Tank size/Fish compatibility

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

You think that's too small for a copper band? I thought they could live in way smaller tanks? Or just that copper bands are testy to begin with? I've had amazeballs success with copperbands so far, you should see how fat my current one is.

No problem with me. I've had good success with Copperbands, too. As long as you get them to eat well, they are fine. I even had mine eating dry food (freeze dried mysis and zooplankton). And that tank size is fine, too.

But there are others here that do not agree, as you will see...

[reefwars]

ummm you havent seen my tank have ya lol :P

go for an island style aquascape or something that allows the fish to swim a full circle without hitting a wall and i think youll be just fine

[FishyFishy!]

Tank size with a copperband really has nothing to due with their success. Getting them to eat is the success! lol.

Originally Posted by reefwars

ummm you havent seen my tank have ya lol :P

go for an island style aquascape or something that allows the fish to swim a full circle without hitting a wall and i think youll be just fine

WORD. If you have 4 X 3ft walls in a criclular pattern for them to swim in, they'll be happy as a pig in $hite

[gobytron]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

If you saw my copperband, you'd know that wasn't a risk for him. The one I lost in a ich treatment/QT accident was the same. My experience has been that they're hard to get to eat, but once you've got them trained on frozen foods (which definitely requires some TLC, preferabbly in a separate, low competition qt system) they're as robust as any other fish.

I do agree they'll do better in a mature system (everything does), but once you get them eating you can easily provide their entire caloric requirements with frozen foods.

Mine eats two different kinds of enriched brine, two different brands of mysis, pacifica plankton, and most of a frozen clam or mussel every other day or so. He's as thick as a tang.

I will definitely agree that getting them to that point can be a challenge though.

In my reading, it has been pointed out that cpb's don;t eat mysis in the wild.
They are omnivorous but their diet consists mostly of micro flora (and some fauna) so even when they are eating frozen, they're basically living on mcdonalds.

Thats why so many reputed to be eating frozen foods still die from malnutrition.

[George]

Hate to be a devil advocate, but what is the minimum tank size length wise for a powder blue tang? is it 3'x3' , 2'x2' or 1'x1' if someone have nothing in the tank but water and the fish? Couldn't the fish swim around in a circle in a 1'x1' tank and not hitting the wall.

[daniella3d]

It's fine for a copperband, the problem is the copperband itself. Many die because they don't eat or won't eat enough. I had my copperband in a 75 allons for 2 years and he was fat as a little pig. He ate live white worms as his main diet for all that time. I sold him because he was starting to nip at my clams and corals, so this is a risk. He was fine for 2 years.

Why do you want a copperband? hope you know they are very finiky eaters and you might have to give it some live food and messy food like fresh live mussels. They often have problem feeding because they are gentle fish and other more aggressive fish will get to all the food before the copperband even have a bite. They are way best kept in a tank with no aggressive fish at all. Mine was with one niger trigger that was always hiding, and just a few small fish. I was feeding him twice a day with a pipette so that he would eat. They can be very time consuming and you must be prepare for this.

Originally Posted by asylumdown

You think that's too small for a copper band? I thought they could live in way smaller tanks? Or just that copper bands are testy to begin with? I've had amazeballs success with copperbands so far, you should see how fat my current one is.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

It's fine for a copperband, the problem is the copperband itself. Many die because they don't eat or won't eat enough. I had my copperband in a 75 allons for 2 years and he was fat as a little pig. He ate live white worms as his main diet for all that time. I sold him because he was starting to nip at my clams and corals, so this is a risk. He was fine for 2 years.

Why do you want a copperband? hope you know they are very finiky eaters and you might have to give it some live food and messy food like fresh live mussels. They often have problem feeding because they are gentle fish and other more aggressive fish will get to all the food before the copperband even have a bite. They are way best kept in a tank with no aggressive fish at all. Mine was with one niger trigger that was always hiding, and just a few small fish. I was feeding him twice a day with a pipette so that he would eat. They can be very time consuming and you must be prepare for this.

if you read his thread youd prob see hes had a copperband for a while now he just wants to know if the tank size is good or not

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by George

Hate to be a devil advocate, but what is the minimum tank size length wise for a powder blue tang? is it 3'x3' , 2'x2' or 1'x1' if someone have nothing in the tank but water and the fish? Couldn't the fish swim around in a circle in a 1'x1' tank and not hitting the wall.

at what point does 1ft , 2ft or 10ft make a difference to a fish that swims a sq kilometer a day?

[George]

Originally Posted by George

Hate to be a devil advocate, but what is the minimum tank size length wise for a powder blue tang? is it 3'x3' , 2'x2' or 1'x1' if someone have nothing in the tank but water and the fish? Couldn't the fish swim around in a circle in a 1'x1' tank and not hitting the wall.

Originally Posted by reefwars

at what point does 1ft , 2ft or 10ft make a difference to a fish that swims a sq kilometer a day?

interesting...I agree that 1ft sq, 2ft sq or 10 ft sq doesn't make a difference to a fish that swims kilometer sq. But somehow my gut feeling tells me putting a powder blue in a 1'x1' tank is not a good idea.

[naesco]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

I'm in the early stages of planning a new tank, and I wanted to see what you guys thought of these fish in the dimensions I'm planning-

Tank will be 36x36x22, so 123 total gallons (though I'll likely have 2 inches of sand).

I don't want many fish, but the two that I really hope can live in a tank this size are a powder blue tang and a copper band butterfly.

what does everyone think about those fish in a tank that size? I know people normally say 6 foot minimum for a tang like that, but I have zero experience with cubes, so I'm not sure if that gives you more options in terms of fish.

Any thoughts?

Tangs are swimmers. They swim to and fro and need the length that larger tanks provide.
Anyone who has had a 3 or 4 footer can attest that the longer tank is more suitable for tangs. I think you know that.

Like almost all reefers I have not been able to keep a CB lontg enough to determine their spacial needs.
Wayne