Blue Hamlet

[edit] Overview

This is one of a handful of bright blue fishes available in the aquarium trade and one that mimics the Blue Chromis (Chromis cyanea) in order to sneak up on its prey. They can be kept in reef aquariums, but only one Blue Hamlet should be kept per tank. If you have a large aquarium, it is possible to keep two species of Hypoplectrus together.

[edit] Feeding

Carnivore. Feed a varied diet, including chopped seafood, live ghost shrimp, frozen preparations for carnivores, and frozen mysid shrimp. Feed at least once a day. Regular meals of color-enhancing foods are advised to prevent loss of its beautiful pigmentation.

[edit] Aquarium Compatibility

Although these fishes are rarely aggressive toward unrelated species, they are occasionally attacked by more belligerent fishes like other groupers, larger dottybacks, larger hawkfishes, larger damselfishes and triggerfishes. They will consume shrimp, crabs and smaller fishes.

[edit] Breeding/Propagation

Egg scatterers that produce pelagic eggs, often in midwater mating rituals. Both eggs and larvae that drift with plankton in the water column and settle back onto a reef at about the time of metamorphosis. These are among the most challenging types of marine fishes to propagate in captivity.

[edit] Notes

Every time an adult individual is moved, it will have a more difficult time adjusting to its new captive environment. Hamlets that don’t acclimate will hide constantly and refuse to feed. Larger hamlets are more prone to acclimation difficulties when transferred from one tank to another. This species is a simultaneous hermaphrodite, with each fish having both male and female organs.

Category: Species