need help ID'ing heniochus species

[petermai]

i fell in love with the heniochus diphreutes(reef safe) species. i've been looking everywhere for them and trying to not mistaken them or H. acuminatus which is not reef safe at all.

anyways, i bought one today from capital city aquarium in sacramento and the guy there specifically told me that the specimen that i bought was a reef safe H. diphreutes and not the H. acuminatus. just put him in my tank a few hours ago. he's already out playing with his other tank mate, but i did notice him nipping at some of my zoo's. no significant damage because they'd open up after a few minutes.

but i was wondering if anyone out there has pictures and can state the difference between the two species for me. the difference between the two species is really confusing to me. and the last thing i want is to mistaken this new addition to be reef safe.

whoever has been to this store, please reassure me that the heniochus i purchased is indeed the H. diphreutes. it's the smaller one...thanks.

peter

 

[wombat2]

You will have to post a picture.

There's a very slight difference in the way the second black band hits the end of the ventral fin if I remember right. Try and get a very close pic of the bottom back half of the fish.

 

[thereefgeek]

Hmmm, the guy at Capitol told you it was the reef safe species? I bet if you told him you were looking for the non-reef safe polyp eating variety he'd have sold it to you as such.

 

[wombat2]

Sorry, bad info. I told you to take a picture of the right part, but it's the anal, not ventral fin. It's a very subtle difference.

It is a little easier to tell by looking at the mouth.

H. diphreutes (the safe one) has a mouth that is less pronounced. Look at where the bottom edge of the second black band hits the edge of the fin. It is closer to the tail than in H. acuminatus.

Now this is H. acuminatus. A more pronounced snout, and the bottom edge of the second black band hits nearly at the corner of the fin.

It's very subtle, but if you can post a good pic I think I can ID it.

 

[petermai]

don't think i got your second picture. can you try sending it again.

 

[wombat2]

H. acuminatus

Picture an outline of the head, snout, and breast of the fish. In H. diphreutes it looks more like { and in H. acuminatus it's closer to <. Hope that makes sense.