Inter-subgeneric hybrids of Roaps butterflies are rare and amazing

Roaps butterflyfishes can form hybrids with other unrelated members of the butterflyfish group although very rarely, to form inter-subgeneric hybrids. Fishes and other animals generally hybridize with other species that are highly similar, usually in the same genus, or within the…

Chaetodon tinkeri shows why the roaps butterflyfishes are fearless and hardy

Hybrids aside, Chaetodon tinkeri is the least common and arguably the coolest obtainable member of the five roaps butterflyfish – with emphasis on the word obtainable. As far as butterflyfishes go, all five species within this subgenus Roaps are hardy…

Rare Butterflyfish Parade: Roa excelsa, Roaps flavocoronatus and a new Roaps tinkeri hybrid

Not sure what is in the air lately but have we got the goods on a nice handful of uber rare butterflyfish fish for you. Hot on the heels of the orange margin butterflyfish, Prognathodes basabei, we have an odd-phase…

Gotta love those Roaps butterflyfish

Even with a supposed downturn in the economy there appears to be no shortage of beautiful and pricey butterflyfish from the subgenus Roaps. We’ve seen many more Tinker and Burgess butterflyfish in finer aquarium shops around the country this year…

Adding a New Fish to A Boisterous Saltwater Aquarium Display

We never thought we’d see that day that our YouTube channel would feature a how-to about adding a gold crown butterflyfish to a display tank that is already home to a large mature adult Tinker’s butterflyfish but here we are.…

The ‘Cleanest’ Flavocoronatus Butterflyfish Appears at SDC-ERI

The gold crown butterflyfish, Chaetodon flavocoronatus, is one of the rarest species of butterflyfish that we’ve been writing about since 2009, but had never seen for ourselves until last week. Closely related to the tinker’s butterflyfish from Hawaii, the declivis butterflyfish…

Prognathodes obliquus Subject of Deep Ecology Study [Video]

The oblique butterflfyfish, Prognathodes obliquus is a striking species of marine fish with a very unique pattern and also a true micro-endemic. Like the Clipperton Angelfish we covered last week, the oblique butterflyfish is known only from one group of…

Mitratus Butterflyfish In The Shape of a Burgess, Or The Other Way Around?

But man, what a brilliant yellow specimen it is! Burgess butterflyfish usually have a mostly black back, black crown and black eyestripe but the Aqua Gift Burgess Butterflyfish is throwing out extra yellow all over the place. Not only is the…

Guyote butterflyfish and many other sightings by Okeanos deep sea ROV

Prognathodes guyotensis, the uber rare Guyote Butterflyfish is the pinnacle of a whole suite of awesome deepwater animals that have been documented over the last week. The Okeanos Explorer is an ROV expedition by NOAA that has been live-streaming its…

Reef Nuggets 2: Aquatic Lepidopterans for your reef (Revised edition)

In our previous episode of Reef Nuggets, we explored our options for peaceful and lesser known damselfish to add a little spark of colour and life to our aquariums. Having vanquished the hateful stereotype that not all damsels are malevolent and…