Copperband Angel?

[Dustin]

A good fish for a 75 gallon reef or not?

[matrixnyc]

Is that the same as the Copperband Butterflyfish?

[Dustin]

i wrote the wrong thing. i meant that fish. ?

[matrixnyc]

No problem, here is some info on the fish:

Copperband Butterflyfish
(Chelmon rostratus)

http://a1272.g.akamai.net/7/1272/1121/20020702150735/www.liveaquaria.com/images/products/large/pw68221copper.jpg

The Copperband Butterflyfish, also known as the Beaked Butterflyfish, Beaked Coralfish, or Orange Stripe Butterfly, has a long, narrow nose and mouth used for hunting into crevices and holes for food. The Copperband Butterflyfish has yellow-orange vertical bands with a black edging. It has a false eyespot on the rear of the dorsal fin. This is a difficult fish to mistake for any other.

It is best housed in very large reefs, or in peaceful community tanks. It should be kept singly, not with conspecifics or similar butterflyfish, and should not be kept with any stress-inducing fish.

The Copperband Butterflyfish is a difficult fish to feed; it is a shy and deliberate feeder that may need a variety of foods offered to it in order to start feeding.

Quick Stats
Minimum Tank Size: 50 gallons
Care Level: Difficult
Tank Conditions: 72-78°F; sg 1.020-1.025; pH 8.1-8.4
Temperament: Peaceful
Max. Size In Aquarium: Up to 8"
Reef Compatible: With Caution
Diet: Carnivore
Compatibility: View Chart (http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compatibility_chart.cfm)
Origin: Indo-Pacific
Family: Chaetodontidae

I would keep in mind that it is a dificult fish to care for, a picky eater and may not be reef safe. Shame, its a great looking fish.

Hope this info helps

[Jollymon]

I kept a copperband a few years ago in a 38. This tank was overrun by aiptasia. This fish totally cleaned the rock of these. It also ate all the small featherdusters growing on the rock and back glass. I could never get him to eat anything else. :( I kept on trying to train him, but it would not eat. I traded him back to a LFS, but it was a little to late. He passed away a week later. I was at a LFS a few weeks back, and they had a copperband that was taking frozen food like a pig. If I were ever to buy another one, I would make sure it was eating well before I brought it home. These are one of the most beautiful marine fish to me. It is a shame that some are such picky eaters.

[Pineapple House]

I would say no. These fish are really not too hardy, and will require very specific foods. While they are reef safe, they are known for nipping at coral polyps, esspecielly in the genus xenia, zooanthid, and some SPS corals.

I used to have one about 4 months ago. It was doing exelent for the past 8 months, then one day disappeared. No trace of him. Not in the rocks, not outside the tank, not in the filters, nothing....gone.

I had sucess feeding him Brine, blood worms (esspecielly fond of this!), mysis shrimp, as well as some algae in it's diet. Would also eat cope pods, as well as amphipods hiding around the rocks.

Very lively fish, never scared to come out and swim around the tank. I found watching him very entertaining, as he would swim in the open, and eat the copepods. Although not many people have had success with these fish. Stick to the hardy fish, such as clowns, damsels, basslets/grammas, etc.

PH =)

[volitan]

Wow.. weird how a fish that big can be gone with no sign of him.. was this a juv PH? do you have buddies with reef tanks that all of a sudden owned a CBButterfly? hehe

[Pineapple House]

Wow.. weird how a fish that big can be gone with no sign of him.. was this a juv PH? do you have buddies with reef tanks that all of a sudden owned a CBButterfly? hehe
Actually, it was an adult. About 4" accross also :shock: I found nothing that could have eaten him. Tankmates at that time were:
1. Blue Hippo tang
2. Maroon Clown
3. 2 sunburst anthias
4. 3 green chromis damsels

Inverts were:
1. Large tube anemone <---Not big enough to eat the butterfly, can't even eat a full medium silver side :-D
2. 2 blood shrimp
3. 3 Cleaner shrimp
4. 40 Turbo snails
5. 2, tiger tail cucumbers

SPS corals all had no capability of eating him. LPS corals might have stung him, but still wouldn't eat him, the butterfly is too big. And yes, I checked all around the rocks, even taking some rocks out, partly in the sand bed, in the filters, around the tank, etc. No trace of this 4" copperband :( Quite a beauty too. Another thing, I saw no increase in Nitrate, Nitrite, or Ammonia.

PH =(

[5thtonbench]

Very odd indeed, but I have seen fish just dissapear too...

I had a copperband butterfly too at one time...

