1 cleaner shrimp). whenever i was at the LFS looking at copperbands (this was before my purchase of one a couple days ago), i noticed that the store feed them seaweed. are butterflies vegetarians?

What is the Copperbanded eating in your tank now? If it gets used to eating the frozen brine shrimp (which I've been told is nutritionally like feeding potato chips) it won't have much incentive for going after aptasia.

My CBB didn't take to frozen food right away, but did clean out the aptasia. It then took some coaxing for it to eat mysis shrimp (nutritionally excellent).

It may not take starving it, but I would hold off the frozen brine and see what it does.

but i have other fish already in there. the CBB is not eating yet because i think it's still aclimating. we just added him about 3 days ago. my clowns, damsel, and shrimp all eat brine. so brine is not good for them? is mysis better? i thought brine was fine.

anyone? :)

I tried to find a link for you but no such luck. However, apparently adult brine shrimp are 95% water or something to that effect. The only time brine shrimp have nutritional value is when they are larvae with yolk sacks.

I have read the same thing. But I cant remember what book I read it in...

I can only tell you what has been told to me to te effet that brine were like popsicle so not much nutient where mysis was a lot more thorough as food !
So there you go !

This is a common theme at wetwebmedia.com, where there are many FAQ's on feeding, from butterfly fishes to anemones. Mysis shrimp is mentioned quite often, if you search on it you'll find a ton of info.

A quote from the WWM FAQ on butterfly feeding:

The page is here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bffdsfdgfaqs.htm

Hope that helps.

...

it's been about a week now since we got the copperband butterfly and i've never seen him eat any frozen brine that i feed the tank (i feed once every 2 days, about 1/3 cube), nor have i ever seen him pick at any aptasia. once in a while he pick at the rocks, but i don't see him eat anything. do copperbands eat algae, or any other things on the rock?