aiptasia wiped out with copperband butterfly, but what now?

[ColinHarbut]

so my 2 year aiptasia problem has been resolved in a few days by my new copperband butterfly. it is doing extremely well in my 60 gallon reef and hasn't bothered any of my other corals....ive had him for about 3 weeks.

my question: can this fish survive from the new aiptasia growing in the liverock? there is no trace of a single aiptasia and there must have been at least 50 before i put him in there. what should i try feeding him if that isn't adequate?

thanks,
colin harbut

 

[Anonymous]

The Aiptasia won't be able to keep him from hunger. You need to find other food source. Not a fish person, so I will let others tell you what you need to do next. Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

ColinHarbut,

:welcome:

I've never kept one, so I can't give you any first hand advice. But I'm sure someone else will chime in here.

 

[Anonymous]

Feed your Copperband Butterfly shreds of meaty foods such as shrimp, squid, mussels at least twice daily. As a treat you can place a pried open fresh water clam in your tank occassionally.
I never would have purchased a Copperband Butterfly for just 50 aiptasia.

mario

 

[Anonymous]

I keep a CBB in my 180 and it eats anything I offer except for pellets. Any type of meaty marine foods that are small enough for it to get into it's mouth will do. Brine, mysis, shrimp, clams, etc.

 

[SnowManSnow]

from what I understand about them (not owning one myself) they will do just fine without anemones to eat. I also understand, though, that they can be a little picky.

B

 

[Anonymous]

They're picky. I can almost guarantee you it won't eat pellet or flake right off the bat. Try frozen mysis shrimp, and even live brine if you have to. Live brine should just be used to get it eating. It's not a very nutritious food long term.

One trick I've used to get finicky substrate pickers like angels and butterflies to eat is to finely chop up a raw shrimp until it's like a paste. Then spread that paste all over a piece of raw broccoli. Make sure it really gets wedged in the nooks and crannies. Then rubberband the piece of broccoli to a rock, or clip it in your tank.

 

[Platax]

My Copperband butterfly fish very well eats frozen bloodworms and artemias.

Best Regards,
Andrey Ospin

 

[JKDMan]

i agree it deff wont eat flake or pellet food for a while ,they love mysis shrimp so i would try that to begin with