Pyramid BF

[aquaph8]

Just curious and thought Id ask. I noticed that I see some Pyramids with yellow faces and some with black, why? Is this a regional thing of just random?

[hogfanreefer]

Mine are brown, one is darker than the other. I don't guess I've seen one with a yellow head. Does it stay that way into adulthood or is it a juvenile thing?

[snorvich]

Just curious and thought Id ask. I noticed that I see some Pyramids with yellow faces and some with black, why? Is this a regional thing of just random?

The dark ones are Hemitaurichthys zoster whereas the yellow ones are Hemitaurichthys polylepis. Both are behaviorally the same.

[hogfanreefer]

Ooops! I didn't think about the zosters. I was thinking you were seeing different color varations of the pyramids.

Here's a picture of the two species
.http://aquarium-fish.liveaquaria.com/search?w=zoster

[Baldguy]

As the picture shows the yellow pyramid does have a dark face as does the zoster. I think they get darker as they age on the yellow. I love my zoster. Lots of personality.

[aquaph8]

I know the difference between a Zoster and Pyramid, they have quite a few obvious differences. What Im talking about is the difference in the the face of Pyramids from dark to light. Baldguy, do you think its an age thing? If you use google image and see what comes up under Pyramid butterfly, you'll see what Im talking about. Some have a completely yellow face and some have a black face with a yellow body. I tried to take a screen shot and post it but Photobucket takes forever to crop the personal stuff off the top of my screen. Hope this helps, thanks for all the replies so far.

[SDguy]

From what I can tell, non-stressed, established pyramids have very dark faces in regular daylight hours.

Also, flash photography really lightens the face in pictures, IME, even when they are visually dark in person.

[aquaph8]

That makes sense. Thanks Peter

[Baldguy]

When I google "juvenile pyramid butterflyfish" I do see references to juveniles having bright yellow faces. Second link from reefs magazine states ... Juveniles have bright yellow faces that turn to a light brown as they mature.

[aquaph8]

Interesting, that would also make sense considering I've never really seen any small pyramids for sale. They always seem to be rather large, I wonder why.

[hogfanreefer]

I think a lot that variation is due to photographic technique and not true coloration. Has anyone seen a completely yellow and white pyramid in person? I've seen some pictures that kind of look that way but never one i person.

My pyramids were about 2.5" when I got them and are by far the smallest I've seen offered. They had brown faces when I got them and haven't changed any in color I've noticed. They have almost doubled in size though.

[nonstopfishies]

All sizes have shown dark faces that I have seen both in ocean and store... safe to say I have seen a few :)

https://youtu.be/gKZ4a43zlaA

[ca1ore]

Here is my current trio ....

http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r680/ca1ore/IMG_9773_zpsqcaiyyzr.jpg (http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/ca1ore/media/IMG_9773_zpsqcaiyyzr.jpg.html)

They are a bit darker in this picture than to the naked eye, but faces are a dark brown.

[caribfan]

Do you ever get much aggression between the three. My pair get kind of testy every once in a while.

Beautiful shot by the way.

[ca1ore]

Not amongst these three, no. I started out with four though, and the 'runt' got the 'brunt' and predictably failed to show one morning. I have a pretty heavily stocked tank with a number of 5" fish that collectively appear to suppress aggression. Even my yellow and purple tangs appear to have given up beating the crap out of each other.

[caribfan]

I've thought about adding a few more, I initially wanted 5. There are a few ither fish I want too though and I'm just not sure I'll have the space for all of them.

Do you have a tank thread?

[ca1ore]

I originally was shooting for 5, but I had so much trouble getting healthy fish that I decided 3 was sufficient. Plus I ended up going anthias crazy, so probably just as well :lol:. My build thread is over in the large tank section, CT265 Build. Most of it is me talking to myself though .....