Chelmon rostratus-Copperbanded Butterfly

[OrionN]

I added this small Cobberbanded Butterfly into my reef last wednessday 02/11/04. He is very small. His body will fit on a 1/2 dollar coin. I guess from snout to tail is about less than 2 inches. He was eatting frozen brine shrimp at the LFS, so I got him. I have always love these fish but this is the first time I try to keep one. I know that they are hard to start to feed and is a difficult to keep fish. This guy is healthy, not skinny, and is eatting. I also have lots of feather duster and lots of worm in my tank, so I hope he is well fed until I get him to eat frozen clams. Here are two pictures of this little guy. He was hunting for worms and feather dusters in the sand and rock here.


http://www.reefland.com/gallery/data/513/1316Copperband_02.jpg

http://www.reefland.com/gallery/data/513/1316Copperband_01.jpg

[SuperXdude]

He's pretty. Alamo had one yesterday, but he was not looking too good, as he just arrived the day before.

A little too advanced for me though.


SuperX

[DeletedAccount]

Gorgeous fish! Good luck with him!

[Jimnorris]

Great fish! Great picture!
Jim

[dan]

are they reef safe? it is a great looking fish!!!!!!!

[SuperXdude]

I don't think they are reef safe, or use with caution.

-- stolen from another website ---

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. Caution should be exercised if housing these fish in a reef aquarium. They may pick on invertebrates, especially anemones and feather dusters. They are an excellent fish when used to control aiptasia, or glass anemones, in the reef aquarium.

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.

--- end of theft ---



SuperX

[Uel]

Nice fish Minh! I have one in my 180 reef and he has eaten frozen brine from day one. He has also eaten all of my feather dusters and Christmas tree worms :cry: .

The good news is he stopped there and he ate all of my aptasia, which is why I purchased him. :D

I do miss the dusters and especially the worms, but I consider it a necessary trade off for an aptasia free tank without having to use chemicals.

[matt]

Hopefully, Larry (Instar) will reply to this thread. He's an expert on copperband butterflys. I just bought one from him today. Ron Shimek told me these fish are "real boons" to the reef hobby, because they eat aiptasias. Larry's tank, which has several copperbands, also has all sorts of polyps, zoos, etc.

[OrionN]

After about 2 weeks, I have trained my CBB to eat frozen steamer clams. I drop a frozen clam into the tank every morning and remove the clam every evening. He is eating it and is full everyday.
Picture later
Minh

[Instar]

Minh's Copperband is really nice.

Here is a link to my gallery and a larger CBB with zoos and zenia in the back ground. All of the pictures in my gallery other than the little baby clowns are close ups or tank shots of the very same reef this CBB is in. They are very specific target feeders, so if you know what they eat and how to introduce new things into the reef so they don't get bothered (like a new clam), you have it made with a Copperband in a reef.
http://www.maast.org/modules.php?set_albumName=Instar&id=Im002454copper band&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=vi ew_photo.php

If you have trouble getting to the overall gallery with that link, its on page 4 of the member galleries. There are several shots of CBB on reefs of different sizes and with all kinds of corals, both stoney and soft. I keep the one in the picture in with 2 of those Corpus rock anemones and yellow polyps as well as the clams and everything else in the gallery.

[Tim Marvin]

They are reef safe unless your reef consists of feather dusters, and anemones...

[Instar]

Of all the CBB's I've ever had, the only kind of anemones they eat are aiptasia and the true glass anemone that is about a quarter of an inch and clear. Since I quit trying to raise aiptasia in my reef, I don't mind if they eat those at all. In addition to little feather dusters, they will eat astrea snails when they can get them. I just put a few extras in my reef. Still have plenty left. So, astrea snails, feather dusters and aiptasia. That is far less than a yellow clown goby will eat and far less than a bicolored blenny I have. I have anemones in with mine and they never get bothered so long as they are reasonably healthy. He picked at one of those Corpus little jetty anemones when it was shriveled up once, but, still have that anemone growing nicely today. Also have a rather large Florida Flower anemone. The CBB never goes near that one and hasn't once. They do hunt for pods, little worms and eat a bristle worm now and then. You can always tell when they got a bristle worm as they shake and dance as if to say, "Wow - that was HOT but GOOD!" A well done reef has plenty of these things so an occassional one taken by the CBB doesn't hurt anything. I have a colony of mysis that has gotten established with the introduction of about 10 shrimp into the reef. These fish don't wipe the populations out so long as there are lots of shells, rocks and rubble for hiding and breeding pods, etc.

[Sherri]

Beautiful Minh! Sounds like he is doing great so far. Good luck.

[OrionN]

Here is the picture of my baby CBB eatting a steamer clam. Please don't mind the glass full of coraline algae and other algae. I have not clean it for weeks.

http://www.maast.org/albums/Minh-Nguyen/Feeding_CBB.jpg

[Nano_Steve]

fantastic lookin little guy u have there minh!!! ive got one that i bought from tim awhile back(about a month and a half) and i put him in my 30 gallon. he has not messed with my teardrop maxima or any of my anemones(before they died due to the move :( ) larry really helped me out alot with him and i was able to wheen him over to frozen(he goes ape for bloodworms) hopefully i can get some pix soon too!

take kare, steve

[OrionN]

Larry,
Do you feed your CBB anything special? How do get them to start feeding? My tank is large so my CBB have things to eat until he start to eat the clam. I guess in smaller tanks, they see the clam and start to pick on them sooner. A friend of mine open oysters and clams for his CBB. He even feed the CBB out of his hand using shrimps and mysis shrimps.
Minh