Copperbanded Butterflyfish Final Update (It's Not Good)

[@jonathanreich9694]

Three years is better than a lot of people have been able to do with a copperband.

[@Dan-lg4ti]

Sorry for your loss. Sucks losing a fish especially when you feel responsible. Thank you for uploading this video showing the negative side of the hobby when it could be covered up so easily

[@jaysrealreefuk]

So sorry to hear he's passed away 😥. Your education and talking about the complexities of keeping this fish in captivity will hopefully mean less wild caught species are purchased. This might be the fish I would love, but will never have. 🙂👍. Thank you for sharing.

[@SandervkHistory]

Sorry for your loss Alex! And thanks for sharing this story with us. Now i am beginning to doubt if i feed my fish enough... I will do some deeper and proper research! Thanks Alex! - Sander

[@ReefDorkXtra]

I really enjoy the questions you post on the FB group - great conversation starters 🙌

[@wetwaterfish]

cultivating copepods and live baby brine is the best practice

[@andrewsmith3297]

sorry about your loss 😢 especially after having him for so long. However i’d like to say thank you, solely to you for inspiring me to set to my first marine tank :) only 50 litres but it’s a start! i set it up 3 days ago and i’m just letting it run for a few weeks before stocking. Your videos are so very informative and helpful so thank you so much 😊

[@mckenzie390]

Sorry for your loss Dork

[@im160bpmplus]

Sorry for the loss brother. After all your guidance, I bought one and had just released it into the tank this week! When I saw the thumbnail, I thought, as long as that's not Reef Dorks new vid.. sigh. Back on the horse Sir IMO. I dont have that kind of experience but I've been buying White Clams and boy does this guy love them. Thanks for being a pioneer, not all journeys are short and sweet.

[@SpikeP100]

I recently lost my royal Gramma and yellow goby to marine ich. No quarantine so very much taking it as my own fault. Remaining 3 fish are thriving so far so I am spending this 70 day (ich) period to get a quarantine setup and be more prepared. You did a good job with such a hard fish, and sometimes it's after that we finally put some pieces together to understand where we went wrong. You sharing this experience helps everyone in the community and makes sure this little one passing was not a waste, but a experience to help protect more copper bands in the future. Thanks for sharing - Paul

[@josephposada1830]

Most esteemed Alex, both you and Ryan have been instrumental in my staying in the hobby. The loss of the Copperband is a difficult moment in time. Perhaps it's a fish variety, best kept in the wild. I have just acquired my first Montipora. It is a red digitata. It is a stately coral indeed. The tank is totally stable. 8.2 pH Calc is about 480, Kh of 10. The Duncans are growing crazy arms and polyps. All is well

[@EIY_Kumar]

Sorry For your loss Alex Thank You for sharing this, I was about to buy my first cop in a few days, but not anymore and Three Years is also a long time so I'm sure You've learned a lot about the fish behavior that'll help you with the next one

[@Atalantum]

Sorry for your loss. I’ve had great success having my CBB of 4 years put on weight feeding LRS fish frenzy. I like LRS for its superior blend of ingredients and I use a feeder that lets the CBB get first dibs on the food. LRS does use a lot of clams in the frenzy blend and I believe my CBB developed a taste for clams after I started feeding this food so I’m no longer able to keep tridacna clams.

[@PnCBio]

Great video! Sorry for your loss. I make a soup/gumbo and feed that over a few hours. Flake, pellet, frozen (LRS) and once or twice a week probiotic powder or mins from fauna. Live phyto every other day, 1ml/gallon dosed all at once. This causes no pollution issues in a 2 year old SPS dominant 20G AIO. Everyone eats what they like and because the phyto feeds the "bugs" new fish don't starve/stress from a lack of food.

[@jaydub9509]

Very sorry to hear that Alex. 3 years is about 2.5 years better than I've ever achieved with a copperband. I've pretty much sworn off them now. One thing I noticed is that your foxface is also looking a bit lean. Based on conversations I've had with several LFS here in the U.S., there also may be some issues with wild-caught rabbit fishes maintaining weight despite having hearty appetites.

[@ReefDorkXtra]

Thanks - i've started moving algae covered rocks from the sump into the DT to improve his diet

[@StressfulReefer]

Sorry for your loss. I diy a feeding containier with clams. I have a short on making it.. I place 3 clams inside and that does the trick.

[@Reefkeepers_Archive]

I'm so sorry Alex. Losing a fish you were close to is never easy, especially something you've had for 3 years. I'm planning on keeping a margined butterflyfish, very similar to a copperband, planing on starting a live mysis culture and keeping gel food in the tank almost all the time, wish me luck.

