Copperband butterfly

[vt_snowman87]

anybody had experiences with copperbands, Chelmon rostratus, care to share?

i did a search, but somehow it is an underated specimen in S'pore, but apparently in other countries, many reefers had used copperbands to control aipstasia with great success and most are coral-safe..

assuming i can get a good feeding specimen, anybody have experiences with its "safe-ness" with softies, LPS, SPS, and anemones?

cheers,

vincent

[comycus]

I've not kept copperbands before. But I think copperband eating on aiptasia is a hit and miss thing. If you're lucky, it keeps them under control, if you're not they don't do anything at all.

When they are acclimatized to tank life and feed from the hand of god (yours), they won't have incentive to go forage for food. Then when you start to starve them to force them to eat your aiptasia, they start picking on all your corals. Not worth the trouble, tt's why I don't get them for aiptasia control. Joe's juice or any other proven aiptasia solution kills fast. Don't need to wait and pray for copperband to eat tt aiptasia before it stings my corals.

Just my 2 cents.

[dnsfpl]

to me its like cleaner wrasse

they suddenly die for nothing even though its feeding

forget it if you have yellow tang

cheers

[vt_snowman87]

thanks for the unputs bro comycus and dnsfpl, good points..

[yikai]

I've not kept copperbands before. But I think copperband eating on aiptasia is a hit and miss thing. If you're lucky, it keeps them under control, if you're not they don't do anything at all.

When they are acclimatized to tank life and feed from the hand of god (yours), they won't have incentive to go forage for food. Then when you start to starve them to force them to eat your aiptasia, they start picking on all your corals. Not worth the trouble, tt's why I don't get them for aiptasia control. Joe's juice or any other proven aiptasia solution kills fast. Don't need to wait and pray for copperband to eat tt aiptasia before it stings my corals.

Just my 2 cents.

have many experiences with this beautiful fish. one of my favourite of all chelmon sp, but non comparable to marginalis. ok back to the point. copperbands controlling aiptasias are not that impossible with slim success rates IMO. tried and tested, most all that i kept before feed on aiptasia. its not as difficult as most other hit and miss fish. copperbands eating corals are very very rare (they rather starve to death than eat your corals. their mouth is seriously not built in a way a coral eating fish would. that doesnt mean it won't try though. have heard of them picking on corals before). almost non existant. look at the shape of their mouth. they pick on worms and other benthic creatures rather than coral polyps.

however, getting one to feed is very difficult, but not impossible. have kept before a pellet eating one. frozen should not be a problem if u get a healthy one and pique its interest in food quickly. henry often brings in very good copperbands.

overall, i rate reefsafeness 95%(coral), and aiptasia eliminating prowess more than 40%. have kept this many times. lost the pellet eating 1 to a power failure, and the rest of them to aggressive fishes. all were feeding except 1. Try not to house them with boisterous fishes as they are rather timid. very peaceful, will only harm conspecifics. will love to get one actually, must do some aggressiveness control first though.

do take not that all tube worms will not be spared. bristleworms too at times, i they are small enough to eat.

to me its like cleaner wrasse

they suddenly die for nothing even though its feeding

forget it if you have yellow tang

cheers

Actually, they are not like cleaner wrasses. butterflies like copperband feed on worms and other small crustaceans in the wild. if u get one feeding on rozen food at home, like mysis and henry's, survival should not be a problem since they are getting their nutritional value almost identically to what they get in the wild. unlike cleaners which are obligate cleaners.

just my opinion. others who wish to share may chip in too

[vt_snowman87]

thanks bro lemon for your input, very helpful indeed, its in sync with what i read from other reefer's experiences in other countries.. very interesting..

1 question though, what abt anemones.. liveaquaria says they feed on anemones..

[yikai]

thanks bro lemon for your input, very helpful indeed, its in sync with what i read from other reefer's experiences in other countries.. very interesting..

1 question though, what abt anemones.. liveaquaria says they feed on anemones..

aiptasias are anemones, aren't they? like with Almost all butterflies, anemones are irresistable. a copperband would most certainly TRY to eat them, unless they are too big or if there are clowns to protect their anemone.

