Blue Dot Grouper

 Quick Care Facts

• Care Level: Moderate   • Temperament: Aggressive   • Maximum Size: 16"
• Minimum Tank Size: 125 gallons   • Water Conditions: 74-82° F, dKH 8-12, sg 1.020-1.025, pH 8.1-8.4
• Diet: Carnivore   • Origin: Indo-Pacific
• Family: Serranidae   • Species: Groupers   • Aquarium Type: Predatory

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Blue spotted Groupers are found living near coral reefs throughout the Indo-pacific where they hunt for small fish or invertebrates to consume. This species is often referred to by a number of names within the marine aquarium hobby, including: Blue Dot Grouper, Argus Grouper, Peacock Hind or Peacock Grouper. This is a larger predatory fish species, that is suitable only for very large (100 gallons or more) fish-only aquariums with other semi-aggressive to aggressive fish species. While this fish is considered easy to keep, it does require excellent water conditions in addition to a large aquarium to be properly housed.

The Blue spotted Groupers body is a mottled brown & tan color with six vertical white bands running from just behind the pectoral fins to the tail fin. The white bands can appear anywhere from very prominent to almost completely faded depending on the aquarium environment and the fishes current disposition. The fins are a dark blue color, with a lighter blue outline and the entire body is covered by bright blue dots.

Blue spotted Groupers are a very hardy and aggressive predatory fish species that can reach up to 16 inches in length. A large aquarium (100 gallons or more) along with excellent water quality are required to successfully keep this species. Even though the are a larger fish species, Blue spotted Groupers appreciate a lot of live rock with plenty of large caves and rock crevices for them to rest on and swim about. While they require adequate swimming room, they are never found too far from the coral reef, which is there main source of food and protection from larger predators.

Since Blue spotted Groupers eat large meaty items, they create a lot of waste products, therefore it is important to have a very strong biological filter setup to handled the load this and other large predator species put on a filter system. This species should only be kept with other large semi-aggressive to aggressive fish species, as they will eat any fish or ornamental invertebrates that they can fit in their mouth. They can be aggressive towards other larger fish, but are usually not too bad in this regard and nothing like the level of aggressiveness seen in species like the Undulated Triggerfish.

Blue spotted Groupers are pure carnivores, thus there diet is made up entirely of meaty items ranging from live fish, shrimp, mussels, krill or other marine meaty items. They should be fed larger meaty items twice a day, as much as they will consume with in a 3 to 5 minutes. They will eat fish or ornamental invertebrates that will fit in their mouth.