Forcipiger flavissimus. The Yellow Longnosed Buterflyfish

[yikai]

time to promote one of the hobby's very misunderstood and poorly known fish.

Forcipiger flavissimus, the long nose butterflyfish.

It pains me to know that so many reefers are put off by this fish because of it's frilly and seemingly delicate appearance. Truth is, this is as easy as any butterflyfish can get. A healthy individual will begin feeding almost immediately after shipping. by almost immediately i mean few hours to 1-2 days max.

Feeding is no issue, it is very easy. As for hardiness, this is about as hardy as most butterflyfishes will get. Disease resistance is fair to say the least. Butterflies are notorious for their extremely poor tolerance for disease. The longnose butterflyfish on the other hand is opposite. Although still easily proned to ich, they tolerate it pretty well and build resistance very quickly as compared to their delicate cousins.

the most important question is probably if they are reef safe or not. This is about as reefsafe as any butterflyfish can get. their tiny pincer like mouth makes it impossible to eat SPS polyps. As for LPS and softies, they rarely if ever, take a bite. You would probably stand a higher chance witnessing a blue tang eating your LPS than this happening.

The sister species, Forcipiger longirostris, is 100% reefsafe. It looks almost identical to the longnose except for having an even longer nose, about 0.5x longer. this makes it impossible to eat any coral polyp. However due to the even tinier mouth, feeding is difficult and thus, not as hardy as the regular longnose butterfly.

It pains me to see these beautiful fish being left to die at most LFS. Their skinny profile and tiny mouths means that they require at least 2-3 feedings a day of small meaty foods like mysis and chopped seafood to keep their weight up. Something that most LFS cannot commit to, and thus, these fishes often waste away.

Some specimens are known to take aiptasia, but not with as much gusto as their loser counterpart, the copperband butterflyfish, which hardly thrives when compared to these. Longnose butterflyfishes are beautiful yellow an black, with gorgeous dorsal spines to enhance those killer features. it's a beautiful fish and i would choose this over a boring yellow tang ANY day. plus, they require less space than an active tang and often like swimming upside down under rocks and caves, which adds so much character.

If so many people are willing to try copperbands which are 50x harder than this, i don't see why people should not give the beautiful longnose butterflyfish a try.

Convinced? The next time you are looking for a yellow fish to brighten up your tank, don't hesistate to consider the longnose butterflyfish. Don't be put off by their "delicate" appearance. they are just the opposite.

[sun2000]

time to promote one of the hobby's very misunderstood and poorly known fish.

Forcipiger flavissimus, the long nose butterflyfish.

Are the aggressive towards other species in a community tank? Already have a copperband, would the long nose get along?

[yikai]

Are the aggressive towards other species in a community tank? Already have a copperband, would the long nose get along?

longnose butterflies are extremely peaceful fishes and do not bother anyone. they will only fight with other longnose so get only one per tank, unless it's a pair which you either paired up yourself, or obtained from the wild.

copperbands are peaceful too but like the longnose, will not tolerate other copperbands unless paired. they may also express aggressiveness towards longnose butterflies due to the similarity in shape.

i have kept copperbands and longnose together with no problems at all. depends on your tank size too. what i reccomend is keeping the longnose butterfly separate for the time being and make sure it is feeding very well, then release it.

longnose butterflies can be shy initially and in a community tank, it might not get it's share of food. so make sure it's feeding very well first.

all the best.

[sun2000]

Thanks. I'll see if there are any good specimens this weekend. Seen some at iWarna but not sure if it's still there. Will update if I do find a good one.

[Copperband]

Some specimens are known to take aiptasia, but not with as much gusto as their loser counterpart, the copperband butterflyfish, which hardly thrives when compared to these. Longnose butterflyfishes are beautiful yellow an black, with gorgeous dorsal spines to enhance those killer features. it's a beautiful fish and i would choose this over a boring yellow tang ANY day. plus, they require less space than an active tang and often like swimming upside down under rocks and caves, which adds so much character.

would sure like to know why is the copperband is known as a "loser counterpart"

[yikai]

would sure like to know why is the copperband is known as a "loser counterpart"

copperbands and longnose are quite similar in appearance and are closely related. thus i refer to them as "counterparts". comparing the two, longnose butterflies are very hardy and begin feeding almost immediately.

compared to the copperband butterflies which loses by a mile. copperband butterflies are difficult to feed and very often die from starvation or collection problems.

so comparing the two, longnose butterflies win in terms of hardiness and make ideal aquarium specimens.

cheers