Parachaetodon ocellatus

Alpha_and_Gec · Oct 27, 2023

My lfs just got a trio of these guys in, and I heard they are on the reef safe side of butterflies. Have anyone kept them and can share some experience with me? I'm not sure if this guy's on the tougher side for a butterfly, but this is one of those fish that I thought was never going to be in the trade when I browsed through fishbase and I thought it would be cool to have one of them.

Also, will they eat anemones? The website of my LFS said they will attack anemones that are not guarded by clownfish, which I don't really want to happen to my bubbletips. I don't have clowns yet because I plan to introduce him last.

80 gallon mixed reef, fish - relevant parameters stable and nutrients bottomed out. Cleaner wrasse, dusky wrasse, unimaculatus foxface, pholidicthys, longnose hawk, and Valenciennea strigata.
there's also a Dascyllus in the sump but we don't care about him.

LaloJ · Oct 28, 2023

I did a little research on this fish, I found divided opinions on its feeding in captivity, it's possible that it takes food without problems or that it's quite picky and starts feeding on black worms for example, it's possible that it has some problems with small invertebrates which is what they feed on in nature, I suppose that a well fed fish reduces the risk in a reef tank, but that would have to be "trained" in a qt.

dennis romano · Oct 28, 2023

I have had two pairs of this butterfly. Each time one fish would not eat and fade away and the other would eat well then just die after about a month in captivity. They are not reef safe. In nature, there main food is anemones.

Alpha_and_Gec · Oct 28, 2023

dennis romano said:
I have had two pairs of this butterfly. Each time one fish would not eat and fade away and the other would eat well then just die after about a month in captivity. They are not reef safe. In nature, there main food is anemones.

dangit… I gotcha. No go then I guess. It’s copperbands all over again.