Diadem Dottyback

Care at a glance

Overview

Diadem dottybacks are counted among the calmer members of a famously feisty family: they hold a territory and will chase off damsels, gobies, grammas, and other small fish that get too close, but they are less relentless about it than a bicolor or neon dottyback. Keep one per tank and give it a crevice to call its own. It is completely reef safe around corals and clams, and it will pick off small bristleworms as a bonus. It is an eager eater, taking frozen mysis, brine shrimp, and marine pellets two or three times a day without any coaxing.

In the wild

Found on shallow reefs across the Coral Triangle, from the Philippines and Malaysia through Indonesia to Palau, sheltering in holes and crevices in coral rubble and reef rock between about 5 and 25 meters down. It holds a small home range around its chosen crevice and rarely wanders far from cover. A reef tank of 75 liters or more with plenty of live rock broken into nooks suits it well.

Good to know

Pseudochromis diadema carries the sharp two-tone look, a bright yellow body crowned with a purple stripe over the head, typical of the small dottybacks; some sources now place it in Pictichromis alongside its closest relatives, though Pseudochromis diadema remains in wide use in the trade. As with the rest of the family it is a protogynous hermaphrodite, changing from female to male as the dominant fish in a pairing. It is produced in reasonable numbers by marine fish farms, so captive-bred stock is easier to find for this species than for many dottybacks.

Did you know

The bold purple band running back from its eye over the top of the head looks enough like a jeweled headband to have earned the fish its name, diadem, the classical word for a crown.

Related species

• 

  Orchid Dottyback

  Pseudochromis fridmani

  2.8 in (7 cm)29 gal (110 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Sunrise Dottyback

  Pseudochromis flavivertex

  3.1 in (8 cm)29 gal (110 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Sankey's Dottyback

  Pseudochromis sankeyi

  3.1 in (8 cm)29 gal (110 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Springer's Dottyback

  Pseudochromis springeri

  2.4 in (6 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Neon Dottyback

  Pseudochromis aldabraensis

  3.5 in (9 cm)29 gal (110 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Magenta Dottyback

  Pictichromis porphyrea

  2.4 in (6 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)