🐠 Raccoon Butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunula)
Marine Not-Reef-Safe Nocturnal Butterflyfish • Yellow Body With a Black "Raccoon Mask" Face & Crescent Markings • Genuinely Copper-Sensitive — Please Read Before Buying • Intermediate Marine Fish
 
⚠️ Important Information — Please Read First
We want to be genuinely upfront on this one. This species is genuinely documented as sensitive to copper-based medications, so please avoid copper treatment and consult alternative disease-management methods if needed.
 
📋 The Raccoon Butterflyfish, also sold in some markets as the Crescent Masked Butterflyfish, has a genuinely striking bright yellow body with a bold black band across the eyes resembling a raccoon's mask, along with crescent-shaped markings at the head and tail that give the species its scientific name, meaning "crescent."
Native to a genuinely vast range across the Indo-Pacific, from East Africa to Hawaii and Polynesia, and south to Lord Howe Island, this species inhabits shallow reef flats, lagoons, and seaward reefs to depths of over 30 metres. We want to be genuinely upfront that in the Red Sea, the similarly common-named "Raccoon Butterfly" actually refers to a distinct species, Chaetodon fasciatus, since this species doesn't occur there.
This is genuinely one of the hardier, more adaptable butterflyfish species, and while naturally nocturnal in the wild, sheltering under coral ledges by day and emerging at dusk to feed, captive specimens often become active during the day as they settle in. We want to be honest that new arrivals may initially refrain from eating, sometimes needing live foods or a darkened tank to encourage feeding at first, though this species genuinely becomes a very willing eater once established. It's genuinely territorial toward its own kind and other butterflyfish, so a large tank is needed if keeping more than one. We want to be upfront: this species is not reef safe, and will genuinely eat coral polyps, invertebrates, and algae, though it's genuinely also documented as a natural predator of nuisance Aiptasia anemones.
 
🟡⚫ Highlights
🎨 Yellow Body With a Black "Raccoon Mask": A genuinely iconic, widely recognised butterflyfish
⚠️ Genuinely Copper-Sensitive: Please avoid copper-based medications
🌙 Genuinely Nocturnal by Nature: Often adapts to daytime activity in captivity
🦐 Genuine Aiptasia Predator: Documented eating this common nuisance anemone
⚠️ Not Reef Safe: Will eat coral polyps, invertebrates, and algae