Harlequin sweetlips

The harlequin sweetlips is instantly recognizable as a juvenile: a brown fish covered in large white blotches that swims with an exaggerated wobbling, tumbling motion mimicking a toxic flatworm. As it matures the pattern breaks into dark spots and the fish grows massive, reaching around 70 cm, which makes it suitable only for very large public-style aquariums. It is a peaceful, secretive haemulid that hides among rocks and caves by day and forages at night over sand and reef. It demands a spacious fish-only or robust reef system of many hundreds of liters, pristine stable marine water at 24-28C, salinity 33-35 ppt. A carnivore, it feeds on crustaceans, worms, and small fish; in captivity it is often difficult to start feeding, requiring live foods before accepting mysis, chopped shrimp, and other meaty rations. Its adult size and delicacy make it an advanced-only choice.