🐠 Yellow Head Butterflyfish (Chaetodon xanthocephalus)
A Pearl-White Body With a Golden-Yellow "Halo" • Faint Diagonal Stripes • A Rare, Elegant Find
 
📋 The Yellow Head Butterflyfish, also known as the Yellowhead Butterflyfish or Gold Rimmed Butterflyfish, has an elegant, dominant pearl-white body colouration accentuated by a golden-yellow "halo" outlining its perimeter and namesake head, with faint diagonal lines running through the body.
It comes from the Western Indian Ocean, from East Africa to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, inhabiting sheltered, coral-rich reefs at around 20 metres depth, and it's closely related to the Saddled Butterflyfish, with natural hybrids between the two documented where their ranges overlap. Every Yellow Head Butterflyfish we ship is feeding well, and we favour medium-sized specimens around 10cm, which tend to acclimatise best and adapt more readily to prepared foods.
It's rare in the aquarium trade, a real find for dedicated collectors. It can be a little shy when first introduced, but becomes bold and assertive once settled, competing readily with other fish at feeding time. It's not reef safe, and will pick at coral polyps and crustaceans, so house it in a fish-only setup with live rock rather than a mixed reef display. It reaches up to 20cm, so plan on at least 470L.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Pearl-White Body With a Golden Halo: An elegant, distinctive butterflyfish
💎 Rare in the Trade: An uncommon find for dedicated collectors
🧬 Documented Hybridisation: Known to hybridise with the Saddled Butterflyfish
🍽️ Ships Feeding Well: We favour medium-sized specimens that acclimatise best
💪 Assertive Once Settled: Becomes a confident, competitive feeder