Shy Copperband 
Hi Bob ! 
I was wondering if you could shed some light on some trouble I am having with a Copperband butterfly. 
He will only feed and "roam" the aquarium when there are low light levels (i.e., dawn and dusk) when he can 
be seen picking at the live rock. He hides all day long deep inside the live rock the rest of the day. Is this typical of this species? 
<Hmm, not really... that is, in the wild I've seen them out and about most all the daylight hours... always near reef-cover though.>
He was around 5-6 inches when I bought him and he was in really bad shape with open wounds and ick. Thanks to my many cleaner 
shrimp he looks to be parasite free (no more scratching and swift erratic swimming). Also, due to the high water quality and many good hiding places, the open 
wounds have healed and he looks generally healthy other than the "daytime hiding". 
<Glad to hear of the specimens recovery... maybe this at least partly explains its "shyness">
I really would like him to "stretch out" and enjoy the rest of the tank...Is he maybe just getting used to 
his new home ? I have had him in my tank now for about 6 weeks. 
<Oh! Yes... six weeks is very little time for thorough acclimation... If this Chelmon is readily feeding it will rally, even learn to eat from your fingers in time...>
I have a 300 Gallon Reef aquarium with plenty of hiding places and water quality as follows: 
Salinity: 1.025 
Temp: 78 degrees controlled via Aquadyne Octopus 
Nitrite: Never had a trace 
Nitrate: Never had a trace 
Ammonia: Never had a trace 
Calcium: 300 and increasing (using K2R Calcium Reactor) 
Alkalinity: 10 to 12 dKH 
Filtration: ETSS 1400 Gemini Protein skimmer, 550 lbs Live Rock, 
6" Live Sand Bed 
Fish<es>: 
1 Yellow Tang 
1 Longnose Butterfly 
2 Ocellaris clowns 
1 Clarkii living in a Haddoni Carpet 
2 Banggai Cardinals 
2 Fire Gobies 
1 Sunrise Dottyback 
1 Regal Tang 
1 Copperband butterfly 
2 Green Chromis 
thanks, 
chuck Spyropulos 
<Sounds like a very nice system. Be chatting. Bob Fenner>

Re: Shy Copperband
Bob,
Thank you for the prompt reply !
Pictures of my tank are at www.chuckspy.com if you are interested.
(I really need to update the pictures and the site)
<An ongoing adventure, for sure>
Again, thanks for your words of wisdom...oh yes...I really enjoyed reading "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" and refer to it quite often.
Happy Holidays
Chuck Spyropulos
<Ahh, glad to hear my efforts are useful. And good holidays to you my friend. Bob Fenner>

- Fish Acting Oddly? -
My son recently acquired a beautiful healthy copper-band. To night he seemed to be staying near the surface of the aquarium, swimming horizontally and then rapidly swimming around in a circle and then back to the horizontal swim. Is this the behavior of a dying fish or is he just showing off to the other fish in the tank? <Hard to say - I have a butterfly fish that just recently decided it like to swim upside down... I have no idea why.> The yellow tang is not bothering with it, and the clowns, damsels and other fish seem to be fine with it also. He has had the fish for one week now and we are really hoping it struggles through the adjustment of a new tank and not working on his last few moments of life. <Without more information about the tank and system, it's hard for me to say much more than this: fish do this sometimes, and it's very hard to know the motivations of any fish. If the other fish are otherwise fine, this fish could still be adjusting to its new environment - it often takes up to a month, sometimes two before a fish feels comfortable, or perhaps resigned to its new confines.>
Any suggestions? <Give it time.>
Oksana
<Cheers, J -- >

- Fish Acting Oddly? Follow-up -
Thank you for the reply. Our Copper-Band seems to be fine and doing well. We'll give him time and see what happens. Happy New Year. <Sounds really good. Happy new year to you as well.>
Oksana
<Cheers, J -- >

Copperband Butterfly Behavior
Hello,
My newly acquired Copperband butterfly spends a large portion of his time swimming up and down with his nose against the glass on the left side of my aquarium. Otherwise he seems to be healthy. He looks good and spends some of the day grazing. He also eats pretty well. Me eats Mysis shrimp since he ran out of Aiptasia. Is he hungry? lonely? bored? itchy? Is there anything I can do to make him happier? Right now he's in my 55g reef, but I plan to move him to a 240g reef once its ready.  Do you think that will help? 
<Well Justin, its not normal behavior for a fish to do that. As long as he is eating, you've won half the battle. Butterflies do appreciate very clean water. For starters (and in any marine system) do a 10% water change per month. You may want to try using some Chemi- pure in your filter. Something about this filter media that actually calms fish down. I've had a watchman goby for two months. Rarely ever saw it. After about a week with Chemi- pure he readily comes out at feeding time and noses around more so than he did before. May be a coincidence, but I have seen this trait before. James (Salty Dog)> 

Copperband what?  - 1/30/2006
Hello Folks,<Hello Tom>
Great site and thanks for the input. <Output, and thank you!>  For what it is worth, although you all never ask, I do make small contributions via Amazon Honor System with each question, it is the least I can do. <And is very much appreciated.>
Anyway, I have recently introduced a new addition to my tank.
Current setup:
System one year old but recently (one-month) broken down and moved.
90 Gallon Rectangle Oceanic
100 lbs Live Rock give-or-take
100 lbs Deep Sand Bed (sloped back 6" front 4") give-or-take
460 watts of light VHO and PC (Actinics and White)
A variety of Softies, Bubbles, leathers, Devils Hand etc...
Some Chaetomorpha for nutrient export
An ASM G2 Protein skimmer
I also use a few tablespoons a week of Kent Phosphate Sponge (phosphate
levels are immeasurable)
RO/DI water for top-off <So far so good.>
1- Yellow Tang 4 Inches
1 - Damsel (There were two but one didn't survive the move)
2 - Cleaner Shrimp
1 - Coral Beauty
2 - Ocellaris (sp?) Clown Fish
1 - Blenny
After a near three week Quarantine (yeah I know your gonna say should have been another week or two) <Not bad, 28 days much better.> I decided to move my newest addition a Copperband (CB) into the main tank. He was eating and seemed happy, more-or-less but my QT does not have any live rock to pick at and he started to just stay in the
corner a lot. <A very difficult fish to acclimate.> Soooooo, I moved him to the main tank. One of the first things (within a couple of minutes) the CB did was go up to one of the cleaner shrimp and got a complete detail, amazing but I digress. His purpose is simple KILL AIPTASIA.
After the first 24 hours (which is at the time of this writing) the Copperband is relegated to a corner of the tank by our friend the Yellow
Tang who summarily chases the CB off whenever he ventures out into the aquarium. <Not unusual.>
Drawing on your experience, what should I expect - Will this lessen over time? <It should.> If so how long before the Tang cuts the CB some slack or in other words socialized themselves? <I'd say things should improve within a week.> Should I be concerned for the CB? <I'd sure keep an eye on things.> How can I help
supplement feeding for him as he doesn't come out when I feed the other inhabitants (usually Spirulina + Some Cyclop-eeze or frozen treat like Brine,
Mysis, Sea Algae etc...<If he is eating the Cyclop-eeze this may work, if not you may try feeding some live brine.  Stocking order is the problem here.  Sensitive fish like the CB should really be introduced  first.  It's tough enough acclimating them without adding aggression to the problem.  May want to leave the lights off for a couple of days.  This may lower the aggression level of the tang.>
As always, thanks a bunch you guys are the best. <And thank you.  James (Salty Dog)> <<I'd remove the Tang for a week or two... to elsewhere. RMF>>
Tom