[@indigo2939]

maybe try the yellow longnose butterfly forgot the exact name

[@johncornwall1]

Mate, sorry to hear this, but it’s honest and brave of you to share 😢

[@shabbir78]

Sorry for you loss Alex. Mine died too last week. @0:38 that was my exact thought too when I saw your last video.

[@johnchambers1573]

Sorry to hear he passed away. agree with you it's a gutter losing a fish you really care about.

[@shallowreefing]

Respect for posting this and being 💯 real. Anyone who hates about this update is a fool. It’s always best to show our accomplishments and our failures. Failure is the greatest teacher.

[@knox7945]

It comes with the territory for having this hobby. It sucks losing a fish you take care of.

[@soysauce76]

Who you kidding… we know you’re going to get another one eventually. They’re so damn pretty 😍. Got one in my tank for 2 years now and no doubt my favorite. Sorry for your loss though.

[@ilikeweirdfish7106]

Sorry for your loss. I feed my buterflies and angels foods with a high amount of sponge and add a ton of nori. Not sure if its available in the UK but as I understand it helps with the digestive system and simulates their natural diet. Although my butterfly also enjoys pandora zoanthids which I'm fine with so long as it sticks to the pandoras.

[@billclarke7893]

I put the frozen food in a container which has holes in, in which the CBB can get it’s food using it’s natural ability and attributes, I then board-cast feed the other end of the tank which takes the competition away and leaves the CBB time to feed slowly. I keep the pumps on which are under the container that blows any defrosted food down the tank, again away from the CBB, any of the mysis he doesn’t get are then blown into the rock scape which it can seek throughout the day. This works for mine.

[@spinoyonyx2800]

I'm sorry for your loss I think its becuase you have wrasses with him that's outcompete him for amphipods and copepods Usually copperbands peck and small inverts in the rock work like dragonets which is where they get the nutrition for their dietary requirements But Wrasses also do it and much more and could reduces the supply of diet to the point that he couldn't sustain itself

[@Merknilash]

Btw Reef Dork - I think you should try again And may I suggest tossing a Cockel (small clam) in once a week or so if you are concerned your Copperband isn't getting enough nutrition? That was the trick to get mine eating (nothing else worked - not live brine, not live blackworms, not masstick) and I still use it as a supplement to the mysis. If you can keep it for 3 years, you can keep one longer..this is an anomaly.

[@Merknilash]

3 years is what I would call a success.

[@rana.aviral]

Butterfly fish are Omnivorous. Maybe your copperband was not getting enough veggies.... Maybe.

[@cleanpaws4805]

In my view, it would probably help if you had a really robust refugeium

[@annaschaffer3729]

I heard from someone who puts pieces of tile in the overflow to let aptasia grow there and take them out for the copperband to eat. She feeds it this way twice a week

[@dylankim9588]

Your Copperband lasted longer than my two yellow clown gobies.

[@zz3353]

Bummer man. That was a cool fish.

[@fishpalace]

There are so many videos about coral care and nutrition but nowhere near as many about fish. The vast majority of us broadcast feed mysis but not what fish need and assume they eat it so all good. Also the other fish in the tank have such a big impact on tricky feeders. I do not keep wrasse or fish that constantly peck all day with my pipefish as they will out competent for food and critters.

[@pelagicswimmer]

I fed mine on a mix of frozen mixed into masstick for years along with my orange spotted filefish. I like Than's (Tidal Gardens) comment coral is easy, fish are hard :)

[@davechippendale8998]

That’s a pity Alex. Have had mine for 11 months now, he has a dedicated feeder that I put masstick cubes in, loves it, he gets plenty of time to eat, while the Tangs go mad.

[@cleanpaws4805]

I don’t have one, nor will I probably ever get one. But one thing I might suggest is a really robust refugium . .

[@tashdog1]

Sad to hear this. Bournemouth oceanarium had one for quite a few years, and he lived in a tank on his own with clownfish and carpet anemone. Where others they had were in other big fish tanks and underwater tunnel and them ones didnt last for long. So that goes to show maybe they do best on their own sometimes.

[@billydanzz]

One of my favorite fish, but I think the industry/hobby needs to consider leaving these guys in their natural habitat.

[@ericgasparro2545]

That’s sad, three years is a good innings for a copperbands, sorry for your loss. I do wonder in copperbands just need a huge system where they can live as close to being in the wild as possible and you can supplement their feeding with prepared foods. I’ve personally only seen a few in the flesh eat frozen and it makes me sad everytime I go into the LFS and see a load of freshly sourced copperbands looking paper thin.

