Debelius reef lobster - Enoplometus debelius

The Debelius reef lobster is a beautifully marked sea creature and has impressive claws. It belongs to the species Enoplometus debelius. The picture perfect and quite robust lobsters come from the Indo-Pacific, New Caledonia, Bali, Hawaii and Indonesia. Debelius reef lobsters grow to about 10 cm long - measured without claws. The bright purple to orange Enoplometus debelius show a cool darker dot pattern and orange-red antennae - they look like a seventies party in the marine aquarium and just glow wonderfully pretty.

Internally, Debelius reef lobsters are very aggressive and should be kept singly.  Two specimens of the same sex may fight to the death - a pair can be kept in a very, very large marine aquarium with lots of hiding places. Not much is known about breeding in the aquarium.

Debelius reef lobsters are relatively aggressive predators and may well prey on fish. Otherwise it eats carrion very effectively and cleans up dead aquarium animals completely. Mussel meat, artemia, frozen fish or shrimp meat are also readily eaten. Good feeding helps to ensure that the Enoplometus debelius does not go too hard on the fish and invertebrates in the reef aquarium.

In terms of water quality, the brightly colored Debelius reef lobsters are not particularly demanding. As residual eaters, reef lobsters are very adaptable. Average water quality is quite sufficient for them in the