Dottybacks were once one of the most popular groups of marine aquarium fish to be found in every single kind of fish and reef display. However over the years they’ve been overly maligned and it’s now a pleasant surprise to…
Hybrid Dottyback Still Enjoying Life at the Reef Builders Studio
Abby the ‘aberrant’ dottyback is a unique specimen of Pictichromis that was the first fish we ever got at the Reef Builders Studio. Nearly two years after first receiving this fish and starting it out in its own bare bones nano…
Up Close with an Aberrant Pictichromis Dottyback
Dottybacks are some of the most colorful, small & hardy perfect aquarium fish, and this is especially true of the several different species of Pictichromis. These fish are packed with personality and are very easy to care for, but unfortunately they…
Gorgeous Aberrant Dottybacks Collected in Philippines
Pictichromis dottybacks are a staple of the marine aquarium hobby, with strawberry and diadema dottybacks being a common and hardy fish well suited for beginner reef tanks. Since these fish are so abundant and often seen in tanks and stores,…
Fun graphic shows difference between a royal gramma and a royal dottyback
In the world of tropical reef fish, there are numerous examples of convergent evolution, where unrelated and widely separated fish develop the same color and shape. The similarity between some cases of convergent evolution can be so similar between these fishes. Starcki…
PNG’s Pictichromis aurifrons from Milne Bay show a gradient of color patterns
Dottybacks are some of the quintessential reef fish; they are small, hardy, come in a myriad of colors and they are both readily available and affordable to aquarists. The other feature of dottybacks is how amenable they have been to captive…
Video of an all yellow pseudochromis is probably a xanthic mutation
Something about this beautiful dottyback discovered and imaged by Marj Awai reminds us instantly of Gramma dejongi. We know we have a fever that can only be cured with more dejongi which is why this all yellow slender fish really grabs our…
Aberrant diadema dottybacks are collected around the Indo-Pacific
We’re not sure what it is about Pictichromis diadema that lends itself to mutations and aberrations of its color pattern seemingly much more often than other species of Pictichromis and Pseudochromis. Is it possible that the unusually colored dottybacks are…
Unusual dottyback shows inverse coloration of Pictichromis caitlinae
We have here a few images documenting what appears to be a Pictichromis diadema with an unusual magenta coloration. Whereas P. diadema has a patch of magenta solely on the topside of it’s head and anterior part of the body…
