The Spotted Cardinalfish is a rainbow of playful colors. It has a greenish-yellow face, bright orange eyes, and a silver-based body dressed with a bold black scalar margin and a posterior dotted with orange polka-dots. Though its bold coloration may stand out, Sphaeramia nematoptera has a peaceful nature that lets it blend perfectly into any community saltwater aquarium.
For the best care, the Spotted Cardinalfish should be kept in small schools in suitably sized aquariums of at least 30 gallons. Because the Spotted Cardinalfish is a slow and methodical swimmer, it should be housed with peaceful tankmates and offered a plethora of hiding places amongst rockwork or plants. Most Spotted Cardinalfish will tend to hide in sea grass or other plants. Some may also camouflage themselves against long spined sea urchins.
Like many other schooling fish, the Spotted Cardinalfish will form a strict hierarchy when kept in small groups within the aquarium. However, unlike some social fish, this member of the Apogonidae family does not use aggression to exert dominance over other cardinalfish.
The Spotted Cardinalfish requires a well balanced diet of meaty foods such as feeder shrimp, flake foods, pellet foods, marine flesh, bloodworms, and depending on its size, live feeder fish.
Approximate Purchase Size: Small: 3/4" to 1-1/4" Medium: 1-1/4" to 2-1/4"
The pajama cardinalfish (Sphaeramia nematoptera) is a species of fish belonging to the Apogonidae family. It is a popular aquarium fish. It grows to a total length of about 2.5 inches (8.5 centimeters) and features distinctive red eyes and a broad dark vertical 'waistband' with scattered red spots toward the tail. It is considered to be of low vulnerability, and is distributed throughout much of the West Pacific, from Java to Fiji, and from the Ryukyu Islands south to the Great Barrier Reef. The male pajama cardinalfish incubates the eggs in its mouth until they hatch.
