What do you think of when you hear the word bass? A tasty meal? A Jonah-swallowing lunker of a grouper? A cute aquarium specimen that grows up to kill and/or inhale everything else in your tank? Well, all these characterizations and more are to be found within the family of true basses and groupers, the Serranidae. Happily, there is a genus of serranids that with something for most every marine aquarist, Cephalopholis ("seph-ah-low-foe-lis"), the hinds.

"Never heard of them?" Oh really? How about the Coral Hind or Rockcod, aka the Miniatus grouper, Cephalopholis miniata? Or the beautiful Blue-Spotted or Argus grouper, C. argus? Maybe even the brilliant reddish C. aurantia (garrupa), or C. nigripinnis (Duskyfin Rockcod), should you be so fortunate to have a Red Sea dealer near? And I refuse to believe as an old-timey aquarist that you've never observed the many-colored varieties of the Caribbean Coney, C. fulva. Take a look at the images accompanying this article; ah, now they're starting to look more familiar.

And well they should. Of the several large genera in the sizable bass family, the genus Cephalopholis blesses us with a wide mix of reasonably sized, relatively well-behaved "personality fishes"; suitable for every type of system where there is nothing small enough to fit into their capacious maws.

Classification: Taxonomy, Relation With Other Groups

Ask any fisherperson about "bass" and you'll soon find that the name is very generic; there are croakers (family Sciaenidae), sunfishes like the large mouth "bass" (family Centrarchidae), giant sea "bass" (family Percichthyidae), and many more that share the common appellation with the real basses. Here, we are talking about the true bass & grouper family, Serranidae.

"Real" basses don't need these other groups honing in on their turf anyway. As a group they've got the width and breadth, literally and figuratively to stand or swim on their own. Some are quite small (e.g. Anthias), others (large groupers) attain more than a thousand pounds. Many are drab to disruptive/cryptic in their markings to camouflage-aid them in ambushing prey, disparate one's are gaudy to beautiful (Tukas, hamlets (Hypoplectrus) and more).

Our genus, Cephalopholis is one of some sixty-two in the family of 450 or so described species. For those who enjoy taxonomic minutiae, Cephalopholis is part of a sub-family (Epnephelinae) and further sub-division (Tribe Epinephelini) with other notable grouper-like basses. For slightly more confusion, the common name "grouper" is preferred by those in the sciences for basses in the genus Epinephelus, and "hind" for Cephalopholis. As Billy Shakespeare gets credit for writing, "what's in a (fish) name?" Here I'll stick with the commonest common name in the west (bass); just don't be over- or underwhelmed if you see hind, grouper, Rockcod, bass, etc. applied to any or all of these fishes.

See Nelson for further reference/information. Presently there are about twenty species of Cephalopholis, of which the trade/hobby offers a handful off and on. 

The most commonly encountered include:

Range:  

Most Cephalopholis are Indo-Pacific (12 species); some Red Sea, western and eastern Atlantic, Oceania (mid- tropical Pacific), and one from the eastern Pacific. Mostly hinds are found in shallows to a few hundred feet in areas with lots of hiding opportunities.

Size:  

The Hinds are relatively small basses, with a maximum length between one and two feet.

Selection: General to Specific

Look for newer arrivals with good color and outgoing or at least "curious" personalities. You will soon be wondering, "who's watching whom?" with a healthy specimen in your tank.

These Basses are best purchased as sub-adults and moved as few times as possible. Adaptability reduces with growing size and captive moves. Move them as little as you can.

Environmental: Conditions

Though identified as bully-boys, Cephalopholis spend most of their time hiding, skulking, and looking cagily for food. I'd like to re-emphasize the point; don't move their decor around too much; like turtles, these animals appreciate a great deal of predictability in their physical habitat.

Chemical/Physical

Like larger basses, the hinds are tolerant of a wide range of "water quality". Any stable tropical temperature, mid specific gravity (1.022-1.023) is fine. I would suggest artificially supplementing the buffering capacity of the system with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or commercial preparation for the same. Rationale? The introduction and processing of so much proteinaceous foods tends to drive down alkalinity.

Filtration

Adequate and rigorous to handle large tanks and occasional large wastes. A high-flow outside power filter is a definite plus.

