I think Copperbands are a little more delicate than most fish but I also think some of that has to do with quarantine. Some fish, like copperband butterflies, moorish Idols, mandarins, and some others do not take well to quarantine unless you can do it in a large well decorated tank filled with some sort of natural looking caves. They need to feel secure and have constant places they can stick their nose looking for worms.
They are just a nervous fish and they let their nerves get the best of them.
I have been keeping them since the 70s and have had many. I don't think I ever had one live past ten years, maybe that is close to their lifespan but I doubt it.
Here is one I had probably in the 80s or 90s.
I took this in Tahiti. Long nose butterflies are almost the exact same fish, they just don't know it. Copperbands come from southern Africa,
I see I had one here (In my Log Book) in 1974. This was before there were salt water medications and reefs. The tank at that time was 40 gallons and decorated with dead coral skeletons which I removed every two weeks to bleach.
Look at the medications I used. I am surprised the thing lived at all. I killed it with medication.
I didn't write everything in my Log Book. Just when something got sick or died. Thank God after losing so many fish, I saw the light.
I also had these fish in 1976. Including a moorish Idol
All those fish, including a French Angel, copperband, hippo tang, Moorish Idol etc. were in this tiny 40 gallon tank. If the tang police were born then, they would have put a bag of burning fish poop on my doorstep, rang the bell and ran away.
