Book Description

Butterfly fish are in some ways the very epitome of the saltwater aquarium hobby! These fish tend to be more difficult to care for. But you are rewarded with beautiful colors, large size, and an active disposition that is hard to match! Unfortunately, their personality means that you can't usually keep more than one. But sometimes, one can be more than enough! Understanding the Butterfly Fish Family Butterfly fish are what we call live rock grazers. There are a few fish in this category, including angelfish, tangs, surgeonfish, damselfish, and Mandarin Gobies. They look superficially similar to saltwater angelfish but they don't have the cheek spine along the gill cover. But they are just as strongly flattened laterally and many have extended jaws that allow them to pluck small prey out from between rock crevices. Many butterfly fish also have false eye spots on their rear fins, typically the dorsal fin. Eye spots and fin extensions can act as social cues for related fish to recognize each other. However they are also distractions for potential predators. The large "eye" peeking out from a coral crevice can fool a predator into thinking a butterfly fish is larger than it is. And since predators almost always try to aim for the head of their prey, a hit to the fins is much easier to recover from than getting grabbed by the face! Since butterfly fish are a large family of fish it can be hard to truly characterize them. They range in size from 5 to over 12 inches but most grow to be 7 to 9 inches long. This makes them only really keepable in aquariums larger than 100 gallons. Some are very sensitive to even minor issues in poor water quality while others are very hardy. Some refuse to eat anything but coral polyps and sponges while others are adaptable and eat anything you offer them! There is a lot to learn about butterfly fish care so let's dive in together! Scientific Name: family Chaetodontidae Origin: Tropical coral reefs worldwide Length: 5 to 12 inches Aquarium Size: 55+ gallons Ease of Care: Easy to DIfficult