🐠 Saddleback Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ephippium)
A Beige-White Body With a Bold Black "Saddle" • One of the Larger, Hardier Butterflyfish • A Useful Aiptasia Eater
 
📋 The Saddleback Butterflyfish, also known as the Saddled Butterflyfish, has a distinctive beige-to-white body marked by a large black "saddle" outlined in orange and white across the rear upper body and dorsal fin, with a yellow snout and orange accents outlining the black tail.
It comes from a wide range across the Indo-Pacific, Hawaii, and the Coral Sea, inhabiting coral-rich reefs, lagoons, and coastal habitats. Every Saddleback Butterflyfish we ship is feeding well, and it typically settles in confidently once established.
It's one of the larger and hardier butterflyfish species in the trade, reaching up to 23cm. It's territorial toward its own kind and similarly patterned butterflyfish in smaller tanks, so it should only be kept singly or as a confirmed pair. It's not reef safe, and will eat most stony corals, some soft corals, ornamental shrimp, tube worms, and anemones on live rock, though it's also documented helping to control nuisance Aiptasia anemones. It reaches up to 23cm, so plan on at least 470L.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Beige-White Body With a Bold Black Saddle: An iconic, distinctive butterflyfish
📏 One of the Larger Butterflyfish: Reaches up to 23cm
🦐 A Useful Aiptasia Eater: Documented eating this common nuisance anemone
🪸 Not Reef Safe: Will eat most stony corals, some soft corals, and invertebrates
☝️ Keep Singly or as a Pair: Territorial toward its own kind