Will you stop hiding from me! Liopropoma!

[Digiman]

Hi all,

This will be my second topic of discussion with the fish enthusiasts here in SRC.

My favourite genus of fish (belongs to the basslet family) because they are so hard to find, so fascinating and rarely discussed!

Not a fish you want and you can get it anytime, they always spring up in surprise and to find one you will need a lot of patience and a lot of luck! As such spotting one at the LFS always raises reefers' eyebrows and they would exclaim, "Eh?! What is this fish ah? V special leh!"

If you have kept one before, you know liopropoma is so unlike your typical attention seeking fishes like angels and wrasses!

They are full of character and they are always playing hard-to-get with their owners!!

Personally i have kept many liopropoma that has been available in Singapore. From the common to the rare and the cheap to the very expensive. To me there are mainly two categories of liopropomas. Those that stay small (below 2") and those that grow big (to 5").

I will be sharing them in two parts. First the cute, small, and more shrimp safe group. Followed by the big, showy and more predatory group.

In general liopropoma is a hardy and disease resistant genus. They are cryptic by nature but they adapt to home environment easily and eat all kinds of food readily even pellets. A fish i would highly recommend to reefers of all levels and i am sure if you start keeping one you will be as fascinated as i am towards this group of highly elusive basslets!

[Digiman]

First up will be three popular species of liopropomas from the atlantic. All three stay small below 2" and you can trust them better with your average to larger sized-shrimps.

Liopropoma carmabi (Atlantic Candy basslet)

Price: around $1000 to $1200

Care: Easy. But at the initial stage should not be housed with overly territorial or boisterous tankmates. Can be kept in nano tank to very big tanks as long as there are ample rock-works for hiding.

Where to find: Readily available through Iwarna upon ordering. But i believe other LFS like The Fish Channel will be able to bring the fish in as well.

Other information: Regarded as the most beautiful fish of the genus. Carmabi is the most popular and representative of the liopropoma family, everybody knows this fish! Expensive basslet but personally i have kept two before and i can guarantee the fish will be worth your money spent.

Carmabi from Iwarna Shipment

[Digiman]

Lipropoma Mowbrayi (Atlantic Cave Basslet)

Price: Around $500 to $700. Price fluctuates greatly depending on which region the fish comes from. The fish can also be found at Brazil and the price can go up to as high as $1000 coming from there.

Care: Same as Carmabi.

Where to find: Same as Carmabi.

Mowbrayi from Iwarna shipment

[Digiman]

Lipropoma Rubre (Atlantic Swissguard Basslet)

Price: Around $200 to $300.

Care: Same as Carmabi.

Where to find: So far Reborn (closed down), Iwarna and LCK have brought in swissguard before.

Large size (2") Swissguard from Iwarna shipment

[Guest]

Thanks for sharing this. Swiss Guard was always once of my favorite fish in a reef tank.

However, it take abit more care and also a little bit of luck to get a healthy specimen thriving in our reef tank .

[Digiman]

Thanks for sharing this. Swiss Guard was always once of my favorite fish in a reef tank.

However, it take abit more care and also a little bit of luck to get a healthy specimen thriving in our reef tank .

Yup i lost my first carmabi because it wasnt a very well-shipped specimen to begin with. However upon second attempt i got a healthy specimen and it grew into a one of my hardiest fish!

[Digiman]

The three atlantic species are the staples of the liopropomas and it would be too boring if i just stop at that. I will gradually be showing more rarer species and some so rare that you probably have not heard of or seen a proper pic yet!

Let us move on to the cheaper liopropoma species of the indo-pacific. Note they are cheap but they are NOT common too!

Liopropoma Mitratum

Price: Below $50.

Care: Easy and hardy. A small basslet that can be trusted with some bigger ornamental shrimps.

Where to find: I have probably seen it at Ah Beng before on several occasions and no where else. I would regard it as a cheap but very hard to find basslet from our indo shipments. Pls share some photos or experience if you have kept this basslet before.

