Pyramid butterflyfish

Care at a glance

Overview

The pyramid butterflyfish is a peaceful schooling butterflyfish for a large saltwater tank. It is a step up from the hardiest beginner fish.

Caring for the pyramid butterflyfish

A single pyramid butterflyfish needs at least 124 gal (470 L), and a proper school needs considerably more room. Give the group a long, open water column to move through, with live rock for cover at the edges. It is genuinely reef safe, since its natural diet is drifting zooplankton rather than coral or clam mantle.

Keep the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. Feed mysis, finely chopped krill and other small meaty foods several times a day. A plankton feeder in the wild has an almost constant feeding rhythm, so it will lose condition on one meal a day.

Pyramid butterflyfish are peaceful and safe with community fish, though they can be shy for the first week or two after arriving. Unlike most butterflyfish, they do best in a small group rather than alone. They shoal together in open water instead of squabbling over territory.

Good to know

The pyramid butterflyfish is named for the bold white triangular, or pyramid-shaped, patch that splits its yellow body from above. It is one of the most recognizable patterns among the butterflyfish. Its small, brush-toothed mouth is suited to picking zooplankton out of the water rather than biting coral polyps. That sets it apart from most of its coral-eating relatives in the family Chaetodontidae.

In the wild

The pyramid butterflyfish is common on Indo-Pacific reefs, from Christmas Island and East Africa to Hawaii, the Line Islands and Pitcairn. It feeds on plankton swept by the current over steep outer reef slopes and drop-offs. It swims well above the reef rather than grazing the bottom.

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)