Golden Basslet

Gramma dejongi

Also known as Cuban Basslet, Golden Cuban Basslet, Dejong's Basslet

SaltwaterFish

Golden Basslet (Gramma dejongi) — Haplochromis · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 75–81°F (24–27°C)
pH: 8.1–8.4
Adult size: 2.8 in (7 cm)
Minimum tank: 29 gal (110 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Solitary
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Easy
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Very rare
Reef safe: Reef safe
Origin: Southern Cuba, Caribbean
Family: Grammatidae

Overview

Care is essentially royal gramma care: a hardy, cave-oriented carnivore that takes mysis, enriched brine, and quality frozen foods without fuss. It is peaceful toward unrelated tankmates but defends its chosen crevice against similar-looking fish, so keep one per tank. Fully reef safe, ignoring corals and ornamental invertebrates.

In the wild

Found only on reefs off southern Cuba, where it lives in caves and under ledges on steep walls, often below common diving depths. Like its relatives it hugs the rock and orients its belly to the nearest surface rather than to gravity. Give it live rock with dark nooks and it will pick a home cave quickly.

Good to know

Gramma dejongi is a small basslet in the family Grammatidae, described in 2010 and reaching about 7 cm. The trade embargo keeps wild Cuban fish out of most markets, so nearly every fish available is captive bred and prices stay high. It spawns in rock crevices with the male tending the nest, much like the royal gramma.

Did you know

It was described only in 2010 from Cuban reefs, and genetic studies since then place it extremely close to the royal gramma, close enough that some researchers treat it as a golden offshoot of that species.

Tank mates

Golden Basslet is a mostly peaceful, solitary species that keeps to the middle. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.