Butterflyfishes of the genus Chaetodon

vogelcommando

vogelcommando

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Althrough I'm not a "Fish-person" I've become by recent visits to several Aquariums and fish-dealers a little more intrested and afther the idea of TeaLovingDaves thread of species we have lost, I started to search on ZooChat and Zootierliste which species of Butterflyfishes of the genus Chaetodon have been kept in zoos and aquariums.
Most information I gathered from Zootierliste but because this only deals with Europe I guess fellow-zoochatters can provide a huge amount of more information about holders and species kept out-side Europe.
The Butterflyfishes I'm talking about belong to the genus Chaetodon and there are 88 known species. From these 88 species 36 are currently kept in European collections and 10 species which have been kept have dissapeared. In the Gallery I was able to find photos of 39 species ( not only taken in zoos but also in the wild ) and also in the Gallery I found 4 more species which are not kept in Europe but are kept in other regio(s) like America or Asia.
I will now start to make a list of all species and make comments about their captive status and if photos can be found in the Gallery :

1 ) Chaetodon aldiergastos - Philippine butterflyfish, at the moment only kept at the Wilhelma - Stuttgart Germany. There seem to be no photo of this species in the Gallery.

2 ) Chaetodon andamanensis - Andaman butterflyfish, no captive information and no photos in the Gallery.

3 ) Chaetodon argentatus - Asian butterflyfish, no captive information and no photos in the Gallery.

4 ) Chaetodon assarius - West Australian butterflyfish, no captive information and no photos in the Gallery.

5) Chaetodon aureofasciatus, Golden butterflyfish, being kept only at Zoo Berlin, Germany. Couldn't find a photo in the Gallery.

6 ) Chaetodon auriga - Threadfin butterflyfish, the most commonly kept species of the genus in Europe with no less then 37 holdings. There are also a number of photos in the Gallery like this one :
http://www.zoochat.com/1881/threadfin-butterflyfish-436780/?highlight=chaetodon

7 ) Chaetodon auripes - Oriental butterflyfish, only kept in one collection in Europe, La Mutatiere in France but devilfish saw ( and photographed ) the species at the EPSON Aqua Park in Japan earlier this year. This is his picture :
http://www.zoochat.com/740/oriental...uary-441403/?highlight=oriental+butterflyfish

8 ) Chaetodon austriacus - Blacktail butterflyfish, at the Paris Aquarium Porte Doree the species ( 4 specimens ) was kept during untill 2014. There are no photos in the Gallery.

9 ) Chaetodon baronessa - Eastern triangular butterflyfish. Could'nt find information about the captive keeping of this species but it seemed to been kept in Spain ( public or privat collection ?? ) because kakapo posted the only picture of this species in the Gallery in the Spain - other section:
http://www.zoochat.com/715/eastern-...sa-346875/?highlight=triangular+butterflyfish

10 ) Chaetodon bennetti - Bluelashed butterflyfish. Kept at La Mulatiere in France. I've seen the species also at a shop in the Netherlands and devilfish saw it in captivity in Japan. 2 pictures in the Gallery and this is the one I made in the Netherlands :
http://www.zoochat.com/705/chaetodon-bennetti-437446/?highlight=chaetodon+bennetti

To be continued...
 
Last edited:
Interesting thread......

Made me look back through my pictures (not the ones on Zoochat).

I have a picture of C.semilarvatus from Porte Doree but not C.austriacus unfortunately.
 
Newzooboy said:
Interesting thread......

Made me look back through my pictures (not the ones on Zoochat).

I have a picture of C.semilarvatus from Porte Doree but not C.austriacus unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Thank you Newzooboy but as you see the list is alphabetic and it will take some time untill I'm dealing with the "s" of semilarvatus but even so, if its a nice picture, please add it to the Gallery ( so far I only 'discovered ' 2 pictures of this species in the Gallery ).
 
There are a load of these species held by aquarists. Particularly the Threadfin Butterflyfish is more commonly kept but the Tahiti Butterflyfish and Pyramid beats the species as lots of aquarists like their vibrant colours. And the Semilarvatus is very expensive that not a lot of aquarists keep them, apart from rare fish lovers.
 
A nice idea VC. I'm sure I'll have seen a few of the less common species on your full list but I can't guarantee good photos... :)
 
@ lowland anoa : I know that several species are kept also in good numbers in privat collections and if we can fill gaps in the Gallery with photos from there, it will be also OK.
The Pyramid butterflyfish is indeed a real beauty but belongs to another genus as I'm here dealing with ( Hemitaurichthys ).
@ devilfish : I was already almost sure you could fill some gaps of missing species in the Gallery and also provide information about species kept not in Europe but else where ;) !
 
