Pyramid butterflyfish

Care at a glance

Overview

Peaceful and genuinely reef safe, since its natural diet is drifting zooplankton rather than coral or clam mantle, though it can be shy for the first week or two after arriving. Unlike most butterflyfish, it does best kept in a small group rather than alone, shoaling together in open water instead of squabbling over territory. Feed mysis, finely chopped krill, and other small meaty foods several times a day, since a plankton feeder in the wild has an almost constant feeding rhythm and will lose condition on one meal a day.

In the wild

Common on Indo-Pacific reefs from Christmas Island and East Africa to Hawaii, the Line Islands, and Pitcairn, where it gathers in large shoals over steep outer reef slopes and drop-offs to feed on plankton swept by the current. It spends most of its time swimming well above the reef rather than grazing the bottom, so the aquarium needs a long, open water column for the group to move through along with live rock for cover at the reef's edges. A single fish needs at least 470 litres (125 US gal), and a proper school needs considerably more room.

Good to know

Named for the bold white triangular, or pyramid-shaped, patch that splits its yellow body from above, one of the most recognizable patterns among the butterflyfish. It reaches about 18 cm and has a small, brush-toothed mouth suited to picking zooplankton out of the water rather than biting coral polyps, which sets it apart from most of its coral-eating relatives in family Chaetodontidae.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Black pyramid butterflyfish

  Hemitaurichthys zoster

  7.1 in (18 cm) · 106 gal (400 L)

  7.1 in (18 cm)106 gal (400 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Copperband butterflyfish

  Chelmon rostratus

  7.9 in (20 cm) · 79 gal (300 L)

  7.9 in (20 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Schooling bannerfish

  Heniochus diphreutes

  8.3 in (21 cm) · 124 gal (470 L)

  8.3 in (21 cm)124 gal (470 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Klein's butterflyfish

  Chaetodon kleinii

  5.9 in (15 cm) · 79 gal (300 L)

  5.9 in (15 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Big longnose butterflyfish

  Forcipiger longirostris

  8.7 in (22 cm) · 100 gal (380 L)

  8.7 in (22 cm)100 gal (380 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  Golden butterflyfish

  Chaetodon semilarvatus

  9.1 in (23 cm) · 151 gal (570 L)

  9.1 in (23 cm)151 gal (570 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)