All fish / Apogonidae

Yellowstriped cardinalfish

Ostorhinchus cyanosoma

Also known as orange-striped cardinalfish, orange lined cardinalfish, goldstriped cardinalfish, yellow-lined cardinalfish, gold stripe cardinal, apogon cyanosoma, yellow striped cardinal, スジオテンジクダイ, オーナメンタルカーディナル, 金线天竺鲷, 黄带天竺鲷

Yellowstriped cardinalfish — Photo: This photo has been taken by Matthieu Sontag (User:Mirgolth) and released under the licenses stated below. You are free to use it for any purpose as long as you credit me as author, Wikimedia Commons as site and follow the terms of the licenses. Could you be kind enough to leave me a message on this page to inform me about your use of this picture., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tankmates, for sale near you Identify a fish from a photo

A small, silvery cardinalfish with a bluish sheen and six bright orange-yellow lengthwise stripes. It is hardy, peaceful and reef safe, so it suits community reef tanks where it hovers near rocks and becomes more active at dusk.

Care at a glance

Care level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful
Adult size: 6 cm
Temperature: 23 to 28 °C
pH: 8.1 to 8.4
Smallest tank: 110 litres
Keep as: Pair or small group of 3 to 6 in a roomy tank
Diet: Carnivore: mysis, brine shrimp, chopped seafood, small pellets and frozen foods
Swims: Middle of the tank
Lifespan: 4 to 6 years
Water: Marine (saltwater)
Wild range: Indo-West Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to Japan, northern Australia and the western Pacific

Breeding

Males brood the eggs in their mouths for about a week after spawning. Pairs spawn fairly readily in aquariums, but raising the tiny planktonic larvae is difficult and needs live rotifers or copepods.

Good to know

Shy and nocturnal at first, so avoid housing with aggressive or large predatory fish that will eat it. Several similar striped Ostorhinchus species are sold under the same name.