Mexican Hogfish

The Mexican Hogfish (Bodianus diplotaenia) features a vibrant, vertical yellow streak on a maroon or brown body, while juveniles have a red body with black horizontal lines. Juveniles can also be a beneficial cleaning fish for your tank, since they will pick parasites off of tank mates. However, they will grow out of this behavior as an adult. They are also diurnal which means they are active during the day, and can be found burying themselves in the sand bed during at night.

The Mexican Hogfish is a very hardy tropical reef fish species that will do well in larger aquariums with strong filtration and good water movement. It is very active swimmer that appreciates adequate space in the aquarium in which it swims along with small to moderate amounts of live rock. It is aggressive towards smaller, peaceful fish that are easily bullied, and will nip at and eat smaller inverts like Sea Urchins, Hermit Crabs, Worms, Clams and Snails, and is not considered safe for a reef tank or environment. 

The Mexican Hogfish is carnivorous and should be fed a diet that includes Mysis and Brine Shrimp either frozen or live along with a wide variety of other vitamin enriched frozen meaty foods. They should not be kept with crustaceans, invertebrates or small fish unless they are intended as food items.