Chaetodon paucifasciatus
| Common Names: | Eritrean Butterfly Fish Red Sea Pearlscale Butterfly Fish |
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| Family: | Chaetodontidae |
| Category: | Chaetodontids |
| Distribution: | Indo Pacific; Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. |
| Main Ecosystem: | Reef; Inhabitant of mature reefs with established populations of stony reef building corals such as Acropora species. |
| Temperament: | Peaceful; Likely to be territorial with conspecifics and Butterfly Fishes of similar appearance. Should be the only Butterfly fish in the typical aquarium setup, though in large enough aquaria, it is possible to integrate this with another Butterfly Fish of dissimilar appearance. Such integration, however, is best left to advanced aquarists. Peaceful toward a wide range of other species from other fish Families. |
| Diet: | Carnivore; In the wild, a feeder upon coral polyps, small crustaceans, filamentous algae and other similar items. Because it is, like most other Butterfly Fishes, a coral polyp eater, this fish is NOT REEF SAFE in an aquarium in which live corals are being cultivated! Can be migrated to more practical foods such as Mysis Shrimp, Cyclop-eeze, live Brine Shrimp and, if these are being cultivated in a refugium, small Amphipods. Filamentous algae should be present in the aquarium for grazing. |
| Care: | A "medium difficulty" Butterfly Fish species that requires, like almost all other Chaetodons, scrupulous attention to water chemistry. Best kept in a dedicated Red Sea aquarium setup with other Red Sea fish species upon account of its origins and the higher natural salinity of the Red Sea environment. Greatest difficulty with this species is likely to be the matter of feeding - specimens may prove recalcitrant in this respect. Once feeding in the aquarium however, likely to be long lived if cared for properly. |
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| Potential Size: | Male: 15cm (5.9") Female: 15cm (5.9") |
| Water Region: | Middle; In the wild, found swimming close to large branched coral heads which provide cover and protection from predators. |
| Activity: | Diurnal; Active throughout daylight hours. An active swimmer and forager. |
| Gender: | None known. |
| Breeding: | Captive breeding unknown at this point. |
| Variants: | None known. |
| Comments: | Differs from three other similar 'Pearlscale Butterfly' species in that the posterior colour patches are brick red instead of orange or yellow, and is also the only Pearlscale Butterfly Fish with a white-edged yellow eye stripe - all the other species have black eye stripes. |
| Main Colours: | White, Black, Red |
| Markings: | Striped And Spotted |
| Mouth: | Normal |
| Tail: | Flat |
| Search: | Show similar species Find compatible species |
| Image Credit: | © FishProfiles.com |
| Submitted By: | Calilasseia |
| Contributors: | Calilasseia |
| History: | View changes to this profile |
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