Species name: Chaetodon semilarvatus
Common names: Bluecheek, Masked or Golden butterflyfish
Family: Chaetodontidae (Butterflyfishes)
Order: Perciformes (perch-likes)
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length: 9 in.
Minimum tank size: 100 gallon
Hardiness: Medium. Once acclimatised and feeding, this is one of the toughest members of the genus.
Aggressiveness: Peaceful. Best to keep it with peaceful tankmates.
Reef Compatibility: With caution. Not suitable for reef aquariums with SPS corals. Can be kept with some soft coral such as sinularia spp
Distribution: Western Indian Ocean: Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Diet: Carnivorous. Feed upon coral polyps and assorted small invertebrates in the wild. Will take vitamin-enriched food such as Mysis shrimp, clams, shrimp, worms and similar fare. Some may even adapt to marine flake.
Additional information:
In the wild, the Bluecheek butterflyfish lives in the Indian Ocean where it is often seen in pairs or small aggregation in areas where there is rich coral growth at depth of 10 to 70 feet.
Its body is golden-yellow with a series of closely spaced vertical orange bars on its sides, and elongated dorsal fin and a dark blue patch behind the eye.
It always been a very popular species with aquarists and will make a nice addition to the home aquarium. It does well in community aquarium, with other Butterflies and Angelfish.
The ideal aquarium should have plenty of space to swim, hiding places, overhangs and coral decorations. Keep water quality high at all time. Keep water temperature between 72 and 78° F with a specific gravity of 1.020 to 1.025 and pH at 8.1 to 8.4. Like other species from Red Sea, it withstand higher than normal salinity so it is advisable to restrict other fish to species from Red Sea.