🐠 Banded Longfin Basslet (Belonepterygion fasciolatum)
A Rich Brown Body With Vertical Bands and Fiery Fins • The Sole Member of Its Genus • A Shy, Uncommon Miniature Predator
 
📋 The Banded Longfin Basslet, also known as the Barred Spiny Basslet, has a rich brown body marked with dark vertical bands, an orange chest and lower head, a distinctive white stripe below the eye, and fins in fiery red-orange tones. It's the sole member of its genus, a real taxonomic rarity, and it's seldom seen in the trade.
It comes from a wide stretch of the Western Pacific, from Japan south to Australia and east to New Caledonia. It behaves like a miniature predator: it will hunt and eat small ornamental shrimp, breaking apart larger prey against the rock to eat it piece by piece if it can't swallow it whole, so choose tankmates with that in mind. Every Banded Longfin Basslet we ship is feeding well.
It's shy and secretive at first, often hiding for extended periods before gradually becoming bolder and cruising more openly once settled in. It's territorial toward its own kind in smaller tanks, so keep one, with tankmates too large to be seen as prey. It reaches about 5cm, so plan on at least 100L.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Brown Body With Bands and Fiery Fins: A distinctive, uncommon basslet
🔬 Sole Member of Its Genus: A real taxonomic rarity
🦐 A Miniature Predator: Will hunt small ornamental shrimp
😌 Shy at First, Bolder With Time: Settles in gradually
☝️ One Per Tank: Territorial toward its own kind