New Addition!!

[canadawest]

Well after allowing Aiptasia to reach plague proportions in my tank over the past 6 months or so, I decided a month or so ago to add a Copperband Butterfly to my reef family.

I did a bunch of research on them while waiting for a local LFS to get some healthy stock in. So I was happy to find Copperbands listed on J&L's "New & Noteworthy" page on Thursday so I went over yesterday and bought a little guy.

Sorry Em, but the name "Cooper" just seems to fit these little guys, so that's what I've named him. (Odd, because I don't generally name my fish).

He's a bit less than 2" in size, and looks very good. I put him in my refugium initally so he could settle in and get used to my water chemistry until it was lights-out in the main tank. Then I transferred him to the main tank. Initally the Yellow Tang wasn't too pleased to see him, but I think it's mostly because "Coop" tried to check out his sleeping area and the Yellow Tang was having none of that. When "Coop" found an empty corner of the tank to hang out in, he stayed there unharrased for most of the rest of the night (at least while I was watching before going to bed). Even my large cleaner shrimp noticed the new addition when he came out to do his nightly rounds and immediately began courting him for a "free cleaning"

Today "Coop" is checking out the entire tank, cleverly evading the occasional advances by the Yellow and Blue Tangs, and generally making himself at home. Unfortunately I haven't seen him touch a single Aiptasia yet, but I'm sure he might take a few days to settle in. I've also read that sometimes smaller Copperbands take longer to take to Aiptasia, but I'm confidant that eventually he will as success rates with Copperbands and Aiptasia seem almost a guarantee.

God knows he's got ALOT to choose from, and should become a very fat little guy over the coming weeks/months.

Anyways, just wanted to share the recent addition to my reef family. If I can get my brother's digital camera, I'll definitely post some photos of the new little guy.