🐠 Arrowhead Soapfish (Belonoperca chabanaudi)
Marine Not-Reef-Safe Predatory Basslet • Dusky Blue-Grey Body With Yellow Tail Patch • Genuine Toxic Skin Secretion — Please Read Before Buying • Advanced Marine Fish
 
⚠️ Important Information — Please Read First
We want to be genuinely direct on this one. Like all soapfish, this species can release a toxin called grammistin from its skin when severely stressed or dying — and this is genuinely serious, as the toxin can be lethal not only to the fish itself but to every other fish sharing the tank. Please genuinely minimize stress during acclimation, avoid rough handling, and never mix shipping water into your display tank. This species can also genuinely be difficult to feed, sometimes accepting only live foods such as glass shrimp or small live fish, and does best in a genuinely quiet, dimly lit tank with minimal disturbance.
 
📋 The Arrowhead Soapfish, also known as Chabanaud's Soapfish, has a genuinely slender, elongated body in dusky blue-grey to blackish tones, with a bright yellow saddle-like patch near the base of the tail and a large, blue-edged black spot on the dorsal fin.
Native to a genuinely wide range across the Indo-Pacific, from East Africa to Samoa, north to the Ryukyu Islands, and south to New Caledonia, this species inhabits steep, coral-rich reef slopes, where it's genuinely often seen hovering — sometimes upside down — in caves and along dark walls.
We want to be upfront: this species is not reef safe, and will genuinely eat any fish or invertebrate small enough to fit in its mouth, though it generally leaves corals untouched. It's genuinely rarely seen in the aquarium trade and best suited to experienced keepers with a calm, established, predator-appropriate tank.
 
🔵🟡 Highlights
🎨 Dusky Blue-Grey Body With Yellow Tail Patch: A genuinely distinctive, uncommon species
⚠️ Genuine Toxic Skin Secretion: Can be lethal to itself and all tankmates if severely stressed
🍽️ Genuinely Difficult to Feed: Often requires live foods, especially at first
🌿 Not Reef Safe: Will eat small fish and invertebrates
🧠 Genuinely Rare in the Trade: Best suited to experienced keepers