Domino fish - Effective Breeding Guide

Domino fish (Three-spot spoonfish), an ornamental fish belonging to the spoonfish family, has a jet black body combined with 3 prominent white dots, is an omnivorous fish, easy to adapt, easy to raise.

Domino fish (Three-spot spoonfish), a marine aquarium fish with an impressive appearance with a jet black body dotted with 3 white dots that makes you think of a black dice. They are also highly adaptable, live in schools and have many interesting behaviors.

In today's article, let's learn in detail about the habits, appearance and care of Domino fish with nice fish !

Domino fish information :

Domino fish distribution

Domino fish or three-spot spoon fish.

Domino fish, also known as three-spot spoon fish, scientific name Dascyllus trimaculatus, is a marine ornamental fish belonging to the spoon fish family, with a wide distribution range throughout the Indian Ocean - Pacific Ocean, specifically:

• Red Sea, East Africa, Madagascar
• Maldives. India
• Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines
• Papua New Guinea, Aútralia
• Pacific Islands such as Fiji, Tonga and Hawaii

In nature, this fish lives around coral reefs and rocky reefs at depths of 1 - 55 meters. Baby fish often live in the tentacles of sea anemones like Nemo fish to protect themselves from enemies.

Nowadays, thanks to its special dice-like color, this fish is very popular in the marine aquarium world.

Domino fish appearance

The impressive appearance of the Domino fish.

Domino fish is one of the most popular types of sea spoon fish thanks to its cute, easily recognizable appearance. Specifically as follows:

• Color : The whole body is jet black or dark gray, with 3 prominent white spots on the body, 1 spot on the top of the head, the remaining 2 spots are in the middle of the fish's body.
• Shape : Body is flat, slightly round, plump, lovely.
• Size : 10 - 14 cm in adult fish, juvenile fish from 3 - 6 cm.
• Fins : Sharp, well-proportioned, jet black.
• Color of young fish : Shiny black, clear white spots, popular
• Old fish color : Body turns dark gray, white spots fade, not as cute as baby fish.

Domino fish behavior

A school of Domino fish and Nemo clown fish are swimming among the coral reef.

Domino is the fish with the most interesting habits in the spoonfish family. Find out more here.

Like to live in a pack

Three-spotted spoonbills always live in small groups of 3-10, especially when they are young. Living in groups helps them survive better and feel safer.

Likes to hide in anemones

Baby Domino fish also have a special symbiotic relationship with the clownfish-like anemone - Nemo. Thanks to their slimy skin that protects them from venom, the baby fish can hide in the anemone's tentacles to avoid predators in the ocean and find food. When they grow up, they will actively leave the anemone to live independently.

Territorial, quite aggressive

Although it is a relatively small fish, only 3 - 10 cm in size, the adult three-spotted spoonfish is quite aggressive and highly territorial. They are ready to chase other fish if they dare to "Invade" their territory, especially slower, weaker fish.

Active during the day

Domino fish are mainly active during the day, they will swim around the tank or around their territory to search for food. When it gets dark, they will retreat to hide in shelters such as coral reefs, rock crevices,...

Reproductive behavior

The three-spotted spoonfish is an egg-laying species. The female fish will lay eggs that adhere to the surface of rocks and coral reefs. The male fish will then protect, care for, and fan the water to provide oxygen for the eggs to hatch into baby fish.

The most successful way to raise Domino fish

Domino fish are swimming in a spacious aquarium.

To be able to raise healthy, well-developed 3-spot spoon fish that can live up to 5-10 years, you need to prepare a suitable environment and a reasonable diet. Specifically, please refer to the detailed raising instructions below.

Preparing the environment for raising Domino fish

In order for the three-spot spoonfish to quickly adapt and thrive in artificial aquarium conditions, you need to design the tank and maintain optimal water quality, with many similarities to their natural environment, specifically as follows:

• Tank capacity : Minimum 100 liters for 1 - 2 fish, if you raise more, you need a larger tank.
• Water filter & skimmer : Required to clean water, maintain stable environment
• Oxygenator : Required to provide dissolved oxygen to the fish.
• LED light : Specialized for marine fish, with soft white or blue light, turned on 8 - 10 hours per day,
• Temperature : 24 - 27 degrees Celsius.
• pH: 8.1 - 8.4
• Salinity : 1.020 - 1.025 SG, use artificial sea salt to mix, do not use regular table salt.
• Aquarium decoration : Use live rocks to create shelter for fish and help stabilize the microflora in the aquarium. Use coral sand as the substrate. You can also raise live coral because this fish does not eat coral.

What do Domino fish eat?

Three-spot spoonfish are omnivorous and quite easy to raise, so you can feed them the following foods:

• Special pellet food for marine fish.
• Shrimp, minced shrimp, frozen molluscs, artemia,...
• Feed fish 2-3 times/day with moderate amount of food.

What fish can be kept with Domino fish?

Domino is a fairly docile marine fish when young, but can become aggressive when mature, you can keep them with some of the following fish species:

• Nemo Fish (Clown Fish)
• Yellow tail fish , green striped fish , Japanese striped fish ,...
• Angel fish

Avoid keeping with smaller, docile fish such as Goby, small Blenny...

Good tips for beginners in marine fish farming

For those of you who are new to raising marine fish and domino fish, you can refer to some of the following useful tips:

• Initialize the tank filtration system and live rock at least 2 - 3 weeks before adding fish to the tank.
• Check water parameters periodically to ensure stable water supply.
• Periodically change 20 - 30% of the water in the tank every week.

Health care, disease prevention for Domino fish

If you want your fish to live long, have beautiful colors, and grow quickly, please refer to the detailed health care and disease prevention instructions below.

Common diseases :

Effective disease prevention in three-spot spoon fish :

• Maintain stable, clean water quality
• Don't overfeed your fish.
• Quarantine newly purchased fish for 7 - 14 days before releasing them into the main tank.
• Do not raise too many animals as this can lead to stress and fighting over territory.
• Mixing fresh garlic or garlic extract into fish food helps boost immunity.

Domino fish price

Currently, Domino fish is very popular and favored in the marine aquarium market in Vietnam, and it has a relatively cheap price compared to other types, only ranging from 100,000 - 200,000 VND/fish.

In particular, this fish species also has good shipping tolerance, so you can consider buying fish through reputable online stores with affordable prices!

The most beautiful and impressive Domino fish pictures

Please enjoy the super beautiful and lovely moments of Domino fish through the image collection we share below!

A Domino fish swimming among the tentacles of a Sea Anemone.

An "old" Domino fish with a strange gray color tone.

A school of Domino fish living among the anemone.

A Domino fish is sitting on a sea anemone.

If you are looking for a small, cute and unique fish for your saltwater aquarium, the Domino fish is a great choice. Hopefully, the information that nicefish.net shares above will help you better understand the three-spot spoonfish and be confident in raising them.

Don't forget that in our Blog section there are many other interesting aquarium fish waiting for you to discover!