copperband b'fly, interested in 1

[fishing]

Hello everyone, I have a 20 gallon tall glass tank that I got about three months ago. I have a couple saltwater acclimated mollies in it along with a blue damsel. These were used to cycle my tank. There is also about 10 to 15 lbs of live rock along with 3 inches of live sand at the bottom. Ammonia and nitrite are 0, ph is 8.25, SG is 1.023, nitrates is 15 ppm and the temperature is 76-78 degrees F. I plan on returning my blue damsel back in my other saltwater tank, his original tank and I plan on reacclimating my mollies back to my 10 gallon freshwater tank. I'm really, really interested in dedicating this 20 gallon saltwater FOWLR to a copperband butterfly and a pair of cleaner shrimp. There's just one problem though. I'm afraid of just running to the store and grabbing one of these beauties because I've heard so much conflicting information, some say it's easy to keep while others say it's very difficult to almost impossible to keep. Is there really a catch to keeping these fish or are they just relatively easy to care for? Any info will be greatly appreciated!!!!!! Thanks

 

[Fluff]

They are difficult to keep due to their eating habits. The best advice I could give you is to be sure it is eating at the lfs before you buy it. They are beautiful fish but they can be hard to feed. Hopefully Lando will see this post and give you more info. He's been successful with this fish. Kudos to you for doing your research first.

 

[SALTYDAWGY]

To small of an environment for such a specialized feeder. Needs more room and more rock.

 

[fishing]

Thanks for the great advice and Kudos, FLUFF. I'll just ask the lfs to feed any copperband butterflies they might have to see whether or not they eat.

 

[Fluff]

You know what, I totally missed that. SALTYDAWGY is absolutely right. A 20g is much to small for a copperbanded. This is a fish that can get up to 8" and requires a min 50g tank minimum.

 

[fishing]

Thanks anyway, maybe I'll try and introduce 1 to my other SW tank, which is a 90 gallon if and when I find a copperband that does accept food at the lfs. It's another FOWLR that contains a blue damsel, a pair of coral banded shrimp, a pair of ocellaris clowns, a black and white heni butterfly and a long nosed hawkfish. I'll just make the 20 gallon a nano reef with a few corals and a few small fish. Thanks for the great advice FLUFF and SALTYDAWGY. You two just saved me a lot of grief!!!!!

 

[fishing]

I just did a little research and I found out that copperbands from Australia do better than those from the Phillipines because they use cyanide to catch them in the Phillipines- NOT GOOD. That's another question I'll ask the lfs before I buy 1.

 

[Fluff]

Good idea. Good luck.

 

[StripesTheEel]

I'd stay away from them altogether.. Im from the great land and i've tried the aussie caught copperband.. still had feeding issues..!

but as fluff said try lando.. he is the copperband king..

 

[lando]

All great advice given. As mentioned, a 20gal is far too small for a copperband. A lot of the success with this fish lies in having a huge amount of LR for it to graze on. Nice job on reserching first. Try to get your hands on one from Australia as they tend to be hardier and the colletion methods are less suspect.

 

[steve r]

from what i have learned in my research is that cyanid is no longer used to collect fish. kind of a wives tale now. capture by strobe gives the collector a better survival rate as well. more live fish equals more money. from talking to a few LFS owners ( that i actually trust ) there are a few have used cyanide recently but wholesalers wont knowingly buy from them. it still happens i am sure, but much less than before. just as a side note on strobe collection, after i heard about this i used the same theory to catch a couple of unwanted crabs. i shined a very bright flashlight straight at them and they couldnt see me coming from above

steve r