[Digiman]

Interesting note: There is a almost identical looking species known as Lipropoma Pallidum which comes from the pacific areas like marshall islands. Very little info is known and i believe it has never been offered in the trade. From fishbase photo it appears to have slightly shorter snout and body. All the pallidum live pics photo on the net are most likely mitratum from the indo waters than the real pallidum.

Liopropoma Pallidum pic from Fishbase

[Digiman]

Liopropoma Sp. (Commonly known as yellowtail reef basslet)

Price: Below $50 or more depending on sources.

Care: Poorly collected. Usually comes with decompression showing the "head down" syndrome. A small basslet that can be trusted with some bigger ornamental shrimps.

Where to find: Commonly found in indo shipments from ML, CF, Ah Beng, Iwarna etc.

Liopropoma Sp. from ML, the usual morph. See two different morphs below.

There is a black stripe morph coming out from the same area. It may be a different species but i doubt so. Spotted this black-stripe morph a few times at Ah Beng.

And there is an extremely rare red-tail morph that went to Japan.

[Digiman]

Here are two very similar species from Indo-pacific. Both of them occasionally appear at our LFS.

Liopropoma Susumi (common name is pin-stripe basslet)

Price: Around $50 (varies).

Care: Easy and hardy. A small basslet that can be trusted with some bigger ornamental shrimps.

Where to find: Usually philippines shipment from Ah Beng, ML, Iwarna etc. According to the number of times i spotted this fish in our shipments, i would say susumi is rarer than collettei. Susumi has more lines (6 to 7) than collettei which has 4 lines across body.

Susumi at ML.

Liopropoma Collettei

Price: Around $50 (varies).

Care: Easy and hardy. A small basslet that can be trusted with some bigger ornamental shrimps.

Where to find: Usually philippines shipment from Ah Beng, ML, Iwarna etc. One of the most common lipropoma found here! In my opinion collettei is a more attractive species than susumi. Collettei has fewer lines and usually 4 main lines running across body which can be thick or very thin on some fishes. Collettei is also more brick red in color than the duller susumi.

Collettei at Dejong Marine

Collettei at Iwarna

[Digiman]

Liopopoma Swalesi (Indo Candy basslet)

Price: Below $50.

Care: Easy and hardy. A small basslet that can be trusted with some bigger ornamental shrimps.

Where to find: Most common liopropoma you can find here. CF, Iwarna, Ah Beng, ML all would carry it time to time. Also known as poor man's candy basslet as it is like a pirated version of the atlantic candy basslet liopropoma carmabi.

Swalesi from Iwarna

There is a dark red morph that is suspected to be an undescribed species. However none has surfaced again so there isn't enough information to confirm.

Dark red morph

[Digiman]

Liopropoma Multilineatum

Price: Around $150

Care: Easy and hardy. A small basslet that can be trusted with some bigger ornamental shrimps.

Where to find: So far only from Cebu shipment at CF! Very hard to find. Two color forms exists and the color forms can interchange in captivity.

Normal color form

Yellow color form

[Digiman]

The last few liopropoma from the will-stay-small-size group are the rarer and unobtainables!

Liopropoma Africanum

Price: Around $2000.

Care: Easy and hardy. A small basslet that can be trusted with some bigger ornamental shrimps.

Where to find:

If you special order through our LFS and with a bit of waiting, it can be obtained. But expect the fish to be very expensive and may be a long wait because this rare basslet is only found and caught in the african waters at about 100 ft depth. I have one in my tank now that i have kept for a long time. Very hardy and beautiful fish.

Africanum from LADD

Africanum at BBox

Africanum in the wild

Africanum in my tank

[Digiman]

Liopropoma Tonstrinum

Price: No accurate price listing but estimated to be sold between $3000 to $4000 in Japan.

Care: Easy and hardy. A small basslet that can be trusted with some bigger ornamental shrimps.

Where to find:

So far this fish has only been available to the Japanese. Only a handful are collected each year. Very rare basslets from the deeper water of Palau.

