Schooling Bannerfish (Heniochus Diphreutes)

[boilermaker1]

Its my understanding that these are reef safe, but very simlar to the long fin black and white butterfly which is a reef terror. I also understand the major difference is the stripe on H. Diphreutes ends closer to the tail of the fish.
Few questions if anyone has one.... when buying one or ordering one (more likely since my LFS probably won't have it/get it for me)... whats the likelihood they screw up and send me the bad one instead of the right one? I can look at pics of the 2 on the internet and see the difference... so one hopes the guy packing it would to, or should I be looking for a store that only stocks H. diphreutes so I don't stand a chance to get the wrong one.
And... its my understanding they're a bit of a pain to get to eat, but with smaller and friendly tank mates they'll eat.... any suggestions in what to try to coax them into eating at first?
They're gorgeous fish, is it worth a shot? Or should I not even try it?
Are they known as disease magnets?

 

[Kent E]

I'm no fish guy so please don't take this seriously, but I don't think there is any difference. They are far too hard to differenciate. When people try due... they end up having their tank ransacked.

 

[Bax]

Here's mine, picks (grazes) on LR around corals & clams, but has not harmed anything. We love this guy, plan to get several more for the upgrade to a 260g

 

[Palani]

the one in the picture looks like acclemensis (spelling is wrong). The way you can tell is that the anal fin on diphrutes has a pointed/squarish fin compared to a rounded /circular fin as seen in the picture above

 

[VSpeck]

palani, i donthink thats correct. the schooling bannerfish (reefsafe) the pear black stripe ends at the corner of the anal fin whereas the longfin banner (destructive in the reef) the black stripe in the rear doesnt come all the way to the corner. they can be magnets but are very possable to keep i had a friend who has 3 of them in a reef and they are beautiful while swimming together most local fishstores will order them.let them figure out how to get them to eat after they start eating they take just about anything

 

[just dave]

Heniochus acuminatus

Heniochus diphreutes


Depending on the size it may not always be easy to tell them apart but if you acquire them from a Hawaiian source they will be H. diphreutes as H. acuminatus does not come from that area.

 

[3.99AfterTaxes]

Agreed with the above. Just wait til you see them on a shipment alongside yellow tangs, flame angels and chevron tangs.

 

[Kent E]

They look sooo simular. Could it be the same fish with different tendancies because of the location?

 

[Palani]

Vspec, from the picture you can see that the anal fin seems more rounded just like how the picture shows.

 

[mysis]

i have heard that the schooling bannerfish will learn to eat corals.

EG if it is in a tank with angels that nip at corals, the banner fish can watch and learn to eat them, becomming very destructive.

 

[Bax]

Mine is in a tank with a Coral Beauty, also billed as a possible coral nipper. I have trumpets, favia, frog spawn as well as SPS and clams. Life is good on my reef with these two fish.

If you want the larger beautiful fish in a reef you will always be taking a chance that some individuals will act badly...

... It's kinda like when you get married, you like your wife, but she comes with a whole set of inlaws, some good and some ...

 

[old salty]

I just purchased two of these at the LFS. They are about an inch and a half long, and were eating in their tanks. They are in QT right now, and will be for the next few weeks. Nice looking fish!!

 

[tony13]

I research these for a long time and finaly found the right type, so I thought. They ate three sps colonies in a week before I could get them out. They are beautiful fish and would always swim together, but I guess I picked the wrong ones. I won't take any more chances with "risky" fish, to much work to get them out and to much money in lost corals. I would suggest putting some sps frags in the QT tank and see how they behave. Mine ate everything from mysis to flake, to bad sps was also in there.

 

[old salty]

Tony,

That is an excellent idea (putting an SPS frag in the QT.) I'm going to do just that. I order frags 20 at a time, so they are pretty much expendable. In a year or so, the high dollar ones will be added, but right now, I'm too busy learning to kill high dollar stuff.