Yellow longnose butterflyfish

Care at a glance

Overview

The yellow longnose butterflyfish is a mostly peaceful butterflyfish for a large saltwater tank. It is not a first fish, but a keeper with some experience can manage it.

Caring for the yellow longnose butterflyfish

Give a single yellow longnose butterflyfish at least 106 gal (400 L). Offer plenty of live rock with nooks and crevices to forage through, along with open swimming space.

Its reef safety is mixed. Many individuals leave corals alone and are kept successfully in reef tanks. Some pick at soft coral polyps, tubeworm crowns or the tube feet of sea urchins, so it rates a caution.

Quarantine it fully before adding it to a display, since it is more prone to parasitic infection during shipping stress than many other butterflyfish. Keep the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. It is generally easy to feed once settled and readily takes mysis, krill and other meaty frozen foods.

The yellow longnose butterflyfish is mostly peaceful, but it can squabble with similar-looking butterflyfish. Keep one per tank, and choose its tank mates with some care.

Good to know

The yellow longnose butterflyfish is named for its greatly elongated, forceps-like snout. Its close relative Forcipiger longirostris shares this snout, which reaches small invertebrates tucked deep in reef crevices that other butterflyfish cannot get at. Its body is bright lemon yellow, with a black-and-white barred head. A false eyespot near the tail helps confuse predators about which end is which. It is one of the larger Chaetodontidae kept in home aquariums.

In the wild

The yellow longnose butterflyfish is widespread across the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea, from East Africa to Hawaii. It is also found in the eastern Pacific, from Baja California to the Galapagos. It lives on clear lagoon and seaward reefs down to about 145 m.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  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)

• 

  Threadfin butterflyfish

  Chaetodon auriga

  9.1 in (23 cm) · 124 gal (470 L)

  9.1 in (23 cm)124 gal (470 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Raccoon butterflyfish

  Chaetodon lunula

  7.9 in (20 cm) · 106 gal (400 L)

  7.9 in (20 cm)106 gal (400 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Collare butterflyfish

  Chaetodon collare

  7.1 in (18 cm) · 90 gal (340 L)

  7.1 in (18 cm)90 gal (340 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)

• 

  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)