Chaetodon austriacus

Chaetodon austriacus, commonly known as the Blacktail butterflyfish, is a small butterflyfish. Their body is orangish-yellow and has black vertical stripes on the head, dark blueish-grey horizontal stripes on the body and a blue mouth. The anal, caudal and part of the dorsal fin are pitch black with a bright yellow to orange rim and the dorsal fin is mostly white. The stark contrasting pattern and colours make it a real beauty!

These fish are quite peaceful to most other fish, but might haress similar looking fish. They live most of their life solitary or in pairs on coral reefs. In an aquarium they can best be kept alone, unless a proven pair can be found. They're obligate corallivores, meaning they feed mainly on corals (SPS polyps) and do need them to stay healthy. This makes them not suitable for a fish-only tank and they will do best in a large reef tank stocked with fast growing SPS. Do keep in mind that they will do considerable damage to these corals! A real specialist fish!