Tropical Marine Aquarium Basses

Family Serranidae Offers Some of the Best Saltwater Aquarium Fishes

Jun 14, 2008

The Family Serranidae include the fancy sea basses and anthias, dwarf seabasses and hamlets, and the groupers--all of which can make great tropical marine aquarium fish.

The number of common names for the fishes in this family is rivaled only by the sheer number of species. Whether you choose to call them bars, groupers, sea basses, dwarf sea basses, scamp, rockfish, coral trout, hind, coral cod, graysby, or fancy basses (and there are others—many others), these are all fishes belonging to one massive family called Serranidae.

Family and Subfamiles

The family gets its name from the Latin word for “saw” (serranus), but they are commonly called basses. Ironically, many of the basses people think they know are not actually basses at all. For example, the large mouth bass is accurately a sunfish, while many sea basses are, taxonomically speaking, croakers and perches. The only true basses, of which there are many, come from the Family Serranidae and are divided into three subfamilies. They are:

Identification

All true basses from the Family Serranidae have spined gill covers (opercles), continuous lateral lines, spined pelvic and anal fins, and are hermaphrodites. It’s hard to say much more about what they have in common.

Distribution & Behavior

Members of the family come from oceans around the world (both temperate and tropical); some even swim upstream into freshwater. There are small members of this family (e.g. anthias to only a few inches in length), and there are behemoths (e.g. groupers to nearly ten feet in length). Most are at least considered semi-aggressive, while at the same time being somewhat secretive. Only keep one per species to a tank in the great majority of cases, and try to avoid keeping species that are similar in coloration and size together (there are some exceptions amongst the fancy sea basses).

Captive Husbandry

Most basses are quite hardy. They are not picky about water quality so long as the parameters are within a “normal” range and consistent. Many do dislike bright reef lighting and will spend much of their time in dark caves and crevices in a reef tank with high intensity lighting. Do provide them with live rock and plenty of caves. These fishes are also known for great bursts of speed, and, as such, they appreciate aquaria with plenty of swimming room.

In terms of disease, with the exception of some anthias species, basses are quite disease resistant.

While basses probably won’t go looking for a meal when it comes to your other fishes, members of this family may just swallow a fish whole if that fish is smaller than the mouth of the bass in question. Stock accordingly, and keep them well fed. Most basses will be readily weaned to a captive diet of frozen food or food mixes. Some basses, such as anthias, are demanding because they require a near constant source of live food, but the majority are easy going when it comes to eating.

The copyright of the article Tropical Marine Aquarium Basses in Saltwater Fish is owned by Ret Talbot. Permission to republish Tropical Marine Aquarium Basses in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.