Butterflyfishes of the genus Chaetodon

Thanks to Hix we again can add a new species to species represented in the Gallery: near Christmas Island he made a picture of a wild Ovalspot butterflyfish - Chaetodon speculum ( see Ovalspot Butterflyfish | ZooChat ).

 

Last weekend I visited Rotterdam Zoo ( Blijdorp ) and althrough they have a very good fish collection, I was only able to discover 1 single specimen of a butterflyfish of the genus we are dealing with here.
In the large aquarium which houses several large muray eels I discovered 1 Sunbrust butterflyfish ( Chaetodon kleinii ) but before I was able to take my camera out of the bag, it had disappeared between the rocks in this aquarium and didn't show-up anymore, so I was unable to take a picture of this animal ( I have however seen and photographed this species on numberous other occasions and collections ).

 

Yesterday I visited the Zee-aquarium Bergen aan Zee and althrough there is a real large collection of saltwater-fishes, only 2 species of Chaetodons are kept - both in the same coralreef-aquarium :

- Chaetodon kleinii - Sunburst butterflyfish ( see Chaetodon kleinii - Sunburst butterflyfish | ZooChat )
- Chaetodon lunula - Raccoon butterflyfish ( see Chaetodon lunula - Raccoon butterflyfish | ZooChat )

 

ThylacineAlive uploaded a photo of a new species for our Gallery . It's also the first information of this species being kept in a public collection for me. The Spot-naped butterflyfish ( Chaetodon oxyxcephalus ) is thus kept at the Aquarium of the Pacific and is also known as Pig-face butterflyfish. Thylos photo can be found here : Spot-Naped Butterflyfish | ZooChat

 

Last weekend I visited Burgers Zoo and in the Ocean I noticed a species I hadn't seen before at Arnhem ( former last visit was last year ) :
Black-wedged butterflyfish - several specimens in the large shark-tank ( photo see :
Black-wedged butterflyfishes | ZooChat ).
Also the 2 other species which I saw also last year are still being kept, these being Threadfin butterflyfish and Raccoon butterflyfish.

 

Correction : By checking my photos of my 2017 visit I discovered that the Black-wedged butterflyfish was already kept at that time !
Last friday I visited "my" fishshop at Breda and discovered quite a number of butterflyfishes in the different tanks. Among them a lifer and a second species which I prop. had seen before but didn't recognized all the time because it looks like another - closely related species.
The Madagascar butterflyfish was already for several months on the website of the shop but I never did find it at the shop, the closely related Pearlscale butterflyfish was always in some numbers at the shop and althrough I tried to find the Madagascar bff several times among the Pearlscales, I didn't succeed. Last Friday I did, so one more species seen for surtain !
From another species I am sure I hadn't seen it before and was therefor very happy to discover several specimens at several tanks of the Teardrop butterflyfish ( Chaetodon unimaculatus ). Photos of all have been already uploaded in the Netherlands - other Gallery :



Chaetodon xanthurus - Pearlscale butterflyfish


Chaetodon madagaskariensis - Madagascar butterflyfish


Chaetodon unimaculatus - Teardrop butterflyfish

 

Butterflyfishes at Pairi Daiza
Last friday ( Sept. 7 ) I spend a great day with several other ZooChatters at Pairi Daiza - Belgium. Of course I had to check the Aquarium and found no less then 5 different Butterflyfishes of the genus Chaetodon :
- Red-tailed butterflyfish - Chaetodon collare ( see Red-tailed butterflyfish - Chaetodon collare | ZooChat )
- Eclipse butterflyfish - Chaetodon bennetti ( see Eclipse butterflyfish ( aka Bennet's butterflyfish ) - Chaetodon bennetti | ZooChat )
- Raccoon butterflyfish - Chaetodon lunula ( see Raccoon butterflyfish - Chaetodon lunula | ZooChat )
- Indian dubble-saddle butterflyfish - Chaetodon falcula ( see Indian dubble-saddle butterflyfish - Chaetodon falcula | ZooChat )
- Threadfin butterflyfish - Chaetodon auriga ( see Threadfin butterflyfish - Chaetodon auriga | ZooChat )
It's well possible that I missed one or more species ( hardly any signs in the Aquarium ) because I only had time to go one time through the Aquarium - there was so much else to see at this Zoo ( ) but because of the several new, rare species I guess other ZooChatters will also find their way to Pairi Daiza and if they have some extra time, please have a look at the Aquarium and make report if you see other species of butterflfishes that I missed !

