who said a copperbanded butterfly and foxface were reef safe?

[Joel]

I'm not quite sure which is the offender but both have been showing interest in my candy cane and my wife saw the butterfly messing with one of the clams earlier today. The problem started several days ago when I noticed that the candy cane and clam weren't opening. I did a water change, checked everything, and all to no avail. I have had the foxface for a month or more and no problems and have had the butterfly for 2 weeks now hoping to rid my tank of aptasia. The small aptasia are indeed all gone all that remain are the majano (sp.). Would I be correct in assuming that the butterfly may be the only problem because he is just hungry? He is still very active, healthy looking, and now in my fowlr.

[Casey]

Joel I just got my copperband today remember they are not reef safe,it is a 50/50 shot if you get one that doesnt bother anything lets face it hes a butterfly they love to eat off of the reef

[cyberchef]

Joel, copperbands will eat aptasia as well as feather dusters. Once thier natural diet is gone, you have to hope that it will eat offered (ie:mysis or brine or blender mush... etc) foods. Otherwise it will go after alternative foods such as clams and coral polyps.

[Joel]

Thanks,
I thought I had researched this fish pretty well before the purchase but I guess not. He does look nice in my fish only but looked a lot better in my reef tank. Is there any chance once he is eating stuff other than corals and clams (blender mush) that he may be reintroduced to the reef or would it be better to leave him in the fish only tank?

[Demogarr]

I have had my copperband for near two or three weeks, and other than aiptasia, I haven't witnessed him picking on anything. The only thing that is suspect is the open brain, as it isn't doing that well, but it wasn't looking 100% when I got it(recent purchase). I have another LPS that the butterfly and foxface leave alone, and a 3-4 inch clam that is not being bothered either. Mine does eat frozen mysis though, so that may be the reason. If he got hungry enough he may find that some of the corals taste good,but I keep him fed well enough. Every one of the aiptasia are gone as of a few days ago, so he may start nipping at other stuff now, I will keep my eyes open. He even ate the large ones!! I agree that he looks a lot nicer in the reef than in my fowlr.

[Mafiaman]

A LFS in atlanta convinced me to get a raccoon butterfly telling me it was the snake oil to aptasia I should have just believed what I've read Disaster!!
I had to remove 200lbs of live rock to catch that sucker. It picked at every thing BUT aptasia!!!
Its a roll of the dice.
Kalkwasser only picks at what I aim it at!!

[105man]

I have had a copperband butterfly in a softies reef tank for a couple of months with no problems. Also has eaten various foods well, including frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis and brine shrimp, and zooplankton. Occasionally, will show some interest in freeze dried plankton.

[Geoff]

sorry to hear that. i have 2 foxfaces in my reef. they do not mess with the corals at all. all SPS with some shrooms. my big one i thought was picking on my clam, but it was picking off the algae off of the shell of the clam. they just scour the lr for just about any algae, except for the %$&@ razor caleurpa.

G~

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by Geoff
sorry to hear that. i have 2 foxfaces in my reef. they do not mess with the corals at all...

What Geoff said...
If the Copoperbands are consistantly well-fed, they will usually not go for the polyps, however, once they learn that they are food, well... ...we always are looking for justification to buy another tank, so I guess the purchace will not be a TOTAL loss...

[Pirate]

I have both a copperband and a foxface, neither are a problem and do just what they were put in there to do. The foxface got rid of all signs of bubble algae inside of a week or two. He still does a great job on the algae but won't touch hair, (what will !) I had a copperband for a little over a year and was never a problem, as a matter of fact. Once all the aptasia was gone, I never saw him eat, I mean ever. But he looked healthy and happy, well he died about 2 weeks ago. I replaced him with a new one, and he eats almost all foods offered. I really think the first on starved, never touched and soft or sps. Good luck !

[Demogarr]

Yo Geoff, my foxface won't touch that %$&@ razor caleurpa either. I had one once that ate it all, this one just picks at it, kind of. If he was starving and it was the only thing in the tank, he might pick at it.. I hate that crap, but it doesn't grow fast like it used to, so it isn't as big a problem anymore..

[Geoff]

Originally posted by Demogarr
Yo Geoff, my foxface won't touch that %$&@ razor caleurpa either. I had one once that ate it all, this one just picks at it, kind of. If he was starving and it was the only thing in the tank, he might pick at it.. I hate that crap, but it doesn't grow fast like it used to, so it isn't as big a problem anymore..

which one did you have? it ate the low light version of the caleurpa but does not eat the high light version of it. driving me nuts also.

G~

[Demogarr]

I am pretty sure the one I had that ate it was the one spot, or Siganus unimaculatus. However, that was about a year or so ago, I gave him back to the lfs because he ate all my problem and I thought it was gone. When I upgraded tanks, it started coming back slowly. It never reached the plague proportions it reached in the old tank, but just in case I got another one spot. He barely even picks at it though? I am 95% sure that the one I had originally was a onespot too, thats why I got another one, ahh well, nothing is for sure with utility fish At least he looks cool!
Too bad that crap is so hard to pull out, I can't stand it.
Also, before this ever bacame a problem in the first place, I had a purple tang that would crop up the razer caulerpa, I used to think it looked cool, I had no idea it was growing because the tang kept it trimmed within a little ball. When I got rid of the purple tang, it took over, so I know he was eating some of it too. He never ate it all, but just trimmed it to his liking, any stray shoots got trimmed, was kind of neat, I should try to get that tang back from the lfs display I gave him too.