Adding a Copperband Butterflyfish Keep It Alive Acclimation Care Tips Saltwater Coral Reef Aquarium

Рет қаралды 7,816

2 жыл бұрын

This video is about how I acclimated my copperband butterfly fish to my tank from point of purchase through actively feeding, what I feed, and how I care for him.
I had my LFS special order this fish for me so there was no opportunity to watch and let my LFS take the risk. The fish was brought in by my LFS and I picked it up the next day. This made for a high stress environment so acclimation had to be done right.
Pick up
* I brought a cooler with me so I could black out the fish for the ride home.
* My LFS put the fish in a large bag with about 1 gallon of water so it had room to move without just bouncing around off the bag wall.
* I bought a Fiji foxface at the same time and acclimated them together.
Upon arrival home
* I acclimate in a dark bucket with black towel covering it to keep him blacked out.
* I did not drip acclimate, I never do. I did my standard 2 rounds of water in / out combo like my acclimation video. The bags we just to big to acclimate in the tank.
* Put the tank at all blues for the day to acclimate in a calmer environment. Wind down time for other fish is evening blue, so I started their wind down upon arriving home while I acclimated the fish.
Dealing with tang aggression
* It is always a good idea to add a copperband to an established tank and for it to be one of the first fish in. A situation that does not happen often.
* I Added a Foxface at the same time to split aggression from tang already in the tank. I wanted a Foxface anyway so worked perfect for me.
* The foxface is an easy fish and will open swim quick after acclimation which will draw the tang aggression to it. Making it shoulder 60% of the aggression and the copperband which is more delicate only 40%
I also added a top barrier as this tank is open top without a canopy and copperbands are jumpers. This will prevent a dead fish on the floor.
As for feeding
* The best I have found for copperband butterfly fish is the high protein PE Mysis.
* The first couple days he picked at the tiny feather dusters on my live rock and only chased the mysis didn’t eat it.
* Took a few days for him to start eating the mysis in small amounts.
* Took about a week for him to eat as normal and learn the area I feed in so he comes to that area when he is hungry.
* Also note I feed a lot more than normal during the first week twice a day instead of once. 1st time with day lights on and second time during evening blues.
#fishtalk #reef #fish #coral #coralreef #reeftank #aquarium #aquariumfish #fishtank #saltwater #youtube #SaltyPops

Пікірлер: 26

@GwonkReefkeeping Жыл бұрын

Great video. I'm considering trying again with a copperband. My last 2 attempts failed in less than 2 weeks. I also need more tangs so I think that the CB will be the first new fish. Hoping that he will be established before the tangs get added.

@saltypops4276 Жыл бұрын

Yeah that is the hard part. You want to add the copperband to an established tank, but established tanks usually already have tangs. But good call on getting the copperband in first.

@JohnnyBlankify 10 ай бұрын

This is very interesting, here in China there are soooooo many of these species and also the yellow tangs etc. Actually the price is also super cheap compared to wester aquariums. And they get shipped here left and right, with 30m acclimation and boom done! They seem much stronger, also one of the cheapest fish here, even cheaper than some damsels and clowns.

@saltypops4276 10 ай бұрын

WOW!!! That is crazy awesome. Here in the US it is so difficult to get them to eat after all the stress getting here. Locally I pay around $75 USD for one of these and a wild caught Yellow Tang is $250 USD. That is insane. Ship me some fish and coral 😀 lol

@JohnnyBlankify 10 ай бұрын

Honestly I'd make a business from shipping fish to Western countries from China (The Country that takes most of the ocean lol and import laws is non existent, when exporting, oh that is another topic!) So when it comes to exporting, it is crazy difficult here, especially If you are a Westerner here. But you can buy a ticket to Thailand or Indonesia and come pick them up basically for free!@@saltypops4276

@bruhman8005 Ай бұрын

How is the success rate with them in China? I would assume it’s higher because the shops are so much closer to their collection point

@JohnnyBlankify Ай бұрын

@@bruhman8005 Hi, I will make a video one of these days (when I finally have some sort of success with my sps.....) then you can have a look at some of the fish I got now. But I was very surprised, as a South African living, and working here in China for the past 8 years, first, affordability always was my concern in the saltwater hobby, however here everything is crazy cheap, even Red Sea products are expensive, however it's all made in China! We directly go to the factory, one guy will ask you do you want to buy Red Sea fish tank, then you just talk a little, they take off the brand name and resell it to you for 500% cheaper lol! The fish acclimate quite well, however corals imported from Indonesia, for me, SPS don't seem to do well, and I don't know why, I am just too new still, 2 years are way too short in the hobby I guess... The fish here are mostly captive bred also and it is interesting but the Chinese have a way of doing that just super well, also speeding up the process etc... Blows my mind.

