OFTEN OVERLOOKED NANO-REEF FISHES

The tailspot blenny is a wonderful aquarium resident that can be housed in a nano-reef. This individual was photographed in West Papua, where it is quite common.

Here is a wonderful little fish that has only been making its way into the aquarium trade for approximately 5 years. It is the tailspot blenny (Ecsenius stigmatura) (a.k.a. tailspot comical blenny). If you do not own one of these fish, shame on you! It is a fascinating fish to watch, is attractive, and tends to get along with its tankmates.

The tailspot blenny is easily recognized by the black spot at the base of the caudal fin, that is trimmed in white. There is also a black patch on the mid-belly and an orange rim around the eye and a blue line under the eye. This diminutive little fish (it reaches around 5 cm in total length) is a resident of West Papua, the Moluccas and the Philippines (the individuals in the aquarium trade come from Cebu). It is found on reef faces and fore-reef slopes at depths of 2 to 30 m. It is typically a solitary species, although it is sometimes found in small groups.

The tailspot blenny is a wonderful fish! It exhibits and interesting color pattern, including orange and blue eye liners, and spends more time in the water swimming about than many other blennies. It can be housed in a nano-reef as small as 15 gallons. Provide plenty of hiding places, preferably small holes that it can back into, in the live rock. You can use a ¼ to ½ inch drill bit to create some of these in the rock. Feed meaty and herbivore foods at least twice a day.

Ecsenius stigmatura is very neighborly. It rarely bothers fish tankmates, including other smaller blennies. If it has been in a tank for a while, it will assert its dominance over newly introduced members of the same genus (especially in a smaller tank). It is more likely to be picked on by dottybacks, more aggressive damsels, and hawkfishes. You can keep more than one in a tank of 75 gallons or larger (a known heterosexual pair can even be housed in a smaller tank, but sexing them is difficult). It rarely bothers clams or corals.

The tailspot blenny spends almost an equal amount of time resting in its favorite hiding hole and swimming about the aquarium looking for food. It does not appear to be a big algae eater, like some others in the family. It may leap out of an open aquarium.

©2008 Scott W. Michael

WARTY FROGFISH SLIDESHOW

©2008 Scott W. Michael

PSEUDOCHEILINUS OCELLATUS WALLPAPER

OK loyal gobies to grizzlies purveyors - how about some wallpaper? I have been using this one on my own monitor for a while and really love this fish! Just click on the photo above and set it as desk top background. (Please - use it for your computer or send it to a friend.)

It is, of course, Pseudocheilinus ocellatus, the whitebarred, tailspot or mystery wrasse. The first one of these beautiful fish that I saw was in a holding tank in Hawaii in 1991. Richard Pyle had collected it for his girlfriend (now wife's) father while diving in Japan. I was mesmerized by the colors of this then undescribed labrid. It was not until 1999 that Dr. John Randall described the beautiful little beast. The color is somewhat variable. Some are more pink overall, while others exhibit a purple base color. The presence or boldness of the white bars on the body is also variable. The whitebarred wrasse has been reported from Cocos Keeling Islands, the Great Barrier Reef, the Fiji Islands, Japan, the Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Pitcairn Island and Johnston Atoll. It tends to prefer greater water depths than its congeners, having been reported at depths of 20 to 58 m (65 to 189 ft.).

If you have a chance to get one of these beautiful fish for your reef tank, I would. You can even place one of these fish on its own in a larger nano-reef (e.g., 20-gallons). There is only one downside with P. ocellatus. As with others in the genus, it can be a bit of a bully. It is especially hard on smaller fishes added to a tank after it - larger P. ocellatus are especially prone to thuggery. On the other hand, I have had whitebarred wrasse that were the recipient of heterospecific-labrid aggression. For example, I had a medium-sized individual that was incessantly chased by a crescenttail hogfish (Bodianus sepiacaudus). The hogfish did not bother any of the other fishes in the tank, including fairy wrasses and a small pinkstreaked wrasse (Pseudocheilinops ataenia), but for some reason, the hogfish “hated” the P. ocellatus!