Part 2 :
11 ) Chaetodon blackburnii - Brownburnie, no information about being kept in Europe and also no photos in the Gallery.

12 ) Chaetodon burgessi - Burgess' butterflyfish. Kept in 2 public collections in Europe and also avaible in the pet-trade. Its there were the only photo in the Gallery was made :
http://www.zoochat.com/705/chaetodon-burgessi-436168/?highlight=chaetodon

13 ) Chaetodon capistratus - Foureye butterflyfish. Currently kept in 3 European collections and I've seen it myself in 2014 at X-caret in Mexico. In the Gallery I also found it to be kept at the New York Aquarium. 2 photos in the Gallery from which this is one :
http://www.zoochat.com/1852/four-eyed-butterflyfish-391180/?highlight=chaetodon

14 ) Chaetodon citrinellus - Speckled butterflyfish. Kept only at Moscow Zoo and the several photos of this species in the Gallery are all made in the wild :
http://www.zoochat.com/1821/citron-butterflyfish-chaetodon-citrinellus-287175/?highlight=chaetodon

15 ) Chaetodon collare - Red-tail butterflyfish. A quite commonly kept species in Europe where it is found in 15 public collections. Also in the Gallery some photos can be found like this one which I made in a shop :
http://www.zoochat.com/705/chaetodon-collare-436164/?highlight=chaetodon

16 ) Chaetodon daedalma - Wrought iron butterflyfish. No information from European collections but devilfish posted a picture from one kept at Sumida Aquarium in Japan :
http://www.zoochat.com/740/wrought-...rium-february-439872/?highlight=butterflyfish

17 ) Chaetodon declivis - Marquesas butterflyfish. No info about captive keeping and no photos in the Gallery.

18 ) Chaetodon decussatus - Indian vagabond butterflyfish. found only information about 2 former holders of this species : The Wilhelma in Stuttgart - Germany recieved the species during 2012 but lost it the same year and at Budapest the species was kept untill 2014. There are no photos of this species in the Gallery.

19 ) Chaetodon dialeucos - Oman butterflyfish. No information about captive keeping and also no pictures in the Gallery.

20 ) Chaetodon dolosus - African butterflyfish. Also from this species no captive experience and no photos.

To be continued...
 
Last edited:
While increasing numbers of marine fish species are being bred in captivity, all butterflyfish species are currently still wild caught. Many species are specialist feeders on coral polyps, which is why they are practically impossible to maintain in aquaria. However, at least one species of Chaetodon has just been successfully raised - the link to the report is here: BOOM! Done. Captive Bred Butterflyfish Just Became Awesome R
 
May I suggest that the Fishbase photographic key to the butterflyfishes is a most useful resource for this thread, to help sort out identifications and synonyms.http://www.fishbase.org/identification/SpeciesList.php?genus=Chaetodon

I fully agree with zoovolunteer's comments. I don't think we should be doing anything to support the importing of species such as the beautiful Chaetodon ornatissimus which are obligate feeders on coral polyps, and so are effectively impossible to maintain in aquaria (without massive commitment and resources).
Likewise it must be remembered that virtually all the butterflyfishes that are currently in captivity will die without reproducing successfully. Baensch's success in Hawaii (described in the link in zv's post above) is interesting and important, but he effectively relied on wild-caught plankton. Few aquarists in Europe can dream of attempting something similar.

Alan
 
Zoovolunteer said:
While increasing numbers of marine fish species are being bred in captivity, all butterflyfish species are currently still wild caught. Many species are specialist feeders on coral polyps, which is why they are practically impossible to maintain in aquaria. However, at least one species of Chaetodon has just been successfully raised - the link to the report is here: BOOM! Done. Captive Bred Butterflyfish Just Became Awesome R
Click to expand...



Thats great news about the Sunburst butterflyfish ! Lets hope more succesfull raising methods can be found and that soon other species of butterflyfishes will follow their example ! Thanks for sharing Zoovolunteer !
 
Part 3 :

21 ) Chaetodon ephippium - Saddle butterflyfish, kept at the moment at 9 European collections and devilfish saw it this year also at the Sunshine Aquarium in Japan. Several photos of this species at the Gallery and this is the one of devilfish from Japan :
http://www.zoochat.com/740/saddle-b...okyo-february-436406/?highlight=butterflyfish

22 ) Chaetodon falcula - Blackwedged butterflyfish, also quite common in Europe, being kept at 10 collections. I've seen it also several times in the pet-trade and there are several photos of the species in the Gallery from which this one is made at a dealers-place :
http://www.zoochat.com/705/black-wedged-butterflyfish-453905/?highlight=butterflyfish

23 ) Chaetodon fasciatus - Diagonal butterflyfish, kept at 5 European collections but there seem to be not a single photo from this species at the Gallery.