Tonstrinum at BBox

[Digiman]

Liopropoma Flavidum

Price: Unimaginable!

Care: Easy and hardy. A small basslet that can be trusted with some bigger ornamental shrimps.

Where to find:

So far only one known live specimen is kept in Japan long time ago. Fish caught at 60 m depth. No other information available.

Only live pic of a flavidum (A full neon yellow liopropoma! I can't even imagine such a fish exists!)

[Digiman]

Liopropoma Sp from Palau

Price: Not available.

Care: Unknown.

Where to find:

Not available. One specimen caught at 100 m depth in Palau deepwater expedition. Fish was killed for science.

This fish is clearly a new species!

[Digiman]

The next part we will move on to the more ferocious and bigger Liopropomas! Stay tuned!

[ACCK]

Thanks for creating this thread bro!

Liop. are hands down my favorite genus among marine fish. Hands down!

Spotting one even cheap one, feeling is like striking lottery!

I could keep every species of this genus n nothing else n be satisfied.

[Digiman]

Thanks for creating this thread bro!

Liop. are hands down my favorite genus among marine fish. Hands down!

Spotting one even cheap one, feeling is like striking lottery!

I could keep every species of this genus n nothing else n be satisfied.

Me too!

I hope to own a tonstrinum or an aberrans someday!

[ACCK]

Yup one for ur nano n the other for main tank.

I hv been fascinated by africanum since I knew about the fish. I like that its endemic to Africa .

Gotta own one someday

[Digiman]

More liopropomas! This time are the big ones that grow up to 5".

Liopropoma Eukrine (Atlantic wrasse bass)

Price: around $500

Care: Easy.

Where to find: From carribbean shipment. Hard to find. Requires special order from our LFS. So far only one has came to singapore.

Terry's liopropoma eukrines from Iwarna

[Digiman]

Liopropoma Aberrans (Atlantic Golden Bass)

Price: $8000 to $10000

Care: Easy.

Where to find: Collected by submarine at 500 feet in Curacao. Less than five pieces have been collected to date and all went to Japan. One of the most amazing deepwater fishes made available to this hobby thanks to technological advancement in fish collection method.

Juvenile 2"

Adult 6"

The same adult as above

[Digiman]

Liopropoma Aurora (Hawaii Sunrise Basslet)

Price: Not available.

Care: Easy.

Where to find: Hawaii endemic. Found in very deepwater and is an extremely difficult fish to spot and catch. So far only two has been kept alive. One at waikiki public aquarium and another at Blueharbour. One of the rarest fish in this hobby!

Aurora basslet at BlueHarbor

Aurora basslet at Waikiki

[Digiman]

Liopropoma Japonicum

Price: Not available

Care: Difficult. Requires low temperature as it is a subtropical species.

Where to find: Japan edemic, at depth beyond 300 feet. The few caught have all stayed in Japan.

Fish in a display tank at Okinawa Aquarium

Fish at BlueHarbor

Liopropoma Aragai

Price: Not available

Care: Difficult. Requires low temperature as it is a subtropical species.

Where to find: Japan edemic, at depth beyond 300 feet. Only one known live specimen at Okinawa Public aquarium. Fish characterised by its thick yellow stripe that runs through the middle of its body.

Early coloration

Latest coloration

[Digiman]

Liopropoma Latifasciatum (Blackstriped basslet)

Price: Ard $100 to $200

Care: Difficult. Specimens collected from Bali usually has decompression problem.

Where to find: Found in Indonesia and Japan. Those have been available in the trade so far are from Bali. A deepwater basslet that is very hard to find.

Liopropoma Randalli (Blackstriped basslet)

Price: Not available.

Care: Unknown,

Where to find: Found in Indonesia in very deepwater. Not much is known about this very beautiful but mysterious basslet. I have seen one available at Reborn many years back through their Indo shipment but that piece had severe decompression problem and did not make it. The fish is more reddish pink and has a thicker and darker black stripe compared to liopropoma latifasciatum.

Here is one at Japan BBox