Reef Butterflyfish

Care Level: Cycled Tank
Main Diet: Omnivore
Compatibility: Safe
Reef Safe: With Caution
Adult Size: 6"
Suggested Tank Size: 75+

This is the more rectangular shaped of the butterfly fish that inhabit the Western Atlantic. It has a black bar down its face and another down the posterior of its body and fins, with yellow on its fins and a yellow tail. Like other butterfly fish, it lives around the coral reefs, and is ideally shaped to poke into crevasses for invertebrates to eat. Butterflyfish show pair fidelity and are territorial, so although they are popular for aquariums, they can be difficult to maintain.

The reef butterfly, as its name suggests, is primarily a reef species. The reef provides plenty of hiding spaces for these fishes as well as good habitat for the small invertebrates on which it feeds. Its depth distribution coincides with the limits of coral growth; it can live in the shallows and as deep as the light restricts coral growth. Generally it inhabits deeper parts of the reef 48-130 feet (15-40 meters) than other species of butterflyfish in the area.