by Stan & Debbie Hauter
Photo use courtesy of Brian Tissot,
Hawaii Coral Reef Network: Fishes
of Hawai'i (Butterflies)
Common Name: Ornate Butterfly
Clown Butterfly
Hawaiian Name: Ki-ka ka-pu
Scientific Name: Chaetodon ornatissimus
Source Info: Fishes of Hawaii
by Spencer Wilkie Tinker
The Ornate Butterfly has a white body marked by six diagonal, parallel orange stripes. The head is yellow with five black vertical bands, one running through the eye. The tail is marked by a black vertical stripe through the middle and edged at the tip with black. The outer edge of the fins are yellow highlighted by a thin black inside border.This Butterfly Fish is one of the most sensitive and difficult to keep. It is especially susceptible to disease and bacterial infections, both external and internal. When collecting this fish if you do not get it out of the catch net promptly, it will run up and down the net causing abrasion to its mouth, resulting in the lips getting infected and puffed up. Once this occurs they stop eating.
It is a coral eater. The smaller juvenile specimens will pick up on tank fed foods and do fairly well, but in the larger adult stage getting it to eat anything else in captivity is extremely difficult.
As adults you usually see this fish traveling in mated pairs, and the juveniles will band together in small groups of three or four at a time.
Adults average in size of about seven inches, occasionally larger to about nine inches. It inhabits the shallower waters on the reef out to deeper waters of 35-40 feet. Being a very skittish, shy fish it likes plenty of rock, crevice or coral cover to hide in.
It is a fish that we choose not to ship to just anyone and we stay away from the larger adult specimens, only collecting and shipping them to expert/advanced aquarists on occasion. Larger specimens do not travel well in shipping. If you do ship this fish you should triple the size of the bag you would normally use for another species of the same size. They stress easily and can jump around expending a lot of energy so they need more room and oxygen during transit.
Think twice about getting one of these fish if you are not an experienced aquarist.
