AnthiasHawkBassPerchlet?

I was checking out my Local Fish Store last week, as one does, and overheard a conversation between two budding fellow fish geeks that went mostly like this:

“So, it's an Anthias?”

“Well, yes, but not in the usual way you'd think.”

“No way, that's gotta be a Hawkfish.”

“Well, yeah, kinda, er, to be honest, I'm not really sure why we call it an Anthias.”

Long pause

“It's really *expletive* cool though.”

“Right?”

They were talking about Plectranthias inermis, the coolest little AnthiasHawkPerchletBass ever. It's in a genus that makes it sound like an Anthias, and it's also in a family (Serranidae) that makes it more of a Sea Bass (same as the Anthias) but for all intents and purposes behavior wise, it's a Hawkfish. It does actually have a swim bladder, which is a major difference from actual Hawkfish, but it still spends most of its time perched somewhere waiting for food to swim (or walk) by below it when it drops down onto the hapless prey (with surprising speed) and has lunch. These fish go by several common names. Usually it gets called the Highfin Perchlet, but you'll also see it get called the Geometric Hawkfish, Highfin Checker Hawk, Blotched Perchlet, Chequered Perchlet, Red Checker Hawk and Pygmy Hawkfish.

This last name is derived (unsurprisingly and accurately) from the diminutive size of the Highfin Perchlet. They never get much bigger than a couple of inches long. This combined with their very sedentary lifestyle makes them excellent choices for smaller aquariums, and one could happily live out its days in a 40-gallon aquarium. This tank should feature lots of rockwork and hidey holes for them to hang out in or perch upon. A substrate isn't really necessary, so you can make this choice based on your personal aesthetic. They don't require anything specific in regard to lighting or flow, so base these choices on the other inhabitants of the tank.

All the fish in the Plectranthias genus are rarely seen in the hobby, with most of them being ultra collectible, uber expensive one-offs. The Highfin Perchlet is the most frequently available, and it still has plenty of rarity panache. This is partially the result of the Highfin Perchlets coming from relatively deep water, usually between 60 and 220 feet near rubble and coral reefs.

These are amazing fish in the home aquarium. They aren't going to be visible constantly, but they're going to be gorgeous when they are. They're peaceful to boot, you can keep them by themselves, or with other peaceful fish like Clowns, Cardinals, Anthias, Firefish and other Gobies, Fairy Wrasses, Halichores and Macropharyngodon Wrasses, some Blennies will be fine, others that have similar behaviors like Lawnmowers could possibly cause some territorial issues. Highfins will be just fine in your reef tank, and won't bother your cleanup crew much, unless they catch a small hermit crab between shells. The only fish we'd really caution you about are things that could easily eat the Perchlet like Groupers or Lionfish, and fish that are really territorial and active that might scare or bully them into hiding during mealtimes.

Hiding during mealtimes is probably the only real challenge with Highfin Perchlets. They're generally very good eaters if they can see the food. Here we feed them a mix of Gamma Frozen foods like Mysis, Brine Plus Garlic, Brine Plus Omega 3, Brine Plus Spirulina, Chopped Mussel and Chopped Prawn. They can pretty easily be trained to take Nutramar Complete Pellets once they are used to you being a source of food. Some people will use live gut loaded brine shrimp when the Perchlet is first added to the aquarium so that some live food is swimming around for a while after you leave the tank side. If your fish are too shy to feed, just start by feeding them with the room lights off, which should hide you pretty effectively from their vision.

Highfin Perchlets are very hardy fish, and don't require anything out of the ordinary water chemistry or water quality wise. A specific gravity anywhere between 1.021 and 1.026 will be fine as long as it is stable. The tank temp should be somewhere in the 70-78 range and pH should be around 8 and be as stable as possible. Keep up the regular water changes to maintain your nitrates under 5ppm.

If you've been looking for a different (maybe rarer) fish for your nano tank setup or as a role player in a larger, peaceful display, the Highfin Perchlet has a lot to offer, hardy, gorgeous, peaceful and really small! What's not to like! Ask your Local Fish Store about getting you one from Quality Marine today!