🐠 Oriental Sweetlip (Plectorhinchus vittatus)
A Wriggling Black-Brown-and-White Juvenile • Bold Stripes and Spotted Yellow Fins as an Adult • A Showpiece for Very Large Tanks
 
📋 The Oriental Sweetlip, also known as the Indian Ocean Oriental Sweetlips, makes a dramatic transformation. Juveniles show an attractive mottled pattern of black, brown, and white and swim with a distinctive wriggle, while adults develop bold alternating white and black or brown horizontal stripes with bright yellow fins spotted with black.
It lives in lagoons and on outer reefs across the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea and East Africa to the Western Pacific, at depths of 2 to 30 metres. It's a shy, docile fish that loves to swim and needs real open space, and like all members of the grunt family it makes an audible grunting sound by grinding its teeth, most often heard at night. Every Oriental Sweetlip we ship is feeding well, and live feeder shrimp are a great first food.
It grows to up to 76cm, so it's a showpiece for keepers with a big plan: at least 470L to start, and we recommend about 1,900L (500 gallons) for a healthy adult. It isn't reef safe: it will eat benthic crustaceans, worms, and small fish.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 A Dramatic Transformation: Mottled juvenile to a bold-striped adult with spotted yellow fins
🔊 It Grunts: A grunt-family fish that makes an audible grunting sound
🍽️ Ships Feeding Well: Every Oriental Sweetlip we send is eating confidently
📏 Up to 76cm: A showpiece for very large tanks
🪸 Not Reef Safe: Eats benthic crustaceans, worms, and small fish