🐠 Bluegill Longfin Grouper (Plesiops corallicola)
A Grey-Brown Body With Blue Spots and Long Flowing Fins • A Blue Ocellus Near the Gill Cover • An Uncommon, Characterful Cave-Dweller
 
📋 The Bluegill Longfin Grouper, also known as the Spotgill Longfin Grouper, has an unusual, almost prehistoric look: a rounded head, large eyes, and long, flowing fins over a grey-to-dark-brown body decorated with small blue spots, a blue stripe on the dorsal fin, and a distinctive blue ocellus near the gill cover. Despite the name, it's a longfin (family Plesiopidae) and not a true grouper.
It lives across the Indo-Pacific, feeding on small fish and crustaceans, and it's an uncommon find in the aquarium trade. It likes low light and a couple of solid caves, and it's a natural digger, so build rockwork securely on the tank base before adding substrate. It can look shy on arrival, but it settles in quickly into a personable, disease-resistant, characterful fish. Every Bluegill Longfin Grouper we ship is feeding well.
It's not reef safe, since it eats small fish and crustaceans, and it's best kept as the only one of its kind. It reaches up to 18cm, so plan on at least 280L in a fish-only setup.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Grey-Brown With Blue Spots and Long Fins: An unusual, almost prehistoric look
💎 Uncommon in the Trade: Rarely seen at most aquarium stores
🕳️ A Natural Digger: Build rockwork on the tank base before adding sand
😌 Personable Once Settled: Shy at first, disease-resistant and characterful
🪸 Not Reef Safe: Eats small fish and crustaceans