[BlueWater]

Well, I had a Copperbanded Butterfly in my tank for 5 days. Found it today swimming close to the surface where it looked like it was trying to get air. My tank has bubble filtration and the other fish are doing fine. And the fish ate.

pH 8.0
nitrates 0
trites 0
ammonia 0
Temp -80 farenheit

Inhabitants
- 2 green chromis
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Fuzzy Dwarf
- Scooter Blenny

Could the Fuzzy Dwarf have accidentally stung the CopperBand? I don't see why it would have died due to water quality.

[BlueWater]

...i just read some sites on them.

I didnt know they were considered 'non-hardy' and difficult to maintain in captivity.

[kevinpo]

Chelmon rostratus are grazers that need an almost constant supply of food. After 3-4 months of fattening they can be fed twice a day and do fine. You don't mention what you were feeding it. They are also easily infected with gill parasites (which will be exhibited by twiching of the head). They are great fish when acclimated that become very tame and will eat from your fingers. The smallest tank for one of these should be 75 gal.

Sorry for your loss,
Kevin

[SomeHairyOldGuy]

I have read that these fish are pretty much hit or miss. Some do great while others not so. Sorry for your loss.
SHOG

[Ninong]

Unfortunately their survival rate during the first few weeks or months is not very good. Usually if you can manage to get past the first six months your chances of long term success are greatly improved.

Is your profile up to date? Your profile says that you have a 15-gallon tank.

[BlueWater]

Thanks for the replys folks.

updated the profile. I'm 30 gallons now.

Well, saw this
http://members.tripod.com/mark26/copperband.html

[Joaco]

Originally posted by BlueWater
Thanks for the replys folks.

updated the profile. I'm 30 gallons now.

Well, saw this
http://members.tripod.com/mark26/copperband.html

Quoted from that link:

Clam meat, maybe scallops, and mussels should be offered along with the standard flakes and lettuce. Black Worms could possibly be another suitable food. Where their imported from and how they're caught does make a big difference, however this pretty fish needs specific dietary conditions in order to survive for the long term, and Brine Shrimp as the only source of food just does not cut it.

That is 100% accurate, flake food, lettuce and brine shrimp don't cut as the only food source, actually for the long term survival of any fish.(with some few exceptions like the blender-safe damsels...kids don't try that at home)

You can tell a lot (not all of course), from a fish when you look at it. In this case, the long snout would be telling you that this butterfly is adapted to reach into crevices in live rock where other fish can't reach.
The open mussel method described in that link has actually to do with it: the butterfly can reach inside while other fish can't.

Sorry about your loss.

Joaco
ps: IMO you seem to have a lot of fish for a 30 gallon tank, are they all doing ok?

[BlueWater]

As for feeding,

I feed the tank once a day in the evening. Total size of 1 1/2 cubes. Mixed up chopped shrimp, squid, and fish from the market. I dillute it first in the water when it's frozen. And sometimes I'll give the Formula One, or both at the same time. Every few weeks I'll give live brine. The guys don't seem to like Bloodworms, so I dont feed those.

As for the tank, they all seem happy and get along.

The Dwarf doesnt move. You just see an eyeball looking out at you from a crack in the rocks. Sometimes you think he's dead, but then feeding time and he comes out from the caves, so you gotta watch him at night. The Puffer just hovers around and eats from my hand, and the Chromis go all over the place but usually hang out by the Fuzzy Dwarf. Scooter blenny grazes the sand and rocks eating algae and whatever.

Oh and I have one emerald crab who cleans up. All the fish are under 1.5 inches except the Dwarf who is about 2 inches.

Kind of bummed because the main reason why I got Copperband in the first place other than looking cool is because I thought the Aptasia on my rocks would be a good food supply for it.

[Palmetto]

Sorry about your loss.

Usually if Copperbands make it the first 2 weeks and eat heartily, they are good to go.

I usually find it easiest to get them started on live adult brine shrimp. Once they are really eating a lot of these, I switch to frozen mysis and brine. Later I feed them a mix of seafoods including worms.

I have found that it usually takes a healthy CB a long time to realize the Aiptasia is food, then once they have a taste for them, they are all gone. I raise Aiptasia to train them on, and you can get them actually eating Aiptasia from your hand.

No kidding:



They are beautiful and intelligent fish. I would recommend larger than a 30-gallon tank, though. They like some room to swim, as they are very quick and agile swimmers who love to hunt for pods and especially worms of any kind. They will destroy your featherdusters if you have them, but other than that, I have not had them eat anything I didn't want them to.

[zhenya]

OK,I'll add a pic of my CB.It's been few days since I add it to my 110g tank.So far so good,I mean yellow tang left him alone and he's pluckin at the rocks and eating my feather dusters.Thank god!They've been a plague along with aiptasia.I've seen him peck at some aiptasia,small though.
Kevin,can you expound on that parasites you've mention and if there is a method of fighting it if I see some head twiching.
TIA.

[kevinpo]

IMO the best cure is a stress free environment and proper diet.

Regards,
Kevin

[zhenya]

Hi Kevin,
Thanks for reply.I figured as much.This particular fish seems to be eating well,mysid shrimp seems to be favorite along with some clam meat.I hope he will nor develop a taste for my "other" clamsI have not noticed any twiching of the head and fish seems to be very healthy and swiming smooth and quickly.
I,ve noticed it picking at the aiptasia and hope he'll help me out in this regard.
Thanks again.

[kevinpo]

Mine was eating mysis at the LFS so I bought some to start it on. The next food I got it to eat was raw shrimp, then freeze-dried plankton. It really likes the plankton which is good as it has a high protein content 60+%. It doesn't like Formula1 for some reason. I put mine in my 90 gal frag tank for a couple of months so it wouldn't have any competition at feeding time plus I had a few dozen aptasia anemones in there. It wouldn't touch the anemones until I went camping for 3 days without feeding it. When I came back there wasn't an anemone to be found so I put it in the display, which had 200+ anemones and all were gone in about 10 days.

It hasn't bothered any of my clams. I did see it nip at the tentacles of the inhalant siphon of my big T. derasa. But when it snapped shut and blew the Copperband into the rockwork he didn't try that again .

Regards,
Kevin

[zhenya]

LMAO Kevin,I hope my clam will do the same if my Chelmon desides to take a shot at it.As far as it not eating formula one,mine has not shown any interest in it either,prime reef however seems to be enticing somewhat.Main food is the mysis though and I keep my fingers crossed that he'll go after my aiptasia infestation.To be honest,it's a main reason I've desided to try this fish.I knew how hard they are to keep and I have not lost a fish in three years,but this aiptasia things pushed me to the brink of breaking down my reef and dumping this rock in a garden.I hope I wont have to.