24 ) Chaetodon flavirostris - Black butterflyfish, kept only at the Wilhelma - Stuttgart and there are no photos from this species in the Gallery.

25 ) Chaetodon flavocoronatus - Yellow-crowned butterflyfish. No information about any captive-keeping of this species and no photos at the Gallery.

26 ) Chaetodon fremblii - Bluestriped butterflyfish. 2001 it was kept at the Barcalona Aquarium but there are no pictures of the species in the Gallery.

27 ) Chaetodon gardineri - Gardner's butterflyfish. No information about this species being kept in captivity and also no photos in the Gallery.

28 ) Chaetodon guentheri - Crochet butterflyfish ( aka Guenther's butterflyfish ) no information from Europe but there is a single photo in the Gallery made at the Sea World Gold Coast - Australia :
http://www.zoochat.com/64/gunthers-butterflyfish-166824/?highlight=butterflyfish

29 ) Chaetodon guttatissimus - Peppered butterflyfish, kept only at the Moscow Zoo in Russia and there seem to be no photos in the Gallery.

30 ) Chaetodon hoefleri - Four-banded butterflyfish. No information found about this species being kept in a zoo and also no photos in the Gallery.

To be continued...
 
Last edited:
The common ones privately owned as pets are:
Auriga butterflyfish
Raccon butterflyfish
Saddle back butterflyfish
Spotfin butterflyfish
Spotband butterflyfish
Sunset butterflyfish
Pakistan butterflyfish
Pearlscale butterflyfish
Orange butterflyfish
Banded butterflyfish
Four eyed butterfly fish
Falcula butterflyfish
Latticed butterflyfish
Vegabond butterflyfish
Teardrop butterflyfish
Mertensii butterflyfish
Tinkeri butterflyfish
Tahatian butterflyfish
Double saddle butterflyfish
There are several other butterflyfish commonly kept in the home Aquariam but these are not of the chaetodon genus.
 
Part 4 :

31 ) Chaetodon humeralis - Threebanded butterflyfish. No information about captive kept and no photos in the Gallery.

32 ) Chaetodon interruptus - Yellow teardropbutterflyfish. Kept at only one collection, Paris Aquarium Porte Doree but there are no photos of this taxon at the Gallery.

33 ) Chaetodon kleinii - Sunburst butterflyfish, one of the more commonly kept species at the moment and can be seen in 25 European collections. As Zoovolunteer told us earlier in this thread its also the first species of this genus which has bred in captivity ( see BOOM! Done. Captive Bred Butterflyfish Just Became Awesome R ) There are quite a number of photos of this species in the Gallery like this one :
http://www.zoochat.com/755/sunburst-butterflyfish-454473/?highlight=butterflyfish

34 ) Chaetodon larvatus - Hooded butterflyfish, As far as I could find out, not kept in zoos and also no photos of this species in the Gallery.

35 ) Chaetodon leucopleura - Somali butterflyfish. No information about being kept in captivity and no photos of it at the Gallery.

36 ) Chaetodon lineolatus - Lined butterflyfish. At the moment kept at 3 collections but even so not a single photo of this species in the Gallery.

37 ) Cheatodon litus - Eastern Island butterflyfish. No information about being kept in captivity and no photos in the Gallery.

38 ) Chaetodon lunula - Raccoon butterflyfish. One of the more commonly kept species ( 20 collections ) and also several pictures at the Gallery like this one :
http://www.zoochat.com/705/raccoon-butterflyfish-436524/?highlight=butterflyfish

39 ) Chaetodon lunulatus - Oval butterflyfish ( aka Redfin butterflyfish ). Didn't find any information about this species being kept in captivity but there are 2 photos of this species made in the wild in the Gallery from which this is one :
http://www.zoochat.com/1821/redfin-butterflyfish-chaetodon-lunulatus-287953/?highlight=butterflyfish

40 ) Chaetodon madagaskariensis - Seychelles butterflyfish. At the moment kept at 2 collections ( Wilhelma Stuttgart and Wroclaw Zoo ) but has also been kept at the Berlin Zoo where the only picture at the Gallery was taken :
http://www.zoochat.com/1359/seychel...is-346880/?highlight=seychelles+butterflyfish

To be continued...
 
