All fish / Chaetodontidae

Eightband butterflyfish

Chaetodon octofasciatus

Also known as eight banded butterflyfish, eight-banded butterflyfish, eightbanded butterflyfish, 8 band butterflyfish, eight band butterfly, ผีเสื้อแปดขีด, ヤスジチョウチョウウオ, kepe-kepe delapan garis, 八带蝴蝶鱼, 八线蝶

This is a small, pale yellowish-white butterflyfish with eight thin dark vertical bars running across its body and an eye bar through the head. People keep it for its neat, striking pattern and modest adult size, but in the wild it is a specialist that eats live coral polyps.

Care at a glance

Care level

Hard

Temperament

Peaceful

Adult size

10 cm

Temperature

24 to 28 °C

pH

8.1 to 8.4

Smallest tank

300 litres

Keep as

Singly or as a mated pair

Diet

Carnivore: feeds mainly on coral polyps in the wild; try mysis, brine shrimp, chopped clam and mussel, and frozen coral-feeder mixes

Swims

Middle of the tank

Lifespan

5 to 7 years

Water

Marine (saltwater)

Wild range

Indo-West Pacific: India and Sri Lanka to the Philippines, Indonesia, northern Australia and southern Japan

Breeding

It spawns in open water, releasing eggs that drift with the plankton, and the larvae go through a long pelagic tinholichthys stage. It has not been bred reliably in home aquariums.

Good to know

This is an obligate coral feeder, so many specimens refuse substitute foods and slowly starve, and it is best left to experts or not bought at all. It will also nip stony and soft corals, so it is not safe in a reef tank.