🐠 Four Eyed Butterflyfish (Chaetodon capistratus)
Marine Not-Reef-Safe Butterflyfish • Pale Grey Body With Iridescent Stripes & False Tail Eyespots • Genuine Severe Feeding Difficulty — Please Read Before Buying • Expert-Only Species
 
⚠️ Important Information — Please Read First
We want to be genuinely direct on this one, because we believe honesty matters more than a sale. This species is a highly specialised coral-polyp feeder in the wild, and multiple expert sources report survival rates as low as under 20% within the first three months in captivity, largely due to the genuine difficulty of weaning it onto alternative foods. Only medium-to-large specimens (over roughly 7cm) genuinely have a meaningfully better chance of accepting substitute foods; small juveniles are documented as especially difficult. Please speak with our team in detail about feeding history and be fully prepared with live foods, coral skeletons for grazing, and significant patience before considering this species.
 
📋 The Four Eyed Butterflyfish, also called the Foureye Butterflyfish, has a genuinely attractive pale grey-white body covered in fine iridescent stripes, with a vivid yellow outline and a genuine false eyespot at the base of the tail on each side — a natural defence that confuses predators about which way the fish is actually facing.
Native to the Western Atlantic, from New England through Bermuda and the West Indies to northern South America, this species genuinely inhabits shallow coral reefs to depths of around 20 metres, sheltering in crevices at night.
A genuinely remarkable natural history detail: this species is documented as one of the few fish that appears to pair for life, and is a capable, agile swimmer able to manoeuvre sideways or even upside down through complex reef structure. We want to be upfront: this species is not reef safe, and will genuinely feed on stony coral and gorgonian polyps.
 
⚪🟡 Highlights
🎨 Pale Grey With Iridescent Stripes & False Eyespots: A genuinely elegant, distinctive pattern
⚠️ Genuine Severe Feeding Difficulty: Documented low survival rate, please read our disclosure above
💑 Genuinely Pairs for Life: One of the few fish species known to do this
⚠️ Not Reef Safe: Will feed on stony coral and gorgonian polyps
🧠 Expert-Only Species: Please only consider larger specimens with a confirmed feeding history