🐠 Spanish Hogfish (Bodianus rufus)
A Golden-Yellow Body With a Blue-Violet Patch and Purple Scale Margins • A Documented Juvenile Cleaner Fish • Grows Into a Large, Not-Reef-Safe Adult
 
📋 The Spanish Hogfish has an eye-catching golden-yellow body with a patch of blue highlighting across the back and violet margins along each scale.
It comes from the tropical Western Atlantic and Caribbean, inhabiting coral reefs and rocky areas to depths of 70 metres. This species grows large, up to 40cm, and we recommend a minimum tank size of 470L, with 680L or more for a full adult. Every Spanish Hogfish we ship is feeding well.
A charming juvenile behaviour: young specimens are documented cleaning parasites and dead scales off other fish, though this behaviour is facultative rather than obligatory, and typically ends, or may even become harmful to the recipient fish, by the time the hogfish reaches adulthood. This is a characterful, hardy species that may be shy when first introduced but soon gains real confidence, becoming an outgoing aquarium occupant. This species is only reef safe as a juvenile, as it matures, it consumes snails, worms, mussels, small fish, shrimp, and squid, and can become aggressive and bullying toward smaller, docile tankmates, so adults are best suited to a spacious, fish-only setup with other moderately aggressive species.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Golden-Yellow Body With a Blue-Violet Patch: An eye-catching, characterful hogfish
🧼 Documented Juvenile Cleaner Behaviour: Young specimens clean parasites off tankmates
⚠️ Reef Safe Only as a Juvenile: Adults will consume invertebrates and small fish
🐢 Shy at First: Becomes noticeably more confident and outgoing with time
💪 Hardy: A robust species once properly acclimated