Habitat: Provide your bass with at least two distinct rock/coral cave hide areas and low lighting for optimized health and behavior; but take care to construct it in such a way to prevent collapse from undermining. The genus Cephalopholis are prodigious diggers, and will move a tank-full of gravel in a system on a good day.

Behavior: Territoriality

The generalization for this genus is "one to a tank". They are intolerant of being housed with the same species or other similar ones of near size. Most species gather together in pairs or aggregations only for spawning, or group predation.

Introduction/Acclimation:

Cephalopholis basses are typically very shy when first placed in a new system. Don't be overly concerned or bummed that yours doesn't act very "bass-like" for a few days to weeks. Most hide immediately on introduction, and only come out over time, or as trained by their feeder.

Predator/Prey Relations:

These basses as species and individuals are not overtly "mean", but will swallow any tank-mate smaller than their mouth-opening. Reciprocally they are generally left alone by other fishes; with the exception of feisty trigger and moray-types.

Reproduction, Sexual Differentiation:

Hinds have proven to be synchronous hermaphrodites, males turning into females. They pair up or group spawn, releasing their gametes to the wiles of the upper water column. Pelagic young hatch out in a matter of a day or two.

Feeding/Foods/Nutrition: Types, Frequency, Amount, Wastes

Along with water quality, diet is primarily important in determining serranid health and color.

I find that authors, like Campbell in the late seventies, plug the use of live freshwater organisms as suitable food formats. I still don't. Live goldfish may be not be nutritionally unsound, but the behavioral consequences of your livestock dashing about, equating fish-like stimuli with hunting/eating satisfaction sounds like a bad idea. Besides, feeders are expensive and inconvenient. Alternatively, I encourage the use of whole or formulated, preserved-frozen foods. Even the finickiest eater can be trained to accept these with gusto.

On that same note, if your bass doesn't eat for a while, for no or any apparent reason, don't sweat it. They have been known to go "off-feed" for days, even weeks, with no long term negative consequences. Indeed, there is much to be said/written encouraging infrequent less-than-satiated feedings. This will keep your bass/hind active, create less demand on the filtration/aeration, and slow-down its growth.

Disease: Infectious, Parasitic, Nutritional, Genetic, Social

Hinds are relatively disease resistant and hardy; they respond well to copper, specific gravity manipulation, and other treatment regimens for infectious and parasitic diseases.

Close:

The bass members of the genus Cephalopholis have much to commend themselves for as aquarium specimens. Many are gorgeous marked and colored, they're hardy, undemanding in their requirements, and extremely easily fed. Just provide yours with adequate space and hiding places and you will have the closest thing to "man's best friend" in a wet pet there is.

Bibliography/Further Reading:

Axelrod, Herbert R. & Warren E. Burgess, 1981. Groupers and their relatives. TFH 8/81.

Burgess, Warren E., Herbert R. Axelrod and Raymond E. Hunziker III, Atlas of Aquarium Fishes, v. 1 Marines. 1990. T.F.H. Publications.

Campbell, Douglas G. 1979. Marines: their care and keeping, Groupers and their allies. Parts 1-3. 9-11/79 FAMA.

Fenner, Bob. 1995. A diversity of aquatic life. The Family Serranidae. FAMA 9/95.

Fenner, Robert. 1996. Basses, groupers or hinds? The genus Cephalopholis. TFH 12/96.

Fenner, Robert. 1998. The Conscientious Marine Aquarist. Microcosm, VT. 432pp.

Goldstein, Robert. 1992. Spectacular serranids. AFM 11/92

Hunziker, Ray. 1988. Orange lightning- experiences with Cephalopholis miniatus. TFH 3/88.

Jonklaas, Rodney, 1975. Search for the super-duper grouper. TFH 8/75.

Kerstitch, Alex, D.A. Thomson & L.T. Findley. 1979. Reef Fishes of the Sea of Cortez. Wiley Interscience.

Michael, Scott W. 1998. Gorgeous groupers. One genus really does stand out. AFM 1/98.

Murphy, Geri, 1992. The Caribbean Coney, a common fish of uncommon colors. Skin Diver 5/92.

Nelson, Joseph S. Fishes of the World. Wiley. 3rd Ed. 1994.

Pyle, Richard L. & Lisa A. Privitera, 1989. The harlequin hind C. polleni (Bleeker). FAMA 12/89.