Let the debate begin :)
- Thread starter Mayja
- Start date
LSUFireGal
Member
I think they are beautiful,but I wouldn't risk it now. Maybe after I am more experienced.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2
Well, the first consideration is that this article is in TFH. IMHO, this raises a red flag.
More to the point of keeping the fish, it comes down to several things almost anyone can check for. You must choose a medium size, healthy, fat fish, that is eating well. You need to keep it with other fish that will not out compete it for food. You need to plan the tank you will keep it in, with high quality water and some good hiding places.
This is how any of the harder to keep species should be dealt with. Have a specific plan for dealing with the fish, and act on it. No "well, I'll give it a try, and see how it does" attitude.
Now if you do these things, you have a reasonable chance of success and becoming the envy of all your reef keeper friends.
More to the point of keeping the fish, it comes down to several things almost anyone can check for. You must choose a medium size, healthy, fat fish, that is eating well. You need to keep it with other fish that will not out compete it for food. You need to plan the tank you will keep it in, with high quality water and some good hiding places.
This is how any of the harder to keep species should be dealt with. Have a specific plan for dealing with the fish, and act on it. No "well, I'll give it a try, and see how it does" attitude.
Now if you do these things, you have a reasonable chance of success and becoming the envy of all your reef keeper friends.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...discussion/84476-my-thoughts-copperbands.html
Here is a long post I wrote about copperbands.
Here is a long post I wrote about copperbands.
I love them too, but I'd need to make it my focus-of-the-month to be sure it got eating.
marcgrantphoto
Member
I thought Copperbands were coral grazers and needed live corals to maintain their health. I had one early on in the hobby but it was short lived.
They are grazers and will eat pods off the live rock. If you read Paul B's thread (link is above), he gives a really good rundown on all the foods they prefer to eat.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
People have bad luck with all sorts of fish, but it is not the fishes fault, it is our fault. The fish was fine just hanging out on the reef and he was also eating. I just came back from Hawaii today and I did a lot of swimming with their cousins, the longnose butterfly. I also consider them my friends. IMO, those fish should be fed live worms along with some fresh clam. If you can't feed it correctly, it is your fault. You need to move to a place where you can get that type of food. Take your spouse along and start a new life where they sell worms. I did, 
I took this last week. Yes I know it is a Moorish Idol, I don't want to look for the butterfly pictures right now so just make believe it is a copperband butterfly. I mean, it's almost the same shape. Use your imagination.
I took this last week. Yes I know it is a Moorish Idol, I don't want to look for the butterfly pictures right now so just make believe it is a copperband butterfly. I mean, it's almost the same shape. Use your imagination.
marcgrantphoto
Member
People have bad luck with all sorts of fish, but it is not the fishes fault, it is our fault. The fish was fine just hanging out on the reef and he was also eating. I just came back from Hawaii today and I did a lot of swimming with their cousins, the longnose butterfly. I also consider them my friends. IMO, those fish should be fed live worms along with some fresh clam. If you can't feed it correctly, it is your fault. You need to move to a place where you can get that type of food. Take your spouse along and start a new life where they sell worms. I did,
I took this last week. Yes I know it is a Moorish Idol, I don't want to look for the butterfly pictures right now so just make believe it is a copperband butterfly. I mean, it's almost the same shape. Use your imagination.
I had my Copperband back in the late 70's. There weren't any hobbyists keeping reefs and there wasn't a whole lot of information then on keeping and/or feeding the coral grazers. The only live food that I had readily available was the brine shrimp I was raising.
Tokalosh
Well-Known Member
The truth is a LOT of unexperienced marine reefers buy fish that look "Pretty" with out doing any husbandry research on the fish.
Unfortunatly the Copperband is one of those "Pretty" fish.
As long as there are LFS who are out to make money and not take conservation into consideration a lot of fish are doomed.
This can also bee said for some types of corals as well.
Tok
Unfortunatly the Copperband is one of those "Pretty" fish.
As long as there are LFS who are out to make money and not take conservation into consideration a lot of fish are doomed.
This can also bee said for some types of corals as well.
Tok
Paul B
Well-Known Member
That is true but can also be said about all fish sold at a LFS. Almost all the fish available with the exception of some tiny fish or seahorses, should live 10-20 years. If your fish are not living that long, you are doing something wrong. That includes copperband butterflies. Clownfish live over 20 years as do angels, Gobies should live at least 10 years as will coral banded shrimp ,urchins and crabs. Mine do, and if mine live that long, so should everyone's. If not, something is wrong. The fish want to live, and if they don't. it is not the fishes fault, but ours. It is not usually the LFS fault as he has no say as to how the fish were caught or shipped. But if the fish lives a few weeks or months, and dies in our tank, it is our fault. I think the biggest reason fish don't live their normal lifespan is their captive diet, which in most cases is just wrong. We tend to feed what is easy, not necessarily what the fish needs. Fish don't need a variety of food, they need the food they were designed to eat. Copperbands in the sea eat live prey. They don't eat pellets, they eat mostly live worms and tiny shrimp. That's what they should be fed "every meal". Mandarins also need live, tiny food, not pellets or frozen Mysis. They need pods or baby brine shrimp which are about the same thing, but they need it "every day" and in the case of a mandarin, they need it constantly. They want and need to eat a pod about every ten seconds. If you can't or won't feed that way, you will kill that fish and it is not the fishes fault. I find copperbands and mandarins to be easy fish because I feed them what they are supposed to eat and I don't try to "teach" the creature to learn to live on something else. If I can't feed it properly, I don't buy it.
I don't keep orange spotted filefish because I don't want to feed it coral polyps, I also don't keep Moorish Idols any more because I don't want to collect the sponges it eats. But the last one I had lived five years until I killed it in an accident while I was away. 5 years stinks but for a Moorish Idol, that is practically a record. To learn what a fish eats, I go to the place the fish lives and I spend time with it underwater. I dove in Tahiti to learn about Idols and I was in Hawaii for the last two weeks swimming with them and long nose butterflies. I realize most people can't do that, but if someone with direct experience and a fairly good record of keeping those animals records what they need to live long, maybe we should not keep them if we are unable to feed them correctly.
Just my opinion of course.
Last week in Hawaii
I don't keep orange spotted filefish because I don't want to feed it coral polyps, I also don't keep Moorish Idols any more because I don't want to collect the sponges it eats. But the last one I had lived five years until I killed it in an accident while I was away. 5 years stinks but for a Moorish Idol, that is practically a record. To learn what a fish eats, I go to the place the fish lives and I spend time with it underwater. I dove in Tahiti to learn about Idols and I was in Hawaii for the last two weeks swimming with them and long nose butterflies. I realize most people can't do that, but if someone with direct experience and a fairly good record of keeping those animals records what they need to live long, maybe we should not keep them if we are unable to feed them correctly.
Just my opinion of course.
Last week in Hawaii
Tokalosh
Well-Known Member
I'ts so easy to replace the fish we have lost due to our own incompetence, that we have this "oh well I'll just get another" attitude.
If fish were cute and cuddly, and had the same intelligence as a dog or cat, would we not think twice before we ran out and bought one?
If fish were cute and cuddly, and had the same intelligence as a dog or cat, would we not think twice before we ran out and bought one?
yankieman
Well-Known Member
I love all my fish just as if they was my dog or cat and I agree with Paul on allmost 100% of what he says , but I do think that fish as many things in nature are somewhat adaptable and can be adapted to new foods if they supply the nutritional values needed and the fish are open to eat them of course,,, things in nature are more adaptable then some give them credit for ,, just my opinion!! and im not trying to open a can of worms here
