Black Cardinalfish

Apogonichthyoides melas

Also known as Apogon melas, Black Cardinal

SaltwaterFish

Black Cardinalfish (Apogonichthyoides melas) — Rickard Zerpe · CC BY 2.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–79°F (22–26°C)
pH: 8.1–8.4
Adult size: 4.3 in (11 cm)
Minimum tank: 29 gal (110 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Easy
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Reef safe: Reef safe
Origin: Western Pacific (Indonesia to New Caledonia)
Family: Apogonidae

Overview

This is a slow, deliberate swimmer that suits a calm community and feeds most confidently in dim light. Keep it singly or in a small group, where a quiet pecking order forms without real fighting. It takes frozen meaty foods and small pellets readily, but shrimp small enough to fit its mouth may be eaten.

In the wild

Black cardinalfish come from sheltered lagoons and calm inshore reefs of the Western Pacific, where they hover near seagrass, rocky ledges and the spines of long-spined urchins. In the aquarium give them at least 110 liters with a cave or overhang to retreat to, gentle flow and some open water nearby. They spend the bright hours close to shelter and drift out as the light fades.

Good to know

Apogonichthyoides melas is a cardinalfish in the family Apogonidae, reaching about 11 cm. Juveniles wear a pale rear half with false eyespots at the base of the dorsal and anal fins, then darken into an evenly charcoal adult. Like most cardinalfish the male broods the eggs in his mouth, and the tiny larvae swim free the moment they hatch.

Did you know

Young black cardinalfish look so unlike their parents that they are easy to mistake for a different species. The two-tone body and decoy eyespots fade with age until the adult is a plain, dark fish.