yikai

that's why unobtainable. at least in singapore anyway. the main population still found in guam. the range extention covers until marshall islands but over there the population of flavocoronatus is lower. and not to mention most of them are probably stained with burgess or tinker's blood. so pure flavo from marshalls still v v rare and yah, if have also all go japan. singapore will never live to see a flavocoronatus butterfly.

haha. cannot collect all 5. the flavocoronatus is unobtainable. from guam. the other 4, tinkeri is very expensive. i only have 2. it's enough for me.

i never buy fish that i do not like. even if it's v rare and cheap, if i don't like it, i will not buy it. i only buy stuff that excites me. unfortunately, i'm very fascinated with hybrids and rare fish. not because they are rare or hybrids. that's very superficial. behind every fish is an interesting story. a wonderful and interesting story that explains the nature of the fish and how the fish evolved etc etc. i know it's very sciency and very geeky, but each fish paints a different story and it's the story and the rarity and the novelty that intrigues me and make me want to buy it. like the colini angelfish. it's rare, it's expensive and it's beautiful. but if i buy it, i won't say i bought it for those three reason. i will say because colini angel is a very unique and special dwarf angel. it has only one closest relative and it's found in the extreme depths of cook islands and nearby waters. that is, the narcosis angel. i find the idea of it being related to a legendary angel like the narcosis angel very fascinating and makes me like the fish more! and for example mitratus butterfly. it's rare and expensive. but i dont buy it coz of those two reasons. i buy it because it's closely related to the 4 other roaps butterfly it shares it's lineage with. but yet it looks the most different from all other 4 because of allopatric speciation. charle's darwin's theory of evolution is at play and mitratus buttefly portrays this very well. so this is my reason. every one will have different reasons. unfortunately mine is very geeky. but sometimes i am guilty of buying fish just coz they are rare and expensive i think everyone is guilty to a certain extent no? haha.

another look at the very rare yellow crown butterflyfish.

not too long ago, tinker's butterfly was thought to be found only in hawaii. however, due to deep water exploration, it has been discovered that tinker's butterfly has an extended range outside of hawaii too. flavocoronatus butterfly was also thought to be found only in guam. the yellow crown butterfly, like the tinkeri, have also been found to under go range extension. but somewhere in the marshall islands, all 4 out of 5 of them can be found together and are producing many fascinating hybrids. 4 of the 5 above look very similar because all are found in the pacific and are so closely related that they have not changed much in genetics over the years. the last one, mitratus, is found in the indian ocean. it has changed the most and that's why it looks so different. there is no hybrids of mitratus butterflies because it does not overlap in range with the other roaps.

These are the butterflies called the roaps butterflies. in clockwise direction, Chaetodon mitratus (Mitratus butterfly) *** Chaetodon burgessi (Burgess butterfly) * Chaetodon declivis (Declivis butterfly)** Chaetodon flavocoronatus (Yellow-crowned butterfly)********** (unobtainable) Chaetodon tinkeri (Tinker's butterfly) **** the * represent rarity. the more * the rarer burgess butterfly is the most common, available from philippine and bali shipments. declivis butterfly is the 2nd most common, can be found in hawaii shipments. mitratus is the 3rd rarest in singapore, which is only found from our maldive shipments which are quite uncommon. tinker's butterfly is the 4th rarest, which can only be found from hawaii shipments but very rarely. the last one, the yellow crowned butterfly, is unobtainable in singapore and is rare to the "nth" degree! all 5 are very very easy to keep. feed very well feed very quickly deep water fishes, so they are considered by many to be reef safe. but with caution please. treat them the same way as you would do to a dwarf angel.

