Klein's butterflyfish

Care at a glance

Overview

Klein's butterflyfish is one of the hardiest and most adaptable butterflyfish in the aquarium trade. It is an easy fish for a peaceful saltwater community.

Caring for the Klein's butterflyfish

A single Klein's butterflyfish needs at least 79 gal (300 L). Combine open swimming room with live rock for grazing and shelter. It is reef safe with caution, since it mostly leaves corals alone but will occasionally nip soft corals such as leathers.

Keep the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. It usually starts feeding within a day of arrival and takes flake, pellet and frozen foods without much fuss. Feed a varied diet several times a day. An underfed fish is the one most likely to nip. Keeping it well fed goes a long way toward protecting a reef tank's corals.

Klein's butterflyfish is peaceful with other fish and safe in a community tank. Small groups can work if all the fish are introduced at the same time.

Good to know

Klein's butterflyfish, Chaetodon kleinii, belongs to the family Chaetodontidae. It is also called the sunburst butterflyfish, for the golden-yellow wash over the rear half of its body. The yellow is set off by a creamy white front half, a dark band through the eye and black lips. Unlike some Chaetodon, it is a generalist feeder rather than a specialist on any one food source.

In the wild

Klein's butterflyfish ranges across the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea, from East Africa to Hawaii. Its range runs north to Japan and south to New Caledonia and the Galapagos. It lives mostly on deeper lagoon, channel and seaward reefs below about 10 m. It forages over coral and rubble for algae, small invertebrates and coral polyps, especially soft corals such as Sarcophyton leathers.

Common questions

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