@ssSTRiKEZzz 3 ай бұрын

Good idea using the egg crate for fish guard, ive used the very expensive D&D fish guard, wish I had of thought of using egg crate instead haha do you have a link where i can purchase some big enough for 47” long please?

@saltypops4276 3 ай бұрын

Hello. I bought it at Menards. Any hardware store has it in the section where they have drop ceiling stuff. Cheap and you can get large sections.

@ssSTRiKEZzz 3 ай бұрын

@@saltypops4276 Thank you 👍🏻

@mohamadalamri7941 Жыл бұрын

You said 45 g ?? How you can put fox, sail and copper in 45g?? It’s to small I just but fox face in 46 g for 4 months and stressed and turn into black but finally I put it in 60 g then back normally to his color but finally I sold it with blue hippo and right now I am thinking to buy copper, sailfin and foxface.but I still wonder do I put copper first or all together?

@saltypops4276 Жыл бұрын

Hello. I would recommend copperband and foxface before the tang. Both copperband and foxface are peaceful fish where as the tang is aggressive. Hopefully you have plenty of holes in your rock scape for the copperband to get away quickly from the tang if need be without having to run. Because if it runs the tang will chase it. As far as tank size, two things: 1. Think about tank dimensions. These fish need room to sprint and swim to stay healthy. Not just gallons of water. For instance, a 60 gallon cube is 24x24x24. My 45 is 36” wide. Even though it has less gallons, it has more swimming space which makes it better suited for these fish than a 60 cube. 2. Long term they would have to come out, but you can get a few years before that. Just don’t buy the huge one, however I never recommend the little guy either. Get one that is in the medium range.

@mohamadalamri7941 Жыл бұрын

@@saltypops4276 thanks.last question do u still have them all?

@HieuNguyen-ts1bo 6 ай бұрын

Hello sir, does he eat brine shrimp?

@saltypops4276 6 ай бұрын

This one eats brine (I buy the one with spirulina), Mysis, and shaved raw shrimp. The one in my other tank will only eat 1 brand of PE Mysis and ignores everything else.

@reef-management-LLC 6 ай бұрын

Update how's the copper band today?

@saltypops4276 6 ай бұрын

He is doing great. He has been moved to a bigger system and no longer resides in this tank though. This one is only 45 gallons.

@glenn4140 Жыл бұрын

What size tank do you have?

@saltypops4276 Жыл бұрын

This particular tank is a 45 long and tall. So 36” wide and 24” tall. This will not be able to house him long term and he will have to move to a bigger tank at some point.

@glenn4140 Жыл бұрын

@@saltypops4276 Very insightful video. Thank you for answering my question. Your videos are definitely very helpful for research. Looking to have my very first reef tank in 6 months. Maybe a 50 Gallon. 🤙🏿

@saltypops4276 Жыл бұрын

@@glenn4140 nice! I’m cycling a 15g nano right now and posting updates on it so would be a good series to watch and get all the info before you start.

@CoralReefkid 9 ай бұрын

Any updates? I’ve had a 90 gallon for two years and I forgot these could be happy in that size tank. I want one now so bad but I’m worried about the risk of my yellow tang beating him up due to similar color and body shape? My yellow tang was super nice when I introduced a tomini tang, so maybe I could get away with a small copperband?

@saltypops4276 9 ай бұрын

Hello. There is a high possibility of your yellow tang showing aggression and picking on him. All tangs are generally jerks. I strongly suggest using the mirror trick when acclimating delicate fish into tanks with existing tangs. I recently added a long nose butterfly to my 110 that has a super aggressive clown tang in it and I used the mirror trick. The clown tang left the new comer alone and was able to have a successful acclimation without the butterfly being bullied.

@CoralReefkid 9 ай бұрын

Sorry for the double comment, but I also have torches. Has yours ever touched your euphyllias?

@saltypops4276 9 ай бұрын

You shouldn’t have any problems with Euphyllia. The main concern is tube worms and clams. Although each is unique. I have personally taken the risk and housed them with clams but it is a risk.

@CoralReefkid 9 ай бұрын

@@saltypops4276 thank you. I will consider those factors. I do love my dursa clam