Butterflyfish Profiles

Although known to be a natural predator of Aiptasia anemones, caution should be used when considering this fish to rid a reef tank of them. Not safe with most corals, desirable invertebrates, as well as crustaceans that are not well-armored for protection against predation.

It is one of the fish in the Butterfly Fish Family that is a coral eater and it is difficult to get it to eat anything else, especially as an adult. Charles Delbeek shared with us that because it is an obligate coral eating Butterfly, it does not survive for long in aquaria in his experience.

Like most fish in the Butterfly Fish Family, the Saddleback Butterfly spends most of its time during the day picking at coral polyps as it cruises the reef. At night they hide in various cracks, crevices and "puka's (holes). In captivity, it will take dried shrimp, brine shrimp and, if another fish in the tank is eating it, flake food.

As a juvenile this fish will adapt to tank life and foods fairly well. However, as adults they are slow to learn and are sometime difficult to get to eat. Like most fish in the Butterfly Fish Family they are coral pickers, but also eat small marine life and algae off of rocks and coral.

The Tinker Butterfly is one of the rare, deep water fish endemic to Hawaiian waters. It is found at depths well below 100 feet, particularly in areas where black coral (Antipathes) is abundant. Because of its rarity and difficulty for collecting it is an extremely expensive fish. For those where expense is not a factor, this fish is definitely a center piece for an aquarium.

The Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus) behaves in the typical Butterflyfish manner, but is a species that is best kept singly or in larger aquariums as a mated pair. It does better with other non-aggressive fishes, but can be placed into a moderately-aggressive community if introduced into the aquarium first.

The Big Longnose (Forcipiger longirostris) species has a longer snout with a much smaller mouth at the end than its Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish counterpart. The two species can also be separated by counting their dorsal spines. This fish usually has 12 spines and from 25 to 28 soft rays, while the Yellow Longnose usually has 12 spines and from 22 to 24 soft rays.