Heniochus diphreutes

[dzhuo]

Can you share experience such as dietary requirement, frequency of feeding, nipping at corals or not, etc of keeping Heniochus diphreutes? I would love to see pictures of small group in a reef tank.

 

[zachk]

I had a trio from DD that would eat any meaty foods, flake, and pellet. They didn't touch any of the tube worms, corals, anemone, etc. in the tank. I fed them 3-5 times per day and they grew really quickly. Very cool fish!!

 

[shaka]

I've had mine for over 5 years. He eats everything I give him (NLS pellets, Rods Reef Food, frozen brine and/or mysis shrimp, fresh clams on the half shell). Not a finicky eater at all.

I don't have him in a reef tank. I only have live rock. But I don't see him grazing off the rock too much. I believe he is more of a planktivore.

Very hardy generally speaking.

One thing I definitely like about him is his passiveness. He's never been a problem with new fish.

I had 2 H. acuminatus in the same tank with him (150 gallon). And I will say that the H. acuminatus were very aggressive to each other and him all the time. I ended up trading in the H. acuminatus.

I recommend making sure you get an H. diphreutes and not an H. acuminatus.
They look similar but the H. diphreutes' mouth (snout) is "higher" up on its face when you look at it from the side (profile). The H. acuminatus has a mouth(snout) that slopes down lower. I hope that makes sense.

I"ve also read that H. acuminatus is not reef safe.

 

[dzhuo]

I recommend making sure you get an H. diphreutes and not an H. acuminatus.
They look similar but the H. diphreutes' mouth (snout) is "higher" up on its face when you look at it from the side (profile). The H. acuminatus has a mouth(snout) that slopes down lower. I hope that makes sense.

Yes makes sense. I can't say I am 100% certain that I will be able to tell the difference but the supplier where I got the fish from is only importing them from Hawaii so they should all be H. diphreutes.

Thanks for both of you sharing your experience. Still hoping to heard more opinions.

 

[SDguy]

I had one in my FOWLR for a while. One of the fastest growing fish I've ever kept. And they will get to their max size, or very close to it... nothing like Chaetodon species butterflies. They get very large!

 

[zachk]

I didn't realize how massive this fish could get either until I saw several in an aquarium at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Their maximum size is very attainable.

 

[dzhuo]

LA lists the max size for this fish to be 10". Is this base on the vertical height?

 

[SDguy]

Fishbase lists it at 21cm TL, or about 8.2" inlcuding tail. Mine went from 2" to 7" in a year (I swear, you can ask my friends that would only see it once evey few months... they always gasped when they walked into the room with the tank :lol: )

 

[jd474]

Yep, very hardy fish, but gets very large, so hope you have a huge tank. I kept a group of 15 or so, both H. diphreutes and H. acuminatus. Do not get H. acuminatus. The snouts are different, but the anal fin is much easier to differentiate, especially in juveniles, IMO. H. diphreutes is mostly perpendicular, while H. acuminatus is a 45 degree angle. Once you see this, they are not difficult to tell apart. This is the only pic I have of most of the school:

Not my favorite fish, but kind of neat to see in groups.

 

[dzhuo]

I saw your picture a few times when I was doing research. How big is your tank? My tank is 48"x30"x24" a total of 150g and I am thinking adding 2 or 3. Do you think this will be a problem?

When you say it's not your favorite fish, what aspect of it that you don't like?

 

[jd474]

I saw your picture a few times when I was doing research. How big is your tank? My tank is 48"x30"x24" a total of 150g and I am thinking adding 2 or 3. Do you think this will be a problem?

When you say it's not your favorite fish, what aspect of it that you don't like?

The tank is large. Personally, I wouldn't put one in a 150, but I'm sure 99% of other hobbyists would argue and say it's o.k. It's just my opinion. A small one would be best, obviously, but they will attain max size, or very close to it. Just imagine a dinner plate(s) swimming around, and consider if it's enough space for them.

I don't necessarily dislike them, just that there are many other fish I would put ahead of them if space was a premium.

 

[SDguy]

One was too big for my 48" 110g. I wouldn't even consider multiple for your tank.

Are you looking for a butterfly for your reef? Or were you just interested in this fish in particular?

 

[dzhuo]

Peter,
How big is your tank when you have this fish? How many did you keep? I am kind of interested in this particular fish.

 

[SDguy]

I only had the one. It is a 110g 48" long tank.

 

[dzhuo]

At what point did you notice the fish being stressed in a 4' tank during the time you raised it from 2" to 7"? Has it not growing at the expected rate which lead you to believe it's stressed in your tank? Or is it something else?

 

[SDguy]

At what point did you notice the fish being stressed in a 4' tank during the time you raised it from 2" to 7"? Has it not growing at the expected rate which lead you to believe it's stressed in your tank? Or is it something else?

Well, it jumped out before I had the chance to remove it, even with eggcrate on the tank, so that was my first hint It was really strange... I actually found it dead, on top of the eggcrate. How it managed that I will never know.

It was very active...it swam more and faster than my other butterflies. It just looked weird, eventually, at that size in a small tank. I don't know how else to describe it... it just looked uncomfortable, for lack of a better term.