The Great Pele (Butterfly)
We like to (and often do) feature underrated fish here on the website. As a group, marine Butterflyfish are perhaps the most overlooked fish out there. Which is, in our opinion, a catastrophic loss to the home aquarist; these are some of the most beautiful fish available to hobbyists, often size appropriate, frequently peaceful and hardy, and some are even useful!
Pelewensis Butterflies fit this bill. They go by the binomial nomenclature (scientific name) Chaetodon pelewensis. They're also frequently called Dot Dash Butterflies and Sunset Butterflies, and both of these are for pretty obvious reasons once you've seen one. These are peaceful fish, that stay relatively small (almost never getting bigger than five inches from tip to tail). That said, they are also very active fish and so need at least a 55 gallon aquarium to house them until adult hood (more is nearly always better). This tank should be well established and stable. The exact chemistry parameters are less important than the stability of them. A specific gravity could be anywhere from 1.020 up to 1.026. The temperature should be between 70 and 78 with a pH between 8.0 and 8.4. They don't need substrate and are good candidates for bare bottom tanks. Make that decision based on your personal aesthetic or the needs of your other aquarium denizens. The flow should be high, the rockwork should be open, but copious. Your Pele is going to want things to swim through and around but is also going to want rocks to graze on.
That's where we come to feeding your Pelewensis Butterfly. They're omnivores, and love to graze, on pretty much everything. Sadly, this includes sessile (stays in one place) invertebrates like corals, clams, featherdusters, gorgonians, etc. On the positive side, it also makes them pretty easy to feed, because they're quite used to sampling the whole menu. In house we feed them a mix of meaty foods, Gamma Mysis, Rotifers, Tubifex, Bloodworms, Brine plus Omega and Brine Plus Spirulina among others. We also offer them both pellets and shots of the Nutramar Algae and Color Boost formula. The shots offer a great way for these fish to utilize their natural feeding behavior (grazing) as you can stick the shot to rocks or glass in the tank. It's also the best way to get a high protein, broad nutrient spectrum food to your Butterfly and this is a critical element to succeeding with them (and honestly any fish!) Here we feed twice a day and recommend that as a bare minimum to the home hobbyist. Peles are also going to eat some things that could be considered pests, like bristleworms and fireworms as long as the worms are small enough.
Pelewensis Butterflies are excellent community fish, generally ignoring any other fish you keep them with, even other Butterflies, unless it is another Pelewensis. If you buy a pair of them, you could keep them together in a large aquarium, but other than that avoid adding two Peles to the same system. They are great with Anthias, Gobies, Cardinals, most Wrasses, Clowns, Dwarf Angels, peaceful Triggers, etc. You get the idea. You don't want anything intensely aggressive, and that's pretty much it, mix and match a gorgeous tank. We've seen a display at a Local Fish Store here in LA with a Pelewensis, a large group of Pajama Cardinals and a pair of Pencil Wrasses that was amazing in its patterns, activity and colors.
Chaetodon pelewensis are gorgeous fish, visually worthy of being an anchor in any aquarium. If there is a catch point for them it is in initial acclimation. Acclimate Pelewensis slowly, and make sure they are getting added to an aquarium where they are not going to be bullied through feeding times. Once they are comfortable and feeding in an established aquarium, they are generally quite hardy. As long as that aquarium isn't a reef tank, there isn't much to worry about! If you're not really the coral type of hobbyist, and let’s be honest, by the numbers that's more than 75% of us, then give the Pelewensis Butterfly some consideration. Tell your LFS that Quality Marine sent you.