Peppered Butterfly, Chaetodon guttatissimus

The Peppered Butterflyfish (Chaetodon guttatissimus) is a beautiful butterfly found among the Indian Ocean. They inhabit reefs where they hunt for small crustaceans and coral polyps. They have a silver or golden body with black specks and a false-eye stripe. Reaching a maximum size of 5 inches, they do well in a FOWLR tank of at least 75 gallons. They are peaceful and can be kept with other peaceful fish but may become aggressive towards other Butterflies with a similar pattern or coloration in smaller tanks.

They are also not reef safe since they will nip at and eat soft corals and stony polyps as well as ornamental shrimp, tube worms and anemones. Diet should include a variety of mysis and vitamin enriched brine shrimp, spirulina, nori, seaweed, marine algae, and algae-based foods, 2-3 times daily.