🐠 Klein's Butterflyfish (Chaetodon kleinii)
A Golden-Yellow Body Fading to Creamy White • A Bold Black Eye Bar • One of the Hardiest, Most Beginner-Friendly Butterflyfish
 
📋 Klein's Butterflyfish, also known as the Sunburst Butterflyfish, Orange Butterflyfish, or Blacklip Butterflyfish, has a shimmering golden-yellow body toward the rear that fades to creamy white toward the front, marked by a dusky brown band behind the gill cover and a bold black bar through the eye, sometimes tinted blue above in adults.
It comes from a vast range across the Indo-Pacific, inhabiting coral reefs at a wide range of depths. Despite butterflyfish generally having a reputation for being delicate, this species is one of the hardiest and most adaptable in the entire family, making it an excellent choice for beginners looking to keep a butterflyfish. Every Klein's Butterflyfish we ship is feeding well, and it's not a picky eater.
It needs plenty of tank space to feel secure and swim about: we suggest a minimum of 380L for one specimen, 570L for two, and 760L for three. It's not reef safe, since it will pick at soft coral polyps, though it's not an obligate corallivore and can be maintained happily on regular aquarium fare. It's also a useful predator of nuisance Aiptasia anemones, and while it can occasionally be shy, this is largely its only real drawback as an aquarium fish.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Golden-Yellow to Creamy White With a Black Eye Bar: A striking, iconic butterflyfish
💪 One of the Hardiest Butterflyfish: An excellent choice for beginners
🦐 A Useful Aiptasia Predator: Helps control this common nuisance anemone
🪸 Not Reef Safe: Will pick at soft coral polyps
🍽️ Ships Feeding Well: One of the easiest butterflyfish to feed