Copperband Butterfly

So I picked up this copperband butterfly fish about a week and half ago and he is doing awesome, eats like a champ and has cleared my tank of aiptasia. But now he is causing issues...the little SOB started going after 2 of my fav acan colonies and eating the heads...I moved the acans to my refuge for the time being but I'm wondering now if I'm going to have to get rid of this beautiful fish or expect him to begin going after my other acans along with any other corals?

The corals cost more than he did so I'm kinda leaning towards keeping the corals. Anyway here are some pics of the perpetrator.

 

IMO if you can keep the fish happy and healthy do that. They are a tad bit harder to take care of then an acan coral And well more rewarding in the long run. I went though 2 copperbands and failed misserably on both.

 

They can be hit and miss. Most people have good luck with them, but there are some that will cause problems. I would get rid of the fish personally because the coral comes first in my tanks. The fish may be harder to take care of, but coral sure does take a lot longer to grow and get looking good.

 

Yea thats the dilemma, its such a cool fish and from what I understand they are generally tough to keep alive...I guess I have been lucky so far this guy is super friendly always swimming around, eats like a pig as all my fish do, and it looks to have gained some weight already since I picked it up.

 

guess thats the tradeoff, cool fish but your corals are in danger. I recently bought one, however, it died like one week after I added it because it got bullied to death by someone in the tank, I suspect it was my ocellaris (Micheal Phelps) but I don't know for sure. Anyways it was a blessing and a curse because I have several fan worms that it bothered to the point of them becoming closed for long durations, it died and they have started to emerge once again. So in short, its whats more important to you.

 

Yep, this does happen and is a risk of getting a CBB. They can and have been known to eat LPS.

 

I just picked one up yesterday and my yellow tang is bullying him. What can I do? Should I take it back before it dies, or will the tang stop?? Sorry to ask a question on your thead!!

 

The tang probably will not stop. Unless the CBB is eating, it 's chances are very slim to begin with. Getting bullied only compounds their already poor success rate.

 

CBB's are a bad idea in general. They are so prone to getting picked on by other fish, generally poor eaters and if they are good eaters they will most of the time pick at corals too. I don't care what anyone says. If a CBB has a healthy appetite, they are going to love lps corals and clam mantles. That's just the type of fish that they are.

 

Would definitely have to agree with the good eater part...mine was sent back to the LFS on Monday...