OMG! Look at these hybrids and rare fishes!

[yikai]

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.

[yikai]

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.

[yikai]

another look at the very rare yellow crown butterflyfish.

[yikai]

what anthias is this?

male parvirostris?

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus earlei flashing

[yikai]

female johnson's fairy wrasse

[yikai]

this klein's butterfly looks unusual..

[BFG]

Fright coloration perhaps?

[yikai]

Fright coloration perhaps?

i was looking at the bright blue spots.

usually the spots are very small and evenly spaced. this one has big blotchy blue spots.

[yikai]

this video is sick! check out the flashing earlei!

[cool guy]

Wow.... Nice...

[Digiman]

what anthias is this?

male parvirostris?

I've no idea wat this anthias is also. May not even be pseudanthias genus.

female johnson's fairy wrasse

I think this is a lunatus female.

[yikai]

I think this is a lunatus female.

v hard to tell.

it could be a lunatus female also. but female lunatus have stripes. maybe transitioning.

female fairies v hard to differentiate.

[Digiman]

Some of the rarest hybrid angels we can get:

Normal Maze Angel ($1300)

High grade blue Maze angel ($2400)

Africa Mac x Koran hybrid (at least $4000)

Maldive Juvenile Armitagei angel ($800)

[Digiman]

Here are five butterflyfish u can only dream of getting:

They are abundant in their habitat but are rare becos of their remote location. What's rarer is all these five are small size!

[yikai]

Here are five butterflyfish u can only dream of getting:

They are abundant in their habitat but are rare becos of their remote location. What's rarer is all these five are small size!

omg the smithi.

makes me want to cry!

gardinieri is very nice. i like selene also and they all so similar.

[Digiman]

omg the smithi.

makes me want to cry!

gardinieri is very nice. i like selene also and they all so similar.

I like the st helena butterfly, so unique!

The rare butterfly comes with a correspondingly rare angel:

St Helema butterfly + resplenden angel.

Litus butterfly + Hotumatua angel.

Three band butterfly + ballinae angel.

[yikai]

I like the st helena butterfly, so unique!

The rare butterfly comes with a correspondingly rare angel:

St Helema butterfly + resplenden angel.

Litus butterfly + Hotumatua angel.

Three band butterfly + ballinae angel.

the closest you will ever get to st helena is spotfin which LCK has brought in before from carribean.

litus butterfly is to hotumatua angel

tricincta butterfly is to ballinae angel/semicinctus swallowtail

st helena butterfly is to resplendent angel

don't forget prognathodes dichrous, the bicolor butterfly is also found in st helena and ascension islands. so correspondingly rare also.

smithi butterfly is also rare in it's own leage, but you can compare it to the hemitaurichthys multispinnis which also overlap in range in some parts of the world.

oblique butterfly is to st paul rock's queen

so many rare butterflies are rare hand in hand with angels!

hmph makes me mad. can't get the butterfly means u cant get the angel also.

[yikai]

out of all the rare butterflies u listed above, gardinieri is the most obtainable one.

gardinieri, selene and leucopleura are all very similar in appearance and closely related.

gardinieri is found in arabian peninsula and Sri lanka. it's obtainable from sri lanka shipment just that no one catches it.

selene is found in indoenesia, western new guinea and north japan. it's obtainable from indonesia shipment but maybe it's in another part where there's no collection, or people simply dont want to collect it. selene butterfly is however, rare in it's range and not common like other butterflies.

leucopleura is found in africa and has appeared before.

[Digiman]

out of all the rare butterflies u listed above, gardinieri is the most obtainable one.

gardinieri, selene and leucopleura are all very similar in appearance and closely related.

gardinieri is found in arabian peninsula and Sri lanka. it's obtainable from sri lanka shipment just that no one catches it.

selene is found in indoenesia, western new guinea and north japan. it's obtainable from indonesia shipment but maybe it's in another part where there's no collection, or people simply dont want to collect it. selene butterfly is however, rare in it's range and not common like other butterflies.

leucopleura is found in africa and has appeared before.

Gardinieri is a deeper water butterfly, almost to 100 feet deep. That makes it quite deep for a chaetodon.

Also it is not popular, so it is quite rare and unlikely to be seen in shipment.

[yikai]

Gardinieri is a deeper water butterfly, almost to 100 feet deep. That makes it quite deep for a chaetodon.

Also it is not popular, so it is quite rare and unlikely to be seen in shipment.

BUT THE THAIS GET IT!!

UGH im so jealous of the thais!

[FuEl]

What fish was this? Was severely infected with whitespot. Put it in formalin but it died.

Notice the forked tail..

[yikai]

What fish was this? Was severely infected with whitespot. Put it in formalin but it died.

Notice the forked tail..

Very nice tail.

Not a

Paeudocheomid. Looks like a dottyback from one of those obscure genus. Must check when I get back.

[FuEl]

Very nice tail.

Not a

Paeudocheomid. Looks like a dottyback from one of those obscure genus. Must check when I get back.

I was guessing Pseudoplesiops wassi based on coloration but somehow the body shape does'nt really match those photos online.

[Digiman]

I was guessing Pseudoplesiops wassi based on coloration but somehow the body shape does'nt really match those photos online.

Ok now with a better pic i can go and search wat it is.

The body shape and tail is v different from wassi and elongatus.

Was the body this red before it died? Cos u told me it's bluish grey but from the pic of the dead fish it looks reddish grey.