Wanted Copperband butterfly fish

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by reefwars

not to be attempted unless you have had experience with finiky fish or butterflys in particular.

I'll agree with that. The saying "Delicate as a butterfly" applies here.

[mike31154]

LFS need to get with the program and stop bringing these in. I tried one as a newb and watched the poor guy starve to death. I know there are success stories, but too few to warrant the number that end up dieing.

[whatcaneyedo]

I got mine in July 2008 so I've had it for over two years. Even in my 5 year old 120gal I have to feed it at least twice a day to keep it from eating my coral.

[reefermadness]

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

I got mine in July 2008 so I've had it for over two years. Even in my 5 year old 120gal I have to feed it at least twice a day to keep it from eating my coral.

Wow..that is good news....and he looks healthy, congrats.

I still wouldnt recommend them to anyone but the most dedicated and experienced.

[Reef Pilot]

I have 2 Copperbands, both eating well, including dry food. Here is how I got mine to eat.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=73021

I have now moved the larger one on the right to my big display tank. He now has to deal with other more aggressive tank mates at feeding time. So to make sure he gets enough, I use a turkey baster to get it right in front of him, so he can grab it before it gets gobbled up by other fish.

[Treebeard]

Great idea and thanks for posting this. I have had a copperband for about 4 weeks and he eats mysis and brine shimp like there is no tomorrow. He was getting hassled a bit by my yellow tang who has since found a new home but it was not affecting his food intake.
My concern is with the amount of frozen food I have been feeding. Prior to the copperband I only fed frozen twice a week, but now I am feeding everyday and I think my water quality is suffering. I will definitely give your method I try.

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

I have 2 Copperbands, both eating well, including dry food. Here is how I got mine to eat.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=73021

I have now moved the larger one on the right to my big display tank. He now has to deal with other more aggressive tank mates at feeding time. So to make sure he gets enough, I use a turkey baster to get it right in front of him, so he can grab it before it gets gobbled up by other fish.

[Reef Pilot]

I have a Yellow Tang too, that thinks he owns the tank. I trapped him, and stuck him in the refugium for a couple weeks, when I moved the Copperband to the display tank. That allowed the Copperband to establish his favourite spots and hiding places.

But when I returned the Yellow Tang to the main tank, it didn't take him more than a few minutes to start waltzing around the tank, like he never left it, and start chasing the Copperband. Fortunately, the Copperband is very agile, and can do a 180 turn in a fraction of a second. The chasing only lasted less than a day, though, and the Yellow Tang just takes a passing lunge at the Copperband from time to time now, just to remind him who is the boss. The Copperband seems to handle it OK, and just moves out of the way when he see the Yellow Tang coming.

But feeding the Copperband in the main tank is a bit of a chore. The problem is that it is much deeper than the refugium where I trained him, and he is reluctant to go to the surface to eat the dry food. And my voracious big Bird Wrasse doesn't help, with his splashing and darting around at the surface, when there is food.

So I need to keep feeding the Copperband with a turkey baster. He eats fine, but it just time consuming. He really likes the freeze dried plankton (San Francisco brand, 68% protein), even more so than Mysis, but it floats up to the surface. I wish they made a Mysis or Plankton pellet that would sink to the bottom, he might go for that. He won't touch regular pellet food, though.