copperbanded butterfly

[kjswift]

just bought one today 2"-3" any suggestions what to feed?if live food where to buy? thanks

[Ram_Puppy]

To bad you aren't closer... I have a big rock with aptasia he could snack on for a few days. :) I have been half way thinking of loaning it to larry for a while. :)

[wtrujillo]

mine will only eat angel and butterfly formula from San Francisco Bay.

[kjswift]

i have not tried to feed him yet. my tank is full of aptasia so hopefully he will solve this.

[kjswift]

thanks josh, where can the Hikari Mysis shrimp be found? any lfs?

[DeletedAccount]

CB carries Hikari.

[wtrujillo]

Just FYI. Mine didn't take to mysis he'd just spit it out and stopped eating. same deal with the bloodworms. hopefully yours isn't as picky as mine was. You could try freshwater clams as well.

[DeletedAccount]

Also black mussles from HEB (fresh, not frozen). Split the shell open and plop them in. Most love this as well.

[Jenn]

Misti is right, and I saw Larry post that the natural vitamins in the black mussels are excellent. Just don't forget to rinse them off first.

[Instar]

It is only an occassional CBB under 3 inches that will eat aiptasia. Most of the time it takes one that is more aggressive and larger than 3 inches. Even if he spits out mysis or the SFB plankton at first, keep feeding him. They will go on a hunger strike at first and refuse to eat and will taste foods then spit them out. They also will filet the mysis, keep the meaty part and spit out the shell. If you are not carefully observing, it looks like he spit out the whole thing. Live brine may help start him feeding. All the possible SF Bay brand cubed foods can be found at Fintique as well as live brine. The SFB don't have a gel binder. Those are the ones you want as they will not eat foods with gel binders at first normally. Later on as they are accustom to frozen foods, they will eat formula one frozen food too but that takes a longer time to accomplish.

[bprewit]

Not a reply to this question instead another question. Are the cbb extremly difficult fish other than the feeding issue? Are they prone to picking at corals and clam mantles? If they eat aiptasia im guessing they should not be in the same tank as other anenomes? What would be considered mininum sized tank to keep them in? I have a 55g tank with a few corals, a lion and a blue jaw trigger. I figured I could add one more fish to this, and be fine for awhile as my current two fish arent vert large yet. I have a 115g tank but it will be a few months before I can get it set up and transfer everything over. My tank has been up and running for quite awhile so its pretty stable, would love a cbb but have been nervous to try.

[GaryP]

The real trick to keeping a CBB is that the they come in a with a ton of parasite. Richard at CB Pets has told me he can see flukes and other parasites falling of of them in large numbers when he dips them on arrival. Since he is the only LFS that I know of that routintely does this, as well as quarantines, they are about the only place I feel comfortable purchasing one.

Instar (Larry) told me that he got his as youngsters before they were heavily infested. He has a small herd of them in his 125. I kept one in a reef tank with no problems except for a newly introduced clam that it ate. Larry later explained that clams release a stress peromone when they are first introduced and this is feeding trigger for a CBB that is irresistible. They are OK, with clams that have been in for a while, and there are some tricks you can use to introduce a clam into a tank with a CBB. Mine never picked on any of the corals in my tank, at least that I saw. Like I said, Larry has a herd in his SPS tank.

However, any butterfly is definitely not a fish for a beginner. They are fairly high maintenance and require reef quality water. The biggest problem I had was that the nutrients from the mussels I was feeding caused a small hair and dinoflagellate algae bloom in my tank that I am just now getting under control. When I cut back on feeding mussels as a result of the bloom, the CBB died. They definitely need to be fed regularly, at least twice a day. My CBB was not an aggresive feeder except when I gave him mussels and then he would charge straight at it. He would not mix it up with the other fish when I fed other foods. Don't even think about feeding flake. He wouldn't touch it.

As with everything else, I learned from that and now know that nutrient control is very important with a fish that has such demanding "meat" nutritional requirements. I have since added a refugium, upgraded the pump on my skimmer, and use carbon and phosguard routinely. I'm waiting for the right CBB to come along before adding another one.

Don't get me wrong, they are great fish, but a lot more complicated than adding a Tang or damsel to your tank. My advice is to research thoroughly before going out to buy one, but then I say that about any critter you put in your tank. Maybe a little more research is necessary in this case, and I don't mean just asking the guy at the LFS unless its someone you really know has specific knowledge about the species that you can trust. Me? I trust Larry, listen to him. He is THE butterfly guy in my opinion.

OK, Dr. Larry I packed a lunch and the blackboard is clean. Class is in session.

Gary