anyone have long term sucess with copperband buttefly fish?

[Yanni]

By long term i mean over two years. I have been in the hobby since late 1999, in that time i have tried having these three times. Once at the beggining of the hobby, once toward the middle and now recently. I bought one about 4 months ago, it did not eat for about 2 weeks then began eating anything i would feed. It was in perfect shape, fat, energetic and got along with the tank mates. My yellow tang hated the fish at first but slowly became very close with it. They would rub up on each other, not with hostility but playfullness. I was admiring them last night during feeding, around 3 a.m. i got up and had a smoke cuz i couldnt sleep. I noticed the copperband dead, the tang looked distraught and kept softly rubbing on it to try and get it to move. I pulled it out, no visible signs of wounds or anything. I have had some of my fish over 8 years, i do not understand why i can not get this species of fish to ever live any length of time. This one was the longest i had kept one. I will not be trying again but was just wondering if anyone had ever kept one for any real length of time,
-mIKE

 

[snowmaker]

I thought I posed the same question here but cannot find the thread.
I remember some replies - Flighty maybe said - No Tangs for tankmates.
I remember reading that in the wild they are almost always seen in pairs and should be kept as pairs in captivity.

I have tried 2x unsuccessfully (single specimens, once w/ out a tang) and am hesitant to try again. It would be nice if a pro. lab could get captive breeding going with these.

 

[JohnK]

I had one for a little over 4 yrs. It was "certified net caught" (the only one I have ever seen). It didn't take any food except for fresh little neck clams for a good year, then one day it started munching on mysis and never looked back. That said, the vast majority of them don't last long at all in captivity.


"My yellow tang hated the fish at first but slowly became very close with it. They would rub up on each other, not with hostility but playfullness. I was admiring them last night during feeding, around 3 a.m. i got up and had a smoke cuz i couldnt sleep. I noticed the copperband dead, the tang looked distraught and kept softly rubbing on it to try and get it to move."

Not to sound rude, but it sounds like you are completely misinterpeting the behavior you are describing. The "playful" rubbing is outright aggression. That's what Tangs do to intimidate other fish. (don't forget about that sharp fin, they call them surgon fish for a reason) The "distraut" tang is simply intent on making sure the CBB was dead. Fish aren't people looking for friends, Tangs are territorial and are pissed when anyone comes into their space. CBBs simply want to be left alone and not harassed by other fish.

 

[Yanni]

I am not taking it as rude at all John, you are correct. I knew it was a bad idea to intoduce a similiar fish with an established tang in the tank. I guess i may be getting a bit soft these days and thinking i created a eutopia for my fish...lol.

 

[JayM]

I had one for close to 2 years....it was my 3rd try with one, and it ate mysis and aiptasia, and my YT did not behave too aggressively towards it.

Then I made the terrible choice of appeasing my daughter, who HAD TO HAVE a purple tang. Dead CBB in 3 days.

It still bothers me.

 

[Yanni]

I had a purple tang for many years and it seems to be one of the most aggresive of all tangs i have owned. Actually killed a yellow tang of mine some time ago. Like i said earlier, when i first introduced the CBB the yellow tang was really hostile but seemed to mellow out over time. I guess he never really chilled out but maybe was just tolerating the cbb till the time was right to get rid of it for good. Thanks for the feedback people.