🐠 Banded Butterflyfish (Chaetodon striatus)
A White Body Crossed by Bold Black Vertical Bands • A True Atlantic and Caribbean Species • A Social, Frequent Grazer
 
📋 The Banded Butterflyfish, also known as the Butterbun or Portuguese Butterfly, has a classic, striking pattern: a predominantly white, disk-shaped body crossed by three bold black vertical bands, with black pelvic fins.
It comes from the Western Atlantic, from Massachusetts down to Rio de Janeiro, including the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Bermuda, a real geographic outlier compared with most of our Indo-Pacific butterflyfish stock. In the wild, it's often seen forming plankton-feeding groups of up to 20 individuals, and it sometimes joins in cleaning other reef fish that visit the group. Every Banded Butterflyfish we ship is feeding well.
It's not reef safe, and its natural diet includes coral polyps, zoanthids, tubeworms, and polychaete worms, so it will pick at both hard and soft corals in a reef tank. It does best in a fish-only or invertebrate-free setup with plenty of hiding places, and it benefits from being fed at least three times daily given its naturally varied, grazing-based diet. It reaches up to 20cm, so plan on at least 450L.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 White Body With Bold Black Bands: A classic, iconic butterflyfish pattern
🌍 A True Atlantic and Caribbean Species: A real geographic outlier from our typical Indo-Pacific stock
🧽 Social in the Wild: Forms plankton-feeding groups and occasionally cleans other fish
🪸 Not Reef Safe: Will pick at hard and soft corals, zoanthids, and worms
🍽️ Ships Feeding Well: Benefits from frequent feeding, at least three times daily