[vt_snowman87]

haha ya, makes perfect sense, thanks bro lemon!

[beaver]

I love copperbands too! Glad to know they are reef-safe :-) Can try one soon..I dun think they will attack clams right? I have huge squamosa

[yikai]

please dont misunderstand what i said haha. they are not entirely reef safe. the definition of reef safe means they can be kept in a reef aquaria and be safe to ALL creatures. the fact that they eat tubeworms don;t classify them as reefsafe. they are however, relatively coral safe. again, the word relatively is used. so far none of my copperbands eat coral before, but there are cases nonetheless.

so go with caution

[vt_snowman87]

^ agreed.. its hard to define what's reef safe and what's not.. even some blue tangs eat LPS and zoas.. as always, proceed with caution, and with a backup plan..

[richreef]

have many experiences with this beautiful fish. one of my favourite of all chelmon sp, but non comparable to marginalis. ok back to the point. copperbands controlling aiptasias are not that impossible with slim success rates IMO. tried and tested, most all that i kept before feed on aiptasia. its not as difficult as most other hit and miss fish. copperbands eating corals are very very rare (they rather starve to death than eat your corals. their mouth is seriously not built in a way a coral eating fish would. that doesnt mean it won't try though. have heard of them picking on corals before). almost non existant. look at the shape of their mouth. they pick on worms and other benthic creatures rather than coral polyps.

however, getting one to feed is very difficult, but not impossible. have kept before a pellet eating one. frozen should not be a problem if u get a healthy one and pique its interest in food quickly. henry often brings in very good copperbands.

overall, i rate reefsafeness 95%(coral), and aiptasia eliminating prowess more than 40%. have kept this many times. lost the pellet eating 1 to a power failure, and the rest of them to aggressive fishes. all were feeding except 1. Try not to house them with boisterous fishes as they are rather timid. very peaceful, will only harm conspecifics. will love to get one actually, must do some aggressiveness control first though.

do take not that all tube worms will not be spared. bristleworms too at times, i they are small enough to eat.

Actually, they are not like cleaner wrasses. butterflies like copperband feed on worms and other small crustaceans in the wild. if u get one feeding on rozen food at home, like mysis and henry's, survival should not be a problem since they are getting their nutritional value almost identically to what they get in the wild. unlike cleaners which are obligate cleaners.

just my opinion. others who wish to share may chip in too

i hv a copperband dat lives happily with 2 yellowtangs.sailfintang and regaltang.Clear all my aptasia within a wk of introduction but also eat away all my little white feather worms.(Controlled aptasia No 1) never touch any of my LPS OR ZOASNow my tank is free of pest and he's happy eating frozen mysis shrimp and chop-up clamps and market prawns.Previously got it free from Reborn (Richard)and he told me he feeds him with deteriorating braincoral.

[yikai]

i hv a copperband dat lives happily with 2 yellowtangs.sailfintang and regaltang.Clear all my aptasia within a wk of introduction but also eat away all my little white feather worms.(Controlled aptasia No 1) never touch any of my LPS OR ZOASNow my tank is free of pest and he's happy eating frozen mysis shrimp and chop-up clamps and market prawns.Previously got it free from Reborn (Richard)and he told me he feeds him with deteriorating braincoral.

ah. yes, no suprise why the copperband ate up the feather worms

feeding them with deteriorating brain coral is a good idea to get them feeding at least. alot of butterflies and angels are attracted to dying or deteriorating corals. These corals emit a "smell" which excite the fishes and draw them to the coral. sometimes, when a butterfly or angel is seen pecking on the coral, most reefers will jump the gun and say not reef safe. could be their coral already been dying and the fish simply feeding off the remains.

usually they wont harm healthy corals. only those that are dying.

[vt_snowman87]

ah. yes, no suprise why the copperband ate up the feather worms

feeding them with deteriorating brain coral is a good idea to get them feeding at least. alot of butterflies and angels are attracted to dying or deteriorating corals. These corals emit a "smell" which excite the fishes and draw them to the coral. sometimes, when a butterfly or angel is seen pecking on the coral, most reefers will jump the gun and say not reef safe. could be their coral already been dying and the fish simply feeding off the remains.

usually they wont harm healthy corals. only those that are dying.

couldn't agree more.. but its still puzzling why when fed with deteriorating corals, the butterfly still won't be tempted to feed on fresh corals.. i guess its like the case of nassarius snails, they will totally consume stressed corals it finds..

