When I give presentations on fish selection and I mention Dottibacks, someone in the audience always blurts out, “devil fish!” For some dottibacks, yes. For the orchid dottiback, no.
Orchid Dottiback
The orchid dottiback (Pseudochromis fridmani) is not only the most docile species in the genus, but is also one of the most striking. Its body is solid bright purple with a black streak though the eye and head. Under royal blue LEDs, the fish will glow as if radioactive.
Known for being very personable, these fish take time to warm up to their surroundings. My experience in keeping them is that they will spend the first week to two weeks in a tank hiding in the aquascaping and only darting out of rocks to eat. Over time, they hide less and interact with you more. Clients who have these fish always fall in love with their orchid dottibacks as the fish greets them when they approach the tank and will sometimes follow the client around the tank.
The orchid dottiback’s docile nature also lends themselves to be victims of bullying especially from more aggressive dottibacks. Therefore, if I am placing an orchid dottiback in a tank, I will make sure it is the only dottiback in the tank.
Rounding out my reasons I love the orchid dottiback is that fact that captive bred specimens are readily available. My Orchid Dottibacks always come from ProAquatix and I’m proud to place captive bred fish in client tanks.
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