V-Tail Grouper - Cephalopholis urodelus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Serranidae
Binomial name: Cephalopholis urodelus
The V-tail Grouper is known by many names including the Darkfin Hind, Banded-tail Coral-cod, the Flagtail Grouper, and in the commercial trade as Red Flag Grouper. It has a red body, sometimes mottled with white. The two white stripes on the caudal fin (tail) appear to form a "V."
Its red body reflects sheens of grey and green in different lighting. The "V-Tail" portion of its common name comes from the two distinct nearly-iridescent stripes on its tail fin. With the potential to grow to nearly a foot in length, the Red V-Tail Grouper should be kept only in larger aquariums. In the home aquarium, it has little interest in corals, but may likely dislodge corals as it darts after its next meal. V-tail Grouper may eat any fish that will fit into its mouth. Crustaceans, being part of its natural diet, will likely be eaten. This Indo-Pacific native is an opportunist predator. It welcomes a diet of smaller live fish upon which it can prey with a sudden, unexpected burst of speed and frozen krill and other meaty prepared foods. Because "high input" fish are also "high output" fish, an excellent filtration and biological system should be in place prior to introduction. V-tail Grouper should only be kept with other aggressive carnivores such as Triggers and Eels.
A 100 gallon or larger aquarium is required due to its size and feeding habits. V-tail Grouper is an extremely aggressive fish and may eat its tank mates as well as crustaceans.
The V-tail Grouper are ambush predators, feeding mostly on crustaceans and small fish. In captivity, they prefer live feeders, although they may eventually eat frozen foods and pellet or flake. The V-tail Grouper tend to be fine with other fish as long as they can't eat them. They are aggressive with other groupers. They won't bother coral, though they do like to dig in substrate and hide amongst rocks. They grow quite large so be sure your aquarium provides adequate hiding and swimming areas.
The V-tail Grouper grows up to 11 inches. The small size will come to you generally 2 to 3 inches; the medium generally 3 to 5 inches; the large generally 5 to 7 inches. The V-Tail Grouper, Red Flag Grouper is a low maintenance fish and may act aggressively toward other fish. It is advice to keep them with caution in a reef aquarium.
High quality of water with sp. Gravity of 1.020 to 1.025, temperature between 72 and 78 degree Fahrenheit and pH value between 8.1 and 8.4 is suitable for keeping them in aquarium.
The V-Tail Grouper is commonly collected from the Indian Ocean.
These fishes comes from the Indo-Pacific and from the Hawaiian Islands..
