FAQs on Chelmon Butterflyfishes
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Related Articles: Chelmon Butterflyfishes, Foods/Feeding/Nutrition,
Related FAQs: Chelmon Butterflies 1, Chelmon Identification, Chelmon Behavior, Chelmon Compatibility, Chelmon Selection, Chelmon Systems, Chelmon Feeding, Chelmon Disease, Foods/Feeding/Nutrition, Using
Chelmons as Aiptasia Controls, Butterflyfish Identification, Butterflyfish
Foods/Feeding/Nutrition, Butterflyfish Compatibility, Butterflyfish Behavior, Butterflyfish Systems, Butterflyfish Selection, Butterflyfish
Disease, Butterflyfish
Reproduction,
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Butterflyfishes for Marine Aquariums
Diversity, Selection & Care
New eBook on Amazon: Available
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by Robert (Bob) Fenner |
Copper Banded Butterfly changing appearance...
4/20/20
Hi gang,
<Hey Chuck>
I have kept a copper banded butterfly for 3+ years in my macroalgae
display tank (connected via common sump with my reef tank)
<Chelmon rostratus is not one of the easiest BF species to keep; it
requires top water quality and a varied diet.>
... it's a low intensity tank, with just a juvenile scopas tang for
company.
<What are your water parameters?>
He feeds almost exclusively on frozen Mysis, and whatever else he gleans
from the seaweed.
<This diet is not varied enough.>
Recently, the gold vertical stripe underneath the 'false eye' near the
tail has started going dark... almost black. It's symmetrical on both
sides of the fish. No signs of trauma... appears to be a pigmentation
issue. Is this a sign of stress... or advancing age... or anything else
you can think of?
<Not because of advanced age, no... these fish can live up to 20 years.
I think this is more environmentally stress related.>
Thanks in advance for any help on this...
Blessings,
Chuck
<Cheers. Wil.>
Copper band butterfly; sys., stkg. 8/22/18
Hi guys I just was reading that Robert Fenner is very knowledgeable in the
butterfly field so I had a question...
<Will gladly proffer my input>
I have a 93 gallon cube up for 3 years now and I know the Copperband calls for a
125 gallon tank but what is your opinions on putting one in a 93? Is this
certain failure...is this 50/50...is this a decent chance...is the fish going to
live but be miserable?
<I'd say decent chance... not volume alone of course goes into such stocking
considerations. MOST important here is securing a healthy, eating specimen>
I only wonder about this because I’ve had a magnificent fox in my tank now for 2
years and it to calls for min 125 gallons but he seems very happy and does
really well he is approx 6-7”...I have about 12 fish in my tank currently most
of which are more of the 2-4” sizes at full grown...anyways like i said do I at
least stand a fighting chance to make this work...oh and I have a 125 gallon
sump and a 25 gallon skimmer sitting in the sump so I think I will be ok with
the bio load...I am really hoping to get an answer back that I want to hear lol
so I am hopeful but if not I guess it’s not meant to be...thanks a bunch for
your time hope to hear back soon
<Chelmons have gotten better and better in recent years. Likely improved
collecting, holding, shipping at play here. If this were my system and I had
such an interest, I would go ahead w/ this acquisition.
Thank you for sharing. Bob Fenner>
copper band issues;
health... ref. to reading and more re Chelmons
5/29/14
Dear All,
<Carolyn>
Haven't needed to draw on your advice for some time, but this week I
need your collective wisdom. This isn't going to be a short question, so
bear with me!!
<Take your time>
I took on a copper band butterfly a week ago, he was feeding well and I
observed him feeding however he was being harassed by his tank mates so
I agreed to take him on. My tank is a well established mixed reef, 150L
and houses a pair of baby ocellaris clowns, a blue nano goby, a small
mandarin and the copper band. Clean up crew are a variety of snails, a
cleaner shrimp and an emerald Mithrax crab (who hitch-hiked in the
rock). My first thought was to get the copper band feeding so have been
heavily feeding the tank, doing large (30%) water changes every 3rd day
to keep water quality good. I tested the water this morning, ammonia and
nitrite are undetectable, nitrate is around 5 ppm. pH is a
little lower than I'd like at 7.4;
<!? WHOA! This is WAY too low... Do check your checker... and FIX if
it's really this low... pH is (like the Richter scale) a base 10 log...>
salinity 1.024 and temperature 25C. Yesterday I noticed a significant
cloudiness in the water that wasn't relieved by water changes and as the
sand isn't being blown about I think I'm seeing a bacterial
bloom due to the large
increase in feeding and the fact that one of the light
tubes has died…
<... no need to overfeed... but instead to target... and not do the
water changes.... HAVE you read on WWM re Chelmon
Foods/Feeding/Nutrition?>
and now to the problem (!) - I'm considering if I shouldn't move the
copper band to my QT to give it a better chance to get enough food to
fatten up, and to give the tank a chance to come back into balance. The
corals aren't looking as good as they usually do which concerns me,
although I think the light is responsible for that rather than the
bloom?
