🐠 Five-Lined Cardinalfish (Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus)
Marine Reef-Safe-With-Caution Nocturnal Fish • Iridescent Silver Body With Black Horizontal Stripes • Genuine False Eyespot Defence • Beginner-Friendly Marine Fish
 
📋 The Five-Lined Cardinalfish, also known as the Toothed Cardinalfish, has a genuinely elongated, slender body in iridescent silver, marked with five black horizontal stripes running its length. A bright yellow-and-black spot near the tail creates a genuine false eyespot, confusing predators about which direction the fish is actually facing.
Native to a genuinely vast range across the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea and Mozambique to the Pitcairn Islands, this species inhabits reef flats, lagoons, and seaward reefs to depths of around 40 metres.
A genuinely nocturnal hunter, this species rests in caves and crevices, or sometimes shelters among the spines of the long-spined sea urchin, by day, becoming active at night to feed using its noticeably large, canine-like teeth. It's a genuinely slow, methodical swimmer, and males are documented mouthbrooders, incubating the egg mass in their mouths until hatching. We want to be honest that while this species is peaceful toward similarly sized tank mates, it's genuinely a real predatory threat to small shrimp, small fish, and feather duster worms, so it's considered reef safe with caution.
 
⚪⚫ Highlights
🎨 Silver Body With Five Black Stripes: A genuinely striking, classic cardinalfish pattern
👁️ Genuine False Eyespot: Confuses predators about direction of travel
🌙 Genuinely Nocturnal: Most active at night, resting in caves by day
⚠️ Reef Safe With Caution: A genuine threat to small shrimp and feather dusters
👨‍👦 Genuine Male Mouthbrooder: Fathers carry the egg mass until hatching