[@steveconnolly8078]

That sucks you should replace it with a pyramid butterfly

[@wilfwill]

Wow 3 cubes a day my reef would never handle that what filtration are you using mate

[@jez6345789]

Certainly, 3 years is way better than a lot of people do with this fish and I think it's important to mention a couple of old tips about them. As Alex has said often not an easy fish to get feeding needing fortified live food and weaning onto a frozen diet. Although mysis often has a very high fat content making it nutritionally dense, variety is important in terms of nutrition balance besides the fat in mysis. In the wild Copperbands are constant grazers and if you look at their physiology closely they do not have a digestive system designed for a couple of heavy feeds per day.that is the usual in an aquarium. Also, the rough and tumble of competitive feeding works fine for many fish who can pig out and fill their guts up. Look at the Copperband and its stomach is tiny so it can't store much. If you take the challenge you need to be diligent making sure it gets 5 feeds a day.. I also think that it was probably supplement its diet with natural grazing they love tiny fan worms and stuff in the rocks and the food Alex was giving it was topping that up. In the end, the natural fauna in the tank was probably used up and the Mysis was then insufficient. Anyway sorry for your loss.

[@janir1838]

Sad news reefdork 😥. I bought my Copperband 16 months ago. It is my first Copperband. Maybe I am lucky?

[@robertvacchiano1136]

Same thing happened to me mine lasted a little over three years

[@alexmclaren7823]

The foxface looks a little slim to?

[@jules2545]

Sad to hear about your fish Alex, I was tempted to get a Copperband, but work would not allow me to give the beastie the attention it needs, as much as I would love one I am not going to.

[@graeme7662]

sorry to hear that Alex

[@user-ch1kv5ft5c]

If you do get a new one just vary its food source throughout the week. Chopped squid mussels clam they love anything like that. But no doubt you will get another

[@Courtney-Jai]

Very sorry you lost such a beautiful fish . From what I've heard, they're very difficult to have

[@stephenbassett1610]

Sorry for your loss, but do you think Copper bands should band from the aquarium trade because of there high mortality? Steve

[@ReefDorkXtra]

Maybe, plenty of others would go too if that happened though

[@bubblyreef1193]

Awe sorry know how much you enjoyed him! 😢

[@georgekontos1839]

What is the bespoke Copperband Feeder that you mention in the video?

[@ReefDorkXtra]

It was a 25mm end cap with beak holes drilled into it, attached to the wet side of a spare algae magnet

[@0li986]

Hi sorry to hear about the 🐠. Could I ask what is the brand of frozen mysis you feed? I believe you mentioned it on a recent podcast.

[@ReefDorkXtra]

Gamma

[@the_animal_ark]

So sad, rip little fish

[@smokeandkippers]

In my opinion there’s a few fish that shouldn’t be on sale and copperbands are one of them.

[@leeverink32]

mine passed in 24 hours. The store was hessitand to sell it to me i did all i could but it still died

[@TwoScottishReefers]

I would have been feeding small krill and blood worms and calanis

[@simonmiddleton6903]

Good advice

[@kevin16scalecollector54]

I had mine used to the ‘copperband feeder’ from day 1. It took him a week to feed from it, but now he rips the meat inside to pieces and has a big fat body.

[@fabriziobucci1305]

sorry Alex. 😿

[@Goza80]

Sorry to hear you lost him Alex. Did you have him for aptasia control? If so are you expecting it to resurface and do you intend to try a different method of control?

[@ReefDorkXtra]

Partly, yeah. There are aips in the weir box so they'll show up at some point. Might get a peppermint shrimp now...

[@Richs_reef]

Berghias for the win Alex! Sorry to hear the loss of this fish, highlights the importance of variety in diet and not just the amount they are eating

[@ReefDorkXtra]

@@Richs_reef too many wrasses...

[@noahsreef2416]

must be the week for it my clownfish after 4 years has decided to commit suicide and jumped the tank can't find her anywhere

[@tompage8674]

Really no reason that these should still be available for sale.

[@ericdickey6523]

That’s so sad! I think the only real answer is a massive established system or a specimen that is already fat and aggressively eating

[@Jaystars]

Thats a bit poo. Thought about a different species of butterfly?

[@ReefDorkXtra]

Not really - I didn't get him because he was a butterfly if you know what I mean. A yellow longnose would be cool though.

[@alandickinson9996]

Sad day

[@aquamind9996]

RIP

[@oofpokemon5275]

My lfs had a kh keeper hes fish died atm he was putting wastewater from the kh keeper in. He does not know of this was the reason but im not putting it back in. I know you have done it for months but when toxins in water keep increasing i think some fish just quit.

[@ReefDorkXtra]

I'd be amazed if the wastewater harmed fish - it's just a few mls of mild acid

[@xukabolet]

sorry for your loss but i don't know why copperband fish is so hard to keep i have one and it lives healthy for more than 6 months the only thing i think is hard is its diet, it needs constant food source throughout the day