[yikai]

couldn't agree more.. but its still puzzling why when fed with deteriorating corals, the butterfly still won't be tempted to feed on fresh corals.. i guess its like the case of nassarius snails, they will totally consume stressed corals it finds..

its the scent. i can only make a guess, that a dying coral is a fragrant coral?

[vt_snowman87]

ya i guess thats the case haha.. it could be the zooxanthellae, when stressed some corals expel this symbioic algae, could it be the smell of this?

[yikai]

ya i guess thats the case haha.. it could be the zooxanthellae, when stressed some corals expel this symbioic algae, could it be the smell of this?

haha no idea. me not scientist :/ could be though! really love copperband and yellow long nose. chelmon vs forcipiger. two of the most reefsafe butterflies. 2 of the nicest.

[vt_snowman87]

yea copperband is actually really underrated here..

[comycus]

hmmm Lemon's comments change my views on copperband.

But I'm still worried about them pecking my corals... Don't get me wrong, I love copperband actually. One of the few fishes tt caught my eye first time I walked into a fish shop (RB). But with their mouth like tt... I just can't help being paranoid about them pecking my corals. I can only think of my 3 wrasses at home, considered 'reef safe' but happily pecking my bubble coral to death.

Maybe might try getting them once my tank has settled down in a couple of weeks time

[yikai]

you should not be too worried with that kind of mouth. this kind of mouth, is the picking worms from crevices kind. poly eaters are those with blunt mouths like angels and most other butterflies. copperbands will definately be more reef safe than your wrasses. yours are...not of the norm. haha.

it will be very helpful for them if you have peaceful fishes that wont snatch for food. they eat slowly compared to other fishes. but not as slow as mandarins. feeding them with mysis should not be too difficult. to get them feeding, a very useful trick is to buy small feather worms from LFS, and stick them into your rocks. they will eat the feather worms. of course, sacrificing some livestock for your fish, but this trick works well.

another trick is to use an open clam. they go crazy for those.

[comycus]

copperbands will definately be more reef safe than your wrasses. yours are...not of the norm. haha.

it will be very helpful for them if you have peaceful fishes that wont snatch for food. they eat slowly compared to other fishes. but not as slow as mandarins. feeding them with mysis should not be too difficult. to get them feeding, a very useful trick is to buy small feather worms from LFS, and stick them into your rocks. they will eat the feather worms. of course, sacrificing some livestock for your fish, but this trick works well.

another trick is to use an open clam. they go crazy for those.

my clam already got eaten by... guess who?

All my fishes are fast and furious eaters. I have resorted to target feeding my mandarin otherwise he confirm will starve one... Hope can train him to eat pellets, otherwise he will de dependent on my balloon stick.

haha I will try copperband maybe sometime in the future, coz I suddenly have space for another fish... lol

[vt_snowman87]

very interesting fish.. i will most prob try it out for my dad's tank, prob in Jan after my overseas trip.. as its quite risky to leave it in a reef tank unattended, right?

[richreef]

ya i guess thats the case haha.. it could be the zooxanthellae, when stressed some corals expel this symbioic algae, could it be the smell of this?

dats the most probable cause,cos when swim in the sea u will not 100% attrach a shark.But if u bleed it 'homes-in' sharks from miles away.Same like vultures in the desert.

[pokmingsheng]

got a question to ask,

bringing this thread back up again..

can copperbands be kept with clams?

with clams around, will they definately feed on it?

[vt_snowman87]

got a question to ask,

bringing this thread back up again..

can copperbands be kept with clams?

with clams around, will they definately feed on it?

the copperband in my dad's tank, about 4-5 inches big, is kept with clams, brains, rics, acans, and sps.. so far no problem, its feeding greedily on frozen mysis.. havent touched any corals..