🐠 Black Cap Basslet (Gramma melacara)
A Deep Violet-to-Magenta Body With a Bold Black Cap • A Natural Upside-Down Swimmer • A Reef-Safe Atlantic Rarity
 
📋 The Black Cap Basslet, also known as the Blackcap Gramma, has a deep violet-to-magenta body topped with a bold black diagonal "cap" running from the snout through the eye to the start of the dorsal fin. It's a close relative of the popular Royal Gramma.
It comes from the Western Atlantic, from the Bahamas and southern Florida through the Caribbean, which makes it a real outlier from our Indo-Pacific stock. In the wild it lives on deep reef drop-offs, vertical faces, and caves, usually deeper than 20 metres, and it has a charming habit: it swims and rests upside-down against cave ceilings and rock overhangs, a natural deep-water adaptation. Every Black Cap Basslet we ship is feeding well.
It's reef safe and ignores corals and most invertebrates, and it prefers subdued lighting to intense reef lighting. It's territorial once established, so keep it away from other Gramma species unless the tank is very large, and use a secure lid, since it's a capable jumper. It reaches about 10cm, so plan on at least 115L.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Deep Purple With a Bold Black Cap: A striking Atlantic basslet
🙃 A Natural Upside-Down Swimmer: Rests against cave ceilings, as it does in the wild
🌿 Reef Safe: Ignores corals and most invertebrates
💡 Loves Subdued Light: A deep-water species
🔒 Secure Lid: A capable jumper