 

These are just the four species that ZTL says for Pairi Daiza, so I don't think they have more species...

 

Just made an up-date check of this thread:
when I started this thread ( mid-July 2016 ) there were photos of 39 species in the Gallery and in the time between the listing began and the listing ended ( end of July 2016 ) 1 new species already had been added.
In the meantime no less then 13 new species have been uploaded in our Gallery so now the number of species from which we have photos is 53 ( more then half of the known species ).
1 species ( which may be number 54 ) is still questiable - the Banded butterflyfish ( Chaetodon striatus ) - see post # 65 of this thread.
Also checked the number I've seen myself sofar and came to 27 species .

 

And my count is also for 27 species- seen in the wild. and there's a further 5 species I've only seen in captivity.



Hix

 

Hope to gonna beat you within a few weeks ....... ( and see my first Butterflyfishes in the wild .... )

 

Here is a small list of Chaetodon species I’ve seen in Australia.

SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast- September 2018
-Double-saddled Butterflyfish Chaetodon ulietensis

SEA LIFE Melbourne- December 2018
-Double-saddled Butterflyfish Chaetodon ulietensis
-Threadfin Butterflyfish Chaetodon auriga
-Sunburst Butterflyfish Chaetodon kleinii
-Dusky Butterflyfish Chaetodon flavirostris

 

Did you take some pictures of the Butterflyfishes you saw because esp. the Dusky butterflyfish would be very intresting, because there are still no photos of this species in the Gallery.

 

Just back from a short vacation in Egypt and here I made my first attemps in underwater-photography. Also saw my first wild Butterflyfishes and 3 of them were lifers for me and 2 of them were sofar not represented in our Gallery :
- Black-tail butterflyfish - Chaetodon austriacus



- Red Sea raccoon butterflyfish - Chaetodon fasciatus



- And the 3th lifer was the Lined butterflyfish - Chaetodon lineolatus but from this one I didn't manage to make a photo ( it is however already represented in the Gallery )

Saw 2 more species ( Chaetodon auriga and Chaetodon semilarvatus ) but those I had seen already many times in captivity.

To " beat " Hix I had hoped to see some more of the endemic Red Sea-species but I guess I was on the wrong places to find these - maybe next time !

 

I don’t think I can be much help, however I have very poor images of a Dusky Butterflyfish and Sunburst Butterflyfish (indentified by Zoochat members and confirmed by the aquarium).
Butterfly Fish ID? Melbourne Aquarium | ZooChat
Yellow Fish ID? Melbourne Aquarium | ZooChat
I also have a photo of a Double-saddled Butterflyfish.
Double-saddle Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ulietensis) | ZooChat
By the way, congratulations on your first wild Butterflyfish species.

 

Thank you WhistlingKite24, I must have missed your photo of the Dusky butterflyfish completly but this means one more species represented in our Gallery, !

 

Well, the two you photographed above I have never seen before, wild or captive, so you've beat me on those!



Hix

 

When I visited in February, Two Oceans Aquarium (Cape Town, South Africa), displayed:
Chaetodon auriga
C. vagabundus
C. kleinii
C. lunula
C. interruptus
C. guttatisimus
C. marleyi
C. blackburnii
C. madagaskariensis

A wonderful collection.

 

Today visited my local fishshop at Breda and discovered a Lifer : the Pacific double-saddle butterflyfish - Chaetodon ulietensis :

 

A couple of weeks ago I've visited the New England aquarium at Boston. It's a true paradise for butterflyfish lovers! I've got 4 new species of Chaetodon, 1 of Heniochus, 1 of Johnrandallia and 3 of Prognathodes. Find and aquarium with only one species of Prognathodes is already rare, so three different ones is a miracle! Aside of the new species for my collection (capistratus, miliaris, ocellatus and xanthocephalus) they also had a lot of more commonly seen species such as auriga, collaris, ephippium, humeralis, semilarvatus, vagabundus and more!