🐠 Spotfin Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ocellatus)
A Bold White Body With Yellow Fins and a Black Eye Bar • A Remarkable Nighttime Colour Transformation • A Peaceful, Hardy Atlantic Species
 
📋 The Spotfin Butterflyfish, also known as the Spotfin Reef Butterfly, has a bold white body with bright yellow pelvic and caudal fins, a narrow yellow bar from the gill to the pectoral fin base, and a vivid black vertical bar running through the eye, named for the small black spot at the end of the dorsal fin.
It comes from the Western Atlantic, from the east coast of the United States to Brazil, inhabiting the clear, shallow waters of coral reefs. A fascinating fact: at night, this species undergoes a remarkable transformation, with the dusky smudge on its dorsal fin becoming black and broad while dark bands appear across the body. It's also documented sometimes swimming upside down, and occasionally squirting water like a fountain above the waterline. Every Spotfin Butterflyfish we ship is feeding well.
It's one of the more peaceful, hardy butterflyfish species, adapting reasonably well to aquarium life. It's not reef safe, feeding on anemones, soft corals, tube worms, and other small marine invertebrates in the wild. It reaches up to 20cm, so plan on at least 470L.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 White Body With a Black Eye Bar and Yellow Fins: A bold, distinctive butterflyfish
🌙 A Remarkable Nighttime Transformation: Develops dark banding and a broadened dorsal spot after dark
💦 Documented Water-Squirting: Occasionally squirts water above the waterline
🪸 Not Reef Safe: Will eat anemones, soft corals, and small invertebrates
😌 Peaceful and Hardy: Coexists well with a variety of tankmates