It's worth mentioning a few things:

1) Zootierliste is excellent, but the listing is far from complete when it comes to fish, including the family discussed in this thread (reasonably reliable for fish in German, British and Dutch facilities; much less elsewhere).
2) Whether wild caught is acceptable can be discussed. The primary issue in my mind is if this is from sustainable and well-regulated sources; preferably in a manner where the local population is given an economic incentive to maintain their resource (e.g. coral reefs). Basically this.
3) There has been a bit more progress in captive breeding of this family than the single article by zoovolunteer suggests. However, we're still far from the point where it is realistic to supply a decent percentage by this. If you see a butterflyfish in an aquarium today, you can pretty much assume it is wild caught. This will hopefully change in the coming decade(s).
4) Although strict corallivore butterflyfish are virtually impossible for private keepers, this is not the case for public aquariums, which have far larger resources. I know several cases where corallivore butterflyfish have been kept for years, but this generally involves a few specimens in a very large coral exhibit. This allows some coral grazing without depleting the exhibit because of its size. Very few private aquarists have aquariums that are large enough with enough coral growth to allow butterflyfish to graze without depleting the corals fast. On a related issue new foods that can be used for more specialized species have started entering the market, including some that can support the "semi-exclusive" corallivores. With the rapid advances in this field it's only a question of times before something that works for the strict corallivores becomes available.

Zoovolunteer said:
Full list is here: CORAL Magazine?s Captive-Bred Marine Fish Species List for
Click to expand...

Great list and pretty complete for most groups. However, the list is very incomplete for Chondrichthyes (sharks, rays, etc) and entirely lacks species from colder (non-tropical) waters.
 
Last edited:
Great list and pretty complete for most groups. However, the list is very incomplete for Chondrichthyes (sharks, rays, etc) and entirely lacks species from colder (non-tropical) waters.[/QUOTE]

I agree the list is incomplete - for example it also excludes those species cultured for fish farming and similar, as well as leaving out invertebrates, many of the crustaceans for example. The list gives some idea of the potential selection of species available for a purely captive bred tropical marine exhibit.
 
I have photos of gutattisimus and lineolatus (and others) taken in the wild, and they'll be uploaded when a gallery is created for Christmas Island.

:p

Hix
 
Part 5 :

41 ) Chaetodon marleyi - Doublesash butterflyfish, couldn't find any information about this species being kept in aquariums and there are also no photos of this species in the Gallery.

42 ) Chaetodon melannotus - Blackback butterflyfish, at the moment kept at 5 European collections. At the Wilhelma - Stuttgart a specimen reached the age of 8 years and one month in the 1970-ties. It has also been kept at the Waikiki Aquarium - Hawaii where the only photo of this species in the Gallery was taken :
http://www.zoochat.com/1153/blackba...on-melannotus-266612/?highlight=butterflyfish

43 ) Chaetodon melapterus - Arabian butterflyfish. 1984 it was kept at Berlin Zoo and was called Chaetodon arabicus. There are no photos of this rare species in the Gallery.

44 ) Chaetodon mertensii - Atoll butterflyfish ( aka Merten's and Yellowback butterflyfish. At the moment only kept at 1 European collection - Zella Mehlis in Germany and the few photos in the Gallery are all made in the wild like this one :
http://www.zoochat.com/1393/yellowb...odon-mertensi-279754/?highlight=butterflyfish

45 ) Chaetodon mesoleucos - White-faced butterflyfish, at the moment not kept at all ( at least not in Europe ) but it has formely been kept at 3 European collections. There are no photos of this species in the Gallery.

46 ) Chaetodon meyeri - Scawled butterflyfish, Not been kept and no photos in the Gallery.

47 ) Chaetodon miliaris - Millet butterflyfish ( aka Milletseed butterflyfish ), formaly kept at 3 collections, the last one(s) at Budapest in 2014. It has also been kept at the Waikiki Aquarium - Hawaii and the only photo in the Gallery was made there :
http://www.zoochat.com/1153/milletseed-butterflyfish-265022/?highlight=butterflyfish

48 ) Chaetodon mitratus - Indian butterflyfish, didn't find any information about this species being kept in captivity and there are no photos of this species in the Gallery.

49 ) Chaetodon modestus - Brown-banded butterflyfish, another species for which I didn't find any information about being kept in captivity and also no photos of it at the Gallery.

50 ) Chaetodon multicintus - Pebbled butterflyfish. No information abot being kept in zoos and no photos of this species in the Gallery.

To be continued...
 
@ Hix : looking forward to your pictures of "missing" species and as you can see I already made links at several species of photos made by you.
 
I've also got some nice shots of meyeri - they're fairly common here.
 

Attachments

  • 25.jpg
    25.jpg
    106.2 KB · Views: 9
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top