thanks! yes very handsome fish. i like butterflies from this genus. very good looking and consider by many to be very reef safe because of their deep-water habitats in the wild, usually devoid of corals and only full of rubble rock. more reef safe than most dwarf angels. the 5 brothers. if you're wondering why they all look so similar, there's a very interesting story behind it. ok i know it's going to sound boring and dry but for those who want to know, here's why they all look the same. the family of roaps butterflies shown before are a prime example of darwin's evolutionary theory of allopatric speciation. they are all very closely related and probably all originated from only one species. but over time, this one species spread out to other parts of the world and slowly start evolving to suit that particular habitat. so all the new "species" that got separated change a little bit from the original design. that's why 4 of the 5 below look so similar. the white coloured ones are all found in the pacific ocean, not far from each other. most of them have over lapping range also. because of the lack of extreme differentiation in habitat and evolution, they all look similar but still different at the same time. the yellow one, mitratus butterfly, is the only member to be found in the indian ocean. it separated the furthest from all the other members, and that probably explains why it's the most different in colouration. over the years it has evolved and adapted to the indian ocean and it looks different from it's pacific brothers. it's range does not overlap with the rest. that's the hypothesis anyway but if you ask me, it makes perfect sense. charles darwin was a genius. and is still one! big clap to one of the fore fathers of biology. if not for darwin and linneaus, the theory of evolution and taxonomy will never exist today!

congrats on your baby wilson! nice frag tank. copperband looks abit skinny though.

you soak fish food in praziquantel and feed the fish. praziquantel will kill any internal parasites and worms. very important for if not, the fish will wither away despite feeding. that's what happened to my previous choati.

yes that maroon clown is the most beautiful maroon i've seen so far. i like it even more than the lightning maroon. the pattern is so nice! like an art work. the maroon is also very nice but it's a different kind of nice.

video of mitratus butterfly. so active and curious. i have no idea why the hell the video turned out like this. must be youtube error. anyway still can view. enjoy!

fish guru? haha that title goes to digiman. i could say i'm his under study angels and butterflies are my latest case studies. so i still have much to learn. but if you have any questions about wrasses you can ask me. i'm better at those.

little mitratus butterfly is doing very well. it's so tiny. only triple A battery sized. declivis is ignoring him which is good!

i like this GSP. all green everything is green.

the smaller the specimen, the easier to adapt. bigger ones break down easily and often suffer from decompression problem. they are also sensitive and tend to start showing problems with health or shipping such as sores, lethargy and just obvious signs of breaking down/ all in all, if you obtain a healthy, good sized specimen about 2-4 inches, it should not be too difficult in getting them to feed. bandits are very expensive when small. the smaller they are, the more ex. cooler water is best. about 25-27. try not to exceed. although many ppl in the states reccommend lower temp. it's not possible in our hot country. reef safeness? my motto is. if you cannot take the risk with angels, then don't keep them in a reef tank at all. i don't believe in percentage of reef safeness. i also don't agree with it. but i conform to it because all other people here believe in this imaginary "percentage" of reef safe. all fishes are different. some can choose not to eat, some can choose to eat. some are particular and eat only certain corals, some eat everything. how to put a % to that? if you scared of angels eating corals, then don't keep angels. if you not scared of angels eating corals, then keep angels. you must feel good about it. no point keeping angels in reefs but worry about it everyday. if you trying bandit i wish you success! it's not easy but it's very rewarding. it's certainly a majestic looking fish and i think it's the nicest fish that exhibits the dichromatic colours of black and white!

also may i know the price of the par38?

no one in singapore succeed before except the one in reef depot's show tank. it died due to addition of sand in which it got buried in it. choat's leopard has been brought in by sealife, LCK, reborn and reef depot. succees rate is low. you need to make sure nothing is exerting aggression on it, and you need to de-worm them fast. give them time to settle down. if they survive they will make for a stunning display.

The Resplendent anthias is very nice. Looks like Randall but the females have more intenenae colour with a cute yellow nose

mcculochii at LADD

the 2nd pic looks bigger abit lol. i guess in a small tank it could make a difference. but most of the time it's due to people's judge of size. dont forget. some fish have high profiles like butterflies and angels. so 2 inch in length but it could also be 2 inch high. or some fishes may be higher than they are long! so the overall appearance make it look v big,

they are horrible shippers. maybe even worse than xenias. but if you get a healthy one, pass through the settlement stage, stabalise, it will grow very fast and just as easy as any cheap $5 leather.

thanks all. yahhhh ahhhhhhhh you have no idea how long i've waited for this. watch all the maldive shipments pass me buy as this fish slips out of my hands. at least it paid off. though it's more expensive that from elsewhere, the size is unbeatable. of all the maldive shipments i've missed, i've not seen one so small.

thanks! as expected, feeding already on mysis and pellets. very hardy fish.