Forcipiger longirostris

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Facts
Latin name Forcipiger longirostris - (Broussonet, 1782)
Local name Longnose butterflyfish
Family Chaetodontidae - Forcipiger
Origin East Indian Ocean, West Indian Ocean, Australia, The Red Sea, Indonesia, East Pacific, Central/West Pacific
Max length 22 cm (8.7")
As aquarium fish
Minimum volume 400 l (106 gal)
Hardiness Average
Suitable for aquarium Experience, preparation and extra care required
Reef safe Always reef safe
Aggressiveness Mostly peaceful but might be aggressive towards similar species
Feed
Recommended Small crustaceans (Krill, mysis, artemia...)
Zooplankton (Cyclops, pods...)
Beware of
Eats tubeworms

This species likes to eat tubeworms.

Keep in mind
Requires a varied diet

This species must be fed with an appropriately varied diet.

Well established aquarium with pods

This species thrives best when there is a sufficiently large amount of micro life (copepods, amphipods or similar) in the aquarium, so that the it can always find their own food.

Frequent feeding

This fish requires feeding several times a day, especially when newly added.

When the fish can find its natural food in the aquarium it requires less frequent feeding. 

Fastidious feeder

These fish eat exceptionally slowly and can be very selective feeders.

It can therefore be problematic to provide it with a sufficient and varied diet, in an aquarium with other, faster feeding species.

Hiding places

This species needs good hiding places, for example, between live rocks.

Initially shy

This species can be very shy when first introduced into a new aquarium.

More aggressive fish can be introduced after this species has acclimatized.

Descriptions and further reading
Description

This species can be distinguished from F. flavissimus by the all dark eye and the longer snout.
It needs to be feed very small pieces of food.

There is also an all brown variant of this species.

Family description (Chaetodontidae)

The Butterflyfish are known for their attractive patterns and colours. They are closely related to Angelfishs, but can always be distinguished, as they lack the spines on each side of the head of the Angelfish.

A smaller group of these fish will seek out primairily soft corals, like Zoanthus. A larger part of the species will target different types of LPS corals. Butterflyfish are also known to seek out anemones, tubeworms and bristleworms.

Therefore it is important to choose the correct species in relation to the corals wanted, if one desires to keep Butterflyfish in a coral-aquarium.
Bristleworms, tubeworms and other small invertebrates are also a part of the diet for many Butterflyfish.

It can be problematic, with many of these species, to get them eating in the beginning, but many of the species cannot resist live zooplankton or live mussels with crushed shells. Another option is to mimic their natural behaviour by stuffing their food into coral skeletons or stones.

They ignore most other fish and are generally peaceful, therefore multiple Butterflyfish will have no problem living together. One should however be cautious about keeping similar species together unless they are a couple.

As these fish can be difficult to acclimatize and get feeding, it is important to buy healthy fish, to avoid having to deal with more problems. Make sure to check that they do not have parasites or any visible infections.

There are some species that should not be kept in an a aquarium, as they are food specialists and will almost always refuse to eat replacement foods. It can be possible to breed some species, which will eat frozen foods. Otherwise the only way to keep food specialists is by feeding them their natural diet, which consists of live SPS or LPS corals for example.

FishBase
Aquarium trade Yes
Distribution Indo-Pacific: East Africa to the Hawaiian, Marquesan, and Pitcairn islands, north to the Bonin [=Ogasawara] Islands, south to New Caledonia and the Austral Islands; throughout Micronesia.
German common names Langschnäuziger Pinzettfisch
English common names Longsnouted coralfish
Big long-nosed butterflyfish
Big longnosed butterflyfish
Rare long-nose
Danish common names Langsnudet pincetfisk
French common names Poisson pincette à très long nez
References and further reading

About references


Bob Fenner. The Yellow Longnose Butterflyfishes, Genus Forcipiger - Wet Web Media - (English)

Scott W. Michael. 2004. Angelfishes and Butterflyfishes (Reef Fishes Series Book 3) TFH Publications / Microcosm Ltd. - (English)
Bob Fenner. Butterflyfishes; Separating the Good Ones and Those You Don't Want - Wet Web Media - (English)
Collection of links to additional information - Wet Web Media - (English)
Tea Yi Kai. 2014. Reef Nuggets 2: Aquatic Lepidopterans for your reef (Revised edition) - Reef Builders - (English)