Paracirrhites xanthus

Paracirrhites xanthus, commonly known as the Blueline yellow hawkfish, is a medium-sized hawkfish. They're bright yellow with faint horizontal lines and a purplish-blue short stripe behind the eye and off course the first few dorsal fin spines have tiny hairs on them called 'cirri'.

These fish usually pick one or a few spots on rocks or corals where they observe the aquarium. We recommend to only keep one hawkfish in a tank, unless a proven pair can be found, because they can be very aggressive towards other hawkfishes if not enough hiding spaces are available. Most other fishes are ignored, but do watch out with small docile species though. In nature their main diet consists of crustaceans like shrimp and crab. They're not shy at all and will eat about any meaty food (preferable crustaceans like mysis, gammarus and krill) you offer and have no problem accepting pellets. They can even be hand-fed after a short while in the tank. Except for resting on a coral, which some corals can't handle, they're reef safe, but do watch out with fish, shrimps and crabs that fit their mouth!