<... the changes, cloudiness. the very low pH if this is real>
My QT is pretty bare and I don't want to stress the fish out anymore
than is absolutely necessary.
<Moving the fish will likely spell it's doom...>
Any suggestions would be gratefully received x
<The reading on WWM... re the genus en toto. Bob Fenner>
Re: Randall's Goby and a Neon Goby, Now Chelmon exp.
-- 11/09/2009
Hi Bob
<Ged>
Just a quick note to let you know how I got on with the Copperband.
As you know I got him on 17th October and he had a bad case of
Lymphocystis.
I was going to get a Neon Goby to help him out. However, I never did. I
ended up getting 2 cleaner shrimps and kept on top of my water
properties.
I upped from a 20ltr to a 40ltr per week change, and changed carbon etc
etc
I am glad to report that his Lymphocystis has completely disappeared
and there are no signs on any of my other fish of catching it from
him.
He eats a combination of a little flake, all of my Aiptasia and Mysis
and garlic brine shrimp (frozen alternated every 2 days or so) and
seems to have really settled into his new home. He is approaching me,
in the corner of the tank, whenever I walk into the room.
My only other concern, is how much to feed, I feed seaweed on a clip
every 2 days, flake a couple of times per day, algae pellets every
other day, and frozen brine / Mysis every other day. Is this too much,
or too little for my current stocking levels, as per original (below)
email.
<Not too much>
Thanks for your time taken to reply to me, and your website is
invaluable, with plenty of help and advice for someone like me who is
new to the hobby!
Regards
Ged
<Thank you for this update, input. BobF>
Copperband in a Reef?...Sure! - 07/27/06 Hello,
<<Howdy>> I was hoping to get a Copperband Butterfly after
hearing they eat Aiptasia and because they are so beautiful.
<<Indeed...striking fish>> My questions are... well I have
a reef tank.. so I have many questions. I read from a few
sources that they will eat feather dusters and possibly anemones and I
read from your FAQ's that butterflies in general will eat mushrooms
and polyp coral. Will in your opinion a Copperband butterfly
eat clams, star polyps, xenia, Acros, Montipora capricornis,
Stylophora, LPS, Ricordea, shrimp or starfish? <<I've kept
these fish in varying systems with no problems over the years (have one
in my current reef tank) regarding the organisms you've just
listed. They will quickly decimate Featherdusters, spaghetti
worms, etc....and they will occasionally pick at a clam (though I think
this is mostly a case of mistaken identity where the fish goes after a
"worm-like" protuberance, or goes for a food item that has
drifted inside the clam), but never persistently/causing permanent
damage in my experience. There's always the chance a
certain individual will be problematic...but this fish is worth the
gamble in my opinion>> I hate to ask so many detailed and tedious
thing so a Y , N or a maybe after each item would suffice as I
don't want to waste TOO much of your time. <<No worries
mate>> One last thing, I currently have a 4-inch Pacific Sailfin
Tang that has been in the tank for a year now. <<I hope this is a
big tank>> Will the tang pick on the butterfly or do they look
different enough. <<Mmm, is likely the tang won't like the
butterfly to start. But again, in my experience, it's
not been a lasting issue with Copperbands and Tangs>> Thanks for
the help. Adam <<Regards, EricR>>
Copperband Butterfly acting lethargic -
2/11/2006 Hello WWM Crew! First, let me thank you for
your site and great information. I have been reading for the
last 2 hours or so (not for the first time!) but haven't been able
to spot the answer I'm looking for. So if I've
overlooked it somewhere please do not think ill of me. <Mmm, no. And
if you have ideas on how to arrange the content here, to make it more
readily accessible, assimilable, please do speak up> I have a 75g
tank w/a 30g sump that has been up for about 2.5 months with LR, and
fish and inverts for about 6 weeks. I let the LR cure for
two months prior to putting it into the tank, and it seemed to cycle
during that period. Since setting up the tank, I had my
original cycle and my NH3, NO2 and NO3 have all been staying pretty
much at 0. Ca was low at about 320 ppm but I managed to
increase it to 450 over the last 10 days. I add a small
amount of Iodine (<5 ml) once a week. Same with Kent
essential elements. I change out about 10 gallons per week
with fresh saltwater. My SG=1.025, Ph=8.2,
KH=11. I have about 75-80 # LR in the main tank, maybe
another 15# in the sump, and am running UV and a protein
skimmer. I run a 1200 gph pump from the tank through the
sump and have a 2nd closed loop system w/a Squid and an 850 Eheim pump.
