Hoplolatilus fronticinctus

(Gunther, 1887)

Pastel Tilefish

Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Kosi Bay South Africa, Solomon Islands, Philippines, Palau and Marshall Islands.

Size: 8 inches (20 cm)

Natural Environment: Inhabits muddy to rubble covered reef bottoms and is usually found in depths between 130 – 200 feet (40 – 60 m) and usually no more than 10 – 15 feet (3 – 5 m) above the bottom substrate where they burrow for protection. Quite rare in the wild where they generally live in pairs and feed on zooplankton.

General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade and having a stocky elongated body with a blunt head. Often pale olive to blue with it darker above the belly and a bluish violet band joining the eyes across the front of the snout. Body colors somewhat depend upon areas of collection.

Best maintained fish-only aquariums with subdued lighting, yet can also be maintained in reef aquariums, with both having piles of shell rubble to investigate and caves to hide in when needing to do so. The aquarium should also have wide-open swimming areas and sandy areas to create burrows. A fast swimming fish that tends to dig under reef structures, live or inert.

If maintained with moderately aggressive tankmates, will remain in hiding during daylight hours and may not get its fair share of the food when its feeding time. If maintained with peaceful tankmates, will spend a good portion of its time in the aquarium open areas.

As to diet, products such as marine fish and crustacean flesh, clams, and other marine meaty foods should be enriched and finely chopped and fed several times daily.

Taxonomy:

Order: Perciformes

Suborder: Percoidei

Family: Malacanthidae

Subfamily: Malacanthinae

Genus: Hoplolatilus

FYI: Can be kept singly.

Requires covered aquariums, as they are excellent jumpers!

May undermine structures in the aquarium.

Best first introduced into a dimly lit aquarium.

Often difficult to get feeding, and if so, fortified live adult brine shrimp, black worms (Lumbriculus variegatus) or glass/grass shrimp will be necessary to get it feeding.

Will eat smaller fishes and ornamental crustaceans.

Experience Level: Intermediate

Temperament: Peaceful

Diet: Carnivore

Coral Safe: Yes

Fish Safe: With caution

Invertebrate Safe: With caution

Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+

Aquarium Environment: Reef or fish-only aquarium

Tankmates: Peaceful

Minimum Tank Size: 50+ gallons

Temperature Range: 72 - 82°F (22 – 28°C)

Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.026

pH: 8.0 - 8.5