Orchid Dottyback

Pseudochromis fridmani

Also known as Fridmani Dottyback, Fridmani Pseudochromis, Orchid Pseudochromis

SaltwaterFish

Orchid Dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani) — Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–79°F (22–26°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: Beginner
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Common
Reef safe: Reef safe
Origin: Red Sea, endemic; nearly all aquarium stock is now captive bred
Family: Pseudochromidae

Overview

A hardy, uniformly purple carnivore that darts between caves picking off small crustaceans and zooplankton. Feed a varied meaty diet and it will take most prepared foods easily. It is the most docile of the dottybacks, but it is still somewhat territorial, so give it its own cave and watch it around very small or shy fish. Reef safe: it leaves corals and ornamental inverts alone and even helps by eating nuisance bristleworms.

In the wild

In the wild it lives on Red Sea reef faces and cave systems, hovering just off vertical rock and slipping back into crevices when startled. It orients to the rock rather than open water and rarely ranges far from shelter. A tank version wants live rock with lots of caves and overhangs it can call home.

Good to know

Pseudochromis fridmani is a small dottyback endemic to the Red Sea, reaching about 7 cm. It is a protogynous hermaphrodite and one of the marine ornamentals routinely produced by aquaculture, so most fish sold today are captive bred by facilities like ORA. It spawns readily in captivity, with the male guarding egg balls in a crevice, and the main hurdle is filial cannibalism, which is reduced by keeping rearing temperatures around 25 C.

Did you know

Captive-bred orchid dottybacks tend to be noticeably calmer than the wild fish, and their reliable aquaculture makes this one of the marine hobby's clearest conservation success stories.