Bicolor dottyback

Care at a glance

Overview

The bicolor dottyback is one of the most strikingly colored dottybacks in the hobby, and a hardy fish for a reef tank. It is easy to keep, though it is also one of the feistiest.

Caring for the bicolor dottyback

Give the bicolor dottyback a well-established tank of at least 29 gal (110 L), with heavy rockwork broken into caves. A fish this territorial needs somewhere to call its own.

Keep the water at 72 to 81°F (22 to 27°C) and a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. It is a hardy carnivore that takes frozen mysis, brine shrimp and prepared marine foods without any fuss.

The bicolor dottyback stakes out a territory and defends it against fish two to three times its own size. It treats similarly shaped fish, including other dottybacks and basslets, as rivals on sight. Add it last, once its tank mates are established. Keep only one per tank unless the aquarium is very large.

Otherwise it is reef safe and leaves corals, clams and most invertebrates alone. A hungry individual may still pick off tiny ornamental shrimp such as sexy shrimp. Breeding it is rated medium.

Good to know

Pictichromis paccagnellae was long classified in the genus Pseudochromis. Pictichromis was split off in 2004 for a group of small, sharply two-toned dottybacks that share a distinct fin-ray count. Several of its close relatives made the same move. Like other dottybacks, it is a protogynous hermaphrodite that starts life as a female. The dominant fish in a pairing develops into the male. It has been captive bred on a limited scale, though most specimens in the trade are still wild caught. It also goes by the royal dottyback and Paccagnella's dottyback.

In the wild

The bicolor dottyback lives on coral reefs across the western Pacific, from Indonesia and the Philippines east to Vanuatu and Palau. It holds a small territory around a cave or ledge on shallow, current-swept reef flats. It rarely strays far from cover, darting out to grab food and retreating the instant it feels crowded.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Magenta dottyback

  Pictichromis porphyrea

  2.4 in (6 cm) · 20 gal (75 L)

  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)

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

• 

  Diadem dottyback

  Pseudochromis diadema

  2.8 in (7 cm) · 20 gal (75 L)

  2.8 in (7 cm)20 gal (75 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  Orchid dottyback

  Pseudochromis fridmani

  2.8 in (7 cm) · 29 gal (110 L)

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

• 

  Indigo dottyback

  Pseudochromis hybrid

  3 in (7.5 cm) · 29 gal (110 L)

  3 in (7.5 cm)29 gal (110 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  Splendid dottyback

  Manonichthys splendens

  5.1 in (13 cm) · 53 gal (200 L)

  5.1 in (13 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)