total flow in the tank seems pretty good. I have one pearly
Jawfish, one sailfin blenny, 2 clowns, 1 blue tang, 1 Copperband
butterfly, 2 Turbos, several Astreas, several Trochus, and about a
dozen total hermits (blue, red and scarlet). I overfed a bit
when starting out and have some algae growth and a little Cyano started
in the areas out of the main current. I am getting these
under control now but still am working on cleaning it up a
little. Last week 2 emeralds died within a day of each
other, and two Turbos mysteriously bit the dust. All the
inverts and fish seem healthy with the exception of the
butterfly. So I guess I have two questions. Any
idea why the emeralds and snails would have died? <Mmm, possibly
from some sort of "imbalance" from the addition of the
supplements... though these should be discounted due to your water
changes... or a biological agent/poisoning in situ> And now for the
big question! My Copperband, who I love dearly, went from
being perfectly normal and eating well one day, to laying on the
bottom, gasping and not eating the next. <... am gravitating more to
the latter stated cause> He was eating Mysis and then decided one
day he would only eat live brine shrimp. (I guess even fish
love McDonalds, eh?) <Don't supersize!> Anyway, I tried a
variety of things to get him back on Mysis but he just wouldn't
eat. Eventually he showed what I was told by my LFS is a
Lymphocystis growth on his lower lip. <Environmental/stress
related/direct> I was told to not worry about it as it would go away
on its own in a month or so, <Yes, good advice> and it never
seemed to bother him eating. So in an effort to keep him
well fed while getting rid of his wart, I kept giving him brine shrimp
though I added Zoe and Zoecon vitamins and a garlic elixir to the
shrimp as well as feeding them to gut load then before
feeding. Unfortunately he seems to now be in bad shape -
drifting around the tank, wont eat, and even looks somewhat emaciated
even though he ate as recently as last night. I haven't
noticed any cysts on him and his color is good. He looks
normal with the exception of his laying on the bottom on his side and
slight pumping of his gills. Is it possible for him to
starve to death eating brine shrimp? <Yes... not uncommon> Could
he have some sort of parasite? <Yes> Would a freshwater dip help
him? <Not likely> Also, it seems that I noticed the tang scratch
the LR a couple of times when I first added him to the tank about 3
weeks ago but he is fine now, and he was fine at the LFS for the week
they had him. <They do this...> Did I introduce a parasite to my
tank with the tang? <Possibly... am sure you're aware of the
benefits of quarantine> I know - I should have isolated him first
but it seemed sort of foolish since I had just bought all the other
fish from the same LFS the in the previous couple of weeks
before. Sorry for the long note but I wanted to make sure
you had as much info as I could remember to type! Thanks in advance -
Rob <Mmm, I would add a unit/pad of Polyfilter in your filter flow
path here... allow the calcium concentration to drift down into the
upper 300 ppms... and suspend the addition of supplements for a while.
Bob Fenner>
My Copperband, a new addition, has developed two white
patches 2/1/06 on its left side. Please see
attachment. Please advise if you can identify what this may be and
how to treat. Thanks, Tom <Is trouble... could be protozoal
and/or bacterial/pathogenic in nature. This fish is (too) skinny,
and this is likely a factor here as well... There are a few
"things" you might do to bolster its immune system,
indirectly curing the apparent complaint... Soaking foods in
vitamin et al. prep.s... offering foods with more caloric content,
adding purposeful cleaner/s... Without these changes this animal
will perish (sooner). Bob Fenner> |
Follow-on from sick Chelmon 2/3/06
Contagious and or a risk to fellow tank inhabitants?
<Potentially... yes. Depends on what the root cause/s are,
what "it" actually is... Copperbands "break
down" much easier... on a sliding scale than other fish
groups... the hyperinfectivity this inspires can be trouble,
contagious... Bob Fenner>
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Butterflyfishes for Marine Aquariums
Diversity, Selection & Care
New eBook on Amazon: Available
here
New Print Book on Create Space: Available
here
by Robert (Bob) Fenner |
|
|