Provide this fish with plenty of overhangs and caves for refuging. But, it will usually acclimate to the aquarium quickly and begin spending much of its time in full view. I have had P. ocellatus leap out of an open aquarium when they were being harassed by other fish. They might also jump out of the aquarium when the lights are turned-off. The whitebarred wrasse will scan live rock as it searched for smaller prey items. It is a minimal threat to ornamental invertebrates, including crustaceans. I have kept it with several different species of cleaner shrimps without incident. That said, I should point out that larger P. ocellatus might eat ornamental shrimps and crabs, especially when these crustaceans are molting.

Copyright (2008) Scott W. Michael

UNARMED PERCHLET (PLECTRANTHIAS INERMIS)

Do you have an unarmed perchlet in your tank yet? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?? Photo by Scott W. Michael.

There are over 40 species in the genus, many of which would make fascinating aquarium inhabitants. This is one of the most spectacular members of the genus, Pelicer's perchlet (Plectranthias pelicieri). It is rarely collected and those specimens that are go to the Japanese ornamental fish trade. Photo by Tsuyoshi Kawamoto.

There are a number of fish species that have become quite common in the aquarium trade in the last six years. One of these, that I am most excited about, is an aberrant member of the subfamily Anthiinae. That’s right – it, and its kin (i.e., other members of the genus Plectranthias), are freaks of the subfamily. Most of the anthias spend the daylight hours in the water column, snapping up zooplanktors. But the freaky little perchlets behave more like hawkfishes (family Cirrhitidae) than their anthias relatives (so much is their likeness to a cirrhitid, that P. inermis is often sold in the aquarium hobby as the “geometric hawkfish.”) Rather than soaring about, high in the water column, they spend their time in repose on the seafloor. The are very cryptic, hiding among coral rubble or among stony coral branches during the day. These little fishes are often most active at dusk and dawn, or in dimly-lit microhabitats, like on rubble-covered cave bottoms or in the shadow of reef overhangs.

The unarmed perchlet (Plectranthias inermis) is a small fish, attaining about 5 cm in total length, that is ideal for the nano-reef aquarium. It is a threat to small ornamental shrimp (e.g., anemone shrimp), but otherwise, your prized invertebrates will be safe in the perchlet tank. It is also a threat to small gobies (e.g., Eviota, Trimma, Trimmatom). As far as its piscine neighbors are concerned, P. inermis is best housed with small, passive fish species (smaller cardinalfishes, small wrasses, blennies, dragonets, gobies, dartfishes). Its diminutive stature also means it a potential meal for large fish-eaters and a target of benthic bullies (e.g., dottybacks, hawkfishes).

More than one unarmed perchlet can be kept in a medium to large aquarium. However, males may fight (males, in general, are larger than females). Before making its approach toward a conspecific, P. inermis will raises and lower its elongated dorsal spine. If aggression escalates, the assailing perchlet will skim over the bottom as it approaches its adversary, with its tail slightly higher than its head. It undulates its tail, apparently to move itself forward, and spreads its gill covers (primarily the lower portion of the buccal area). All the fins are spread. I have noticed that as these fish grow, the pectoral fins become larger in proportion to the body size. Although studies are lacking, it is likely the Plectranthias spp. are protogynous hermaphrodites like other members of their subfamily.

The unarmed perchlet can be quite secretive, but will spend more time in the open in an aquarium that contains dither fish species such as Chromis, flasher wrasses, forktail blennies. It is prone to jumping, especially from tanks without adequate shelter and hiding places. Remember, is natural tendency is to lurk within rocky hiding places, resting at the entrance of a shelter and making a brief forays into the open. Provide it with nooks, crannies and caves.

This is the only member of the genus that I have encountered in the trade, although I continue to hunt!

Want a perchlet? Just click on the link below and go to the Diver's Den!



Copyright (2008) Scott W. Michael

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