The Aptly Named Ornate Butterfly

Almost the world round, Chaetodon ornatissimus is known as the Ornate or Clown Butterflyfish, or a translation of these words into local dialect. The name “Ornate” does this fish justice, they are among the most beautiful of all the Butterflyfish (which, in our humble opinion, are certainly on the list of most beautiful marine fish overall). They are found in shallow tropical waters, usually less than 75 feet deep. They have a wide wild range; their distribution includes the all the reef bearing waters of the Pacific Ocean and Indo-Pacific Region, though they are missing from the Indian Ocean proper.

In the wild, juvenile Ornate Butterflies are almost always solitary, while adults are found both alone and in pairs. We suggest keeping them singly in the home aquarium, unless you buy them as a pair. It is difficult to establish a new pair in captivity as they are nearly impossible to tell apart based on sex, a condition described as “not sexually dimorphic.” In large enough aquariums they can be kept with other butterflies, if you take steps to reduce aggression, like adding them all at once, and/or significantly altering the rock work of the display. They are generally peaceful with other types of fish, though they might be territorial with fish of very similar body shape. While not huge, they can be five or six inches long at maturity, and as such make a perfect showpiece for tanks that are 100 gallons or more (our minimum suggested tank size for an adult.)

As referenced, these fish are always found near coral reefs and this is because the majority of their wild diet is made up of coral polyps, though they also consume a significant proportion of tiny inverts and eggs. This diet represents the primary challenge in the successful husbandry of this fish. In house, we've had great success in getting them to take a prepared diet by using Nutramar's Ova product, a very nutritious, irresistible food that is 100% prawn eggs. We've also had good luck using Nutramar's Algae and Color Boost shots, a food that can be stuck to rocks or glass so that fish that need to graze are provided a very nutritious food in a format that they are familiar with. They will also consume live foods like Nutramar Artemia, and both live blackworms and live tubifex (see our article on homegrown foods – tubifex) are often accepted. Smaller (younger) specimens are more easily converted to prepared diets than full size ones. The challenge in feeding these fish means we recommend them only to the most experienced hobbyists and professional aquarists in public aquariums.

This diet also suggests that they will be high risk in tanks that feature corals, especially SPS or small polyp stony corals. Indeed, they are almost certainly going to consume some coral polyps in this environment, as well as some soft polyps, fan / tube worms, bristle worms and clam mantels. While these fish can be successfully kept in reef aquariums, they will slowly consume these corals, and because their range to graze in will be limited, this usually means they will eat all the polyps sooner or later. Soft polyps like Anthelia, Cervera, Parazoanthus, Xenia, Briareum and Sympodium have the potential to reproduce fast enough to stand up to the constant grazing in a large enough aquarium or offer the opportunity to be cultured in a secondary system or refugium. Our website's polyp page has good description of all these corals and can be seen here: https://www.qualitymarine.com/quality-marine/coral/polyps/.

Ornate butterflies will do best in systems that have a lot of rockworks for them to graze, while still offering opportunity for open water swimming. Plan for a lot of swim-throughs overhangs and arches. The extra living material that either cultured or true live rock provide can be a benefit in providing the stability and the forage opportunities that the butterflies will do best in. The water quality parameters they prefer are fairly standard for marine aquariums, pH stable at 8.0 – 8.4, temperature in the mid 70s Fahrenheit, and consistently low nutrient levels, shoot for nearly undetectable phosphates and nitrates under 5ppm. Large regular water changes with quality salts like Tropic Marin, will make maintaining these parameters much easier. They are used to bright conditions and should accept your aquarium lighting without much issue. They will love as much flow as you can provide, and oversize filtration will help you maintain high water quality, in addition to this baseline current, they will also appreciate flow or wave devices.

The Ornate Butterfly is not the fish for everyone, but for those with the right system and experience, this is one of the “holy grail” fish in the butterfly world. They are stunningly beautiful, very active and have a gorgeous swimming style. If you are ready for this challenge, then getting your fish from the industry leader in sourcing marine specimens is the correct first step toward husbandry success. Head to your Local Fish Store, and demand sustainably harvested Chaetodon ornatissimus from only Quality Marine today.