Saltwater
False cleanerfish
Aspidontus taeniatus
Blenniidae, Blenniinae
Facts
Characteristics
- Length
- Up to 11.5 cm
- Body shape
- Elongated
Care
- Group
- Missing
- Smallest aquarium
- 51 liters
- Diet
- Missing
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Behavior
- Temperament
- Semi-aggressive
- Swims
- Missing
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Water values
Smallest tank
51 liters76 × 26 × 26 cm · For one fish
Worked out from its length, as we don’t yet know what size tank it should have. Do you? Sign up and tell us in the app.
Try other measures in the appNative
Lives wild in American Samoa, Australia, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cook Islands, Egypt, Fiji, and 31 more countries.
More about the species
About the species
Adults are found solitary or in small groups in lagoons, subtidal reef flats and outer reef slopes (where it occurs to depths of over 20 m). Often in pairs in empty worm tubes or narrow holes. They mimic the cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus and nip fins, skin and scales of other fishes. They even copy the motion of the cleaner wrasse that may induce other fish to come close, then target their scales or mucus for a feed, biting and quickly retreating to the corals before the victim realizes that it was tricked; experienced fish recognize imposters and often give it a chase. Diet is supplemented with benthic invertebrates and zooplankton. Also feed on tubeworms and demersal fish eggs. Oviparous. Eggs are demersal and adhesive, and are attached to the substrate via a filamentous, adhesive pad or pedestal. Larvae are planktonic, often found in shallow, coastal waters.
Source: FishBase
Other names
Other scientific names
- Aspidontus filamentosus
- Aspidontus taeniatus taeniatus
- Aspidontus taeniatus tractus
- Aspidontus tractus
- Aspinodontus taeniatus
- Blennechis filamentosus
In other languages
- Falsk Putsarfisk
- Falsk pudsefisk
- Cleaner mimic, False cleaner, False cleaner fish, Mimic blenny, Striped blenny
Articles
All articles
How to add new fish4 min read
From the store to the tank: how to get the fish used to your water, why you should add only a few at a time, and what to watch for in the first few days.
Quarantine for new fish3 min read
Why new fish should live in a tank of their own for a few weeks before they move in, what you need, and what to look for.
From freshwater to saltwater3 min read
What is different in a saltwater aquarium: salt, refractometer, live rock and corals. An introduction for anyone thinking of giving it a try.