New Saddleback Butterflyfish - Chaetodon Ephippium Mommy

[tylersarah]

I'd like to personally thank Dr. Colliebreath/SD Guy for contributing to this thread and ultimately my gain of knowledge.

And for future readers of this and anyone looking to quarantine a Saddleback, do exactly as I did, but know it doesn't always end positively. Looking back I don't have any "What if's" or any sort of regret in my method of caring for the fish and I was diligent and took every extra precaution I could imagine in order to benefit the health of the fish.

It's funny how you begin to learn the behavior and personality of your fish. When I went to feed the Saddleback the morning he died I knew immediately, before I saw the fish, that something had happened because I didn't see his normal morning behavior routine. Same goes with the hawkfish in our display tank, when the tank temperature is a bit too warm (and yes we have thermometers) this fish won't feed aggressively as usual. Then I know to check the temp and turn on the A/C.

All in all, it saddens me to have purchased, even though it was with good intent, a creature that was taken from its natural environment and ultimately flushed down a toilet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A bit radical, but for comparison purposes imagine if aliens abducted humans with nets, took them to space and tried to recreate our air, food and environment. Then some of the aliens feed us McDonald's each day because they saw how we liked it so and then wondered why the Homosapiens who only ate McDonald's were more likely to die. Too an extent this is how I feel about reefkeeping and education/research is the only way to minimize these consequences.

To end on a positive note, I've been in this hobby for nearly ten years (since I was 16). I started with a 26 gallon bow front tank and a saltwater reefkeeping book and have recently upgraded to a 120 starfire tank thanks to the mechanical ingenuity and interest of Tyler! Hi Tyler! I have always been a firm believer of feeding an assortment of the best diet available and consider me lucky or call it correlated, but my fish have never seen a case of Ich, Flukes, Brook, Velvet etc...

My first tank (I still have the ricordia mushroom and the mated Percula clowns which spawn weekly):

Excuse the gigantic photo.

Overtime it became overrun by shrooms:


And our current setup, a beautiful mixed reef in progress:

[tylersarah]

And I will keep my eye on Diver's Den!

[Dr Colliebreath]

You are welcome, we like to try and help, and we have all been there.

I received a Pakistani butterfly last fall that was slightly larger than the size of a quarter. It spent an extra day in transit due to missing a connecting flight which I think ultimately doomed it. The fish went through a lot of what you experienced. It seemed to want to eat, sometimes it would eat and then it wouldn't, it was an active swimmer and curious, etc. It died at about the 3 week mark. I hated to see it go, but sometimes there is nothing you can do and you just have to accept it as part of the hobby.

I look at it as nature drops an excessive number of creatures into the world knowing many/most won't survive but the species continue due to sheer numbers. It is not like humans where you pretty much expect most will have a full life.