I didnt keep him long, he wouldnt eat. I had heard this was a problem and to be especially careful of it so I watched him constantly, and he just didnt want to eat. He was definitely depressed or something...

Anyways, he didnt eat one bit that I could tell after a week and a half, and he was starting to look a little sad and unhealthy. I brought him back to the LFS, they got him settled while I looked around for about 40 minutes, and the first thing he did in his plain tank is eat a bunch of food... go figure :P

I got the coral beauty instead, and he was a pain in the neck too :D

[phistio]

ok...best i can figure it...

aliens came down from outer space and...lol..jk

i know what it's like...i have several inhabitants "missing" in my tank right now...and it's only 25 gallons?!?!?! same thing, no ammonia, trates or trites rising?!?!?! doo-do-do-doo (twilight zone theme song) :shock:

[Pineapple House]

The weirdest disappearence I have heard of, was a Large Blue tang, about 5" long, disappeared for no reason in a 72 gallon bow front (This was on RC by the way). It was in the tank for 3 years; never got ich, ate fine, was in mint condition, etc. Just one day was gone, nowhere...

I think little leprocons come down from their magic land, to steel aquarium fish from their tank, and then take them off to their world and do experements with them.

PH =)[/list]

[5thtonbench]

one unsolved mystery gone solved....

I had a friend with 3 seperate tanks... a 90g fish/reef with a bait tank below it in the stand, and a tank he had a few items in and an octopus, I believe it was around 40-45g. The octo tank was in his office in his house, where as the large reef tank was in their living room, 2 rooms away.

He at first believed his cat was getting into his bait tank and eating the shrimp, but then one day a rather large fish (5"er)went missing in his reef tank. His tank was just one big reef wall along the back, no cave this thing could have gotten into. It was a completely closed canopy, no way cat could get in and no jumping out so, where did it go?

One day he came home from work early... the cat and the octopus were in a standoff outside the reef tank. The cat was just batting at it as it slithered on the floor. YES, the octopus was escaping its tank, walking around the house and helping itself to the bait tank. Then it would slide itself back to its home. Amazing it could keep itself out that long. Well, he figured that it must have found its way into the reef tank and helped itself to what looked good. The octopus, as large as it was, was sliding out this TINY space between the hood and a cable that ran out of the tank for a powerhead. Really amazing stuff, but he did get rid of it figuring one day the cat was going to kill it or it was just going to become too much trouble.

No one wants an octopus running amuk afterall, right? Just goes to show, its a vast and crazy world we dabble in with this hobby :)

[phistio]

actually, octopus can live for quite some time outside of the water...

when the tide goes out, sometimes they get caught in tide pools, and jetties...they'l go from one pool to the next, feasting on whatever's caught in the pools...

also, they have remarkable eyesight, and are very smart creatures, i'm sure the octopus saw the other tank, and got an idea! it's amazing they can stretch and squeeze into the tightest of spots...

i've heard of some hitch-hiking on LR, and staying alive by eating inhabitants one by one...

[Pineapple House]

Ok, since we are all talking about our live stock roaming through the house, here's a funny story:

I used to have a Marine Red Lobster (the kind that you can find at grociery stores :wink:), named Loey, who was about 6" long, lived in a nice 30 gallon tank, this tank was closed off very well. One night, loey dicided he was getting board of the tank, and wanted to get outside. He climbed up onto the filter intake, slowely crawled up, went though the ONLY space in the glass where the tank wasn't closed off, and jumped onto the carpet floor. He went though my living room (which is huge!), through part of the kitchen, crawled down 2 flights of stars, went though long halls downstars, past a guest room, past the downstars bathroom, and ended up in my room. I woke up around 2:56AM, feeling something crawl on my hand. I woke up, seeing loey in my bed crawling over my hand! LOL. And he did this two more times before I completely closed off the whole tank :lol:

PH =)

[killroysrevenge]

Garf.org has a very good article about these fish and their aptisia eating habits. I origanally thaught that they would nip at corals but Garf's article says that there is no sign that the copperband is touching any coral.

[ReefBum]

interesting...my tank has developed a bit of an aptasia problem and a few peppermint shrimp i added a couple of weeks ago didn't help. maybe a copperband...i have been very leary about doing this since i have many sps :cry:

[Zack]

I also throught they bit at corals!

[Pineapple House]

It's really a hit and miss thing.

PH =)

[ReefBum]

I just talked to a fellow reefer who put a Copperband in his big reef and within 24 hours the fish destroyed his entire clam population. Now I'm convinced that adding one of these guys is not worth the risk :shock:

[Pineapple House]

Wow, aweful story ReefBum! :x

PH =)