🐠 Ornate Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ornatissimus)
Marine Not-Reef-Safe Obligate Corallivore • Light Blue Body With Diagonal Orange Bands & a Black-Edged Yellow Face • Genuinely One of the Most Demanding Diets in the Hobby — 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. In the wild, this species is an obligate corallivore, feeding almost exclusively on live coral polyp tissue and mucus across around ten different coral species — genuinely one of the broadest coral diets of any corallivorous butterflyfish, but still a diet that's extremely difficult to replicate in captivity. We want to be honest that this species has a genuinely poor survival record in home aquariums, and many respected sources within the hobby advise against attempting to keep it at all unless the keeper is prepared to offer live coral as an ongoing food source. Please only consider this species with a serious, concrete feeding plan already in place, and only if the specimen is genuinely confirmed eating before purchase.
 
📋 The Ornate Butterflyfish, also known as the Clown Butterflyfish, has a genuinely striking light blue body marked with diagonal orange bands, and a yellow face outlined with two black, yellow-edged bars across the snout and eye.
Native to a genuinely wide range across the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea to the Western Pacific, this species inhabits clear, coral-rich lagoon and seaward reef environments.
This species is genuinely solitary as a juvenile, sheltering among branching corals, before pairing up for life as an adult, with pairs maintaining an exclusive home territory. We want to be upfront: this species is not reef safe, and will genuinely consume stony coral tissue as its primary food source.
 
🔵🟠 Highlights
🎨 Light Blue Body With Diagonal Orange Bands: A genuinely striking, iconic butterflyfish
⚠️ Genuinely One of the Most Demanding Diets: Please read our disclosure above before purchasing
🪸 Genuine Broad Coral Diet: Documented feeding on around ten coral species in the wild
⚠️ Not Reef Safe: Will consume stony coral tissue as its primary food source
💑 Genuinely Pairs for Life: Adults maintain an exclusive home territory together