My CBB @ 19 months

[vtec si]

Check this guy out he is so cool! The only bad thing is that he has not touch a stupid aistaipas (sp) NOT ONE! Oh well. But he eat like a pig. I have had him for a month now but came from fellow reefers that he had him for 18months.

Martin

[Reefland]

They are great fish to have, I agree. As long as you can wing them to captive food, your in good shape. Here is a picture of ours that we have had for 13 months now, we picked it up in Jan. '05.

[vtec si]

Good looking fish you have there.

[BubbaWPB]

OK... I can't stand it anymore! I think CBBs look so cool! But, I keep seeing that butterfly fish aren't reef compatible... other than Aiptasia, what are they supposed to eat that doesn't make them reef safe? It looks like their mouths are too small to eat shrimp... do they eat shrimp? do they nip at anemones? clam mantles? or what?

[Reefland]

I think the concern is that some are reported to nip at coral polyps and mostly clams. Of course they eat a lot of the fauna in the tank such as the amphipods and copepods. However in our case we have not had any problems with it nipping at corals nor our clams. He seems to enjoy his constant browsing and the mysis and brine we feed.

[BubbaWPB]

Thanks, Scott...

[vtec si]

I think the concern is that some are reported to nip at coral polyps and mostly clams. Of course they eat a lot of the fauna in the tank such as the amphipods and copepods. However in our case we have not had any problems with it nipping at corals nor our clams. He seems to enjoy his constant browsing and the mysis and brine we feed.

Mine has been a good little fishy! He will take a bite out of some featherdusters now and then but I don't mind.

Martin

[charlie]

I would sacrifice a few feather dusters for a copperband that would make it in my tank!!!!

[vtec si]

I know a lot of people that have had good luck with CBBs feeding P.E. Mysis shrimp! Mine eats it like if he was a shark in a feeding frenzy.

[kevinpo]

Great fish! Most are quite reef safe with the exception of tube worms. A few individuals will nip clams especially if underfed. Here is mine that I have had for about 5 years. Loves to eat dried seaweed, Freeze-dried plankton, mysis shrimp, Formula1 frozen cubes, well I guess just about anything that hits the water. He really likes me to hold the food while he eats it. They can be a challenge to get feeding.

Scott,
Yours looks a bit thin to me from the lateral line up. Raw shrimp finely chopped from the store fattens them up quickly.

Regards,
Kevin

[vtec si]

Nice fish Kevin. How did you get yours to eat chopped shrimp and F1?

Martin

[kevinpo]

It would only eat raw shrimp and freeze-dried plankton for the first couple of years until I started to add crushed garlic. Now it eats dried seaweed.

Regards,
Kevin

[Papa Doug]

Nice pics guys. Mine,s still banished to the sump.

Besides everything else he eats I now feed him a clam every day, as I have seen many do. In the morning he is there waiting for his clam.

However I still have a hard time believing he can tell the difference between the clams he east and the crocea,s in my aquarium??

[vtec si]

Doug, Why is he in your sump? Does he pick @ your clams?

Martin

[Papa Doug]

Doug, Why is he in your sump? Does he pick @ your clams?

Martin

Yes, after behaving for almost 2 yrs. he decided to sample my crocea,s causing them to close up. After several days of this I removed him. I wrote it up either im my tank thread or the last copperband thread. Would have to go find it.

[Ninong]

The only bad thing is that he has not touch a stupid aistaipas (sp) NOT ONE!

That's only because he doesn't know that he likes Aiptasia yet. Virtually all captive Chelmon rostratus will eventually eat Aiptasia once they realize it's food. It's not part of their natural diet. It often takes them several weeks to figure out that they like Aiptasia.

[Ninong]

OK... I can't stand it anymore! I think CBBs look so cool! But, I keep seeing that butterfly fish aren't reef compatible...

Most Butterflyfish aren't reef-aquarium safe. This one (Chelmon rostratus) is relatively reef-aquarium safe most of the time but it is a very difficult fish to acclimate to captivity. That's because it isn't used to taking food from the water column. It's used to picking at its food from the substrate. (Note: Substrate in this sense means both the sand bed and the reef structure.) It has to learn to take food from the water column. Offering live brine shrimp or live mysis shrimp usually works but most people don't want to deal with that. I have seen one that was offered frozen brine on two different visits over two weeks and both times it would mouth the food and then spit it out. I wanted to buy it but I couldn't because the LFS couldn't get it to eat for me. It would probably have been a mistake for my 120-gal tank. I think they do better in tanks that are at least 180 gallons.

...other than Aiptasia, what are they supposed to eat that doesn't make them reef safe? It looks like their mouths are too small to eat shrimp... do they eat shrimp? do they nip at anemones? clam mantles? or what?

They usually will not bother anemones and they definitely won't bother any anemone that has a resident clownfish. Most of them will not bother Tridacna spp. clams but this is always a possibility. They will not bother shrimp or mollusks. They will eat featherdusters and other polychaetes. They will also consume amphipods, copepods and all the microcrustaceans and tiny worms in the top layer of the sand bed. Their natural diet consists mainly of the feeding tentacles of polychaete worms and tiny benthic crustaceans.

Some of them will sometimes bother certain corals but this is unpredictable. I know of some hobbyists who have kept this species in large reef aquariums without any serious problems and others who have had enough trouble with them that they removed them. I don't consider them any riskier than say a Flame Angelfish (Centropyge loriculus). I would definitely be willing to try one if I get a larger tank.

[BubbaWPB]

Thanks, Ninong. I appreciate you sharing...

[Ninong]

It looks like their mouths are too small to eat shrimp...

The distinctive feature of Butterflyfish in the genus Chelmon is their greatly elongated snout. This allows them to feed on noncoralline invertebrates between coral branches and in reef crevices. There are three or four genera with this same feature and same feeding habits. All of these are relatively reef-aquarium safe but with the possibility of some problems.

Many Butterflyfish are obligate corallivores specializing in stony corals. All of those are definitely not appropriate for a reef aquarium. In fact, they aren't appropriate for captivity period. Then there are some that are facultative corallivores on stony corals. And others that are corallivores on soft corals.

[vtec si]

That's only because he doesn't know that he likes Aiptasia yet. Virtually all captive Chelmon rostratus will eventually eat Aiptasia once they realize it's food. It's not part of their natural diet. It often takes them several weeks to figure out that they like Aiptasia.

Ninong, or should I say MR. Reef Guru! He found out today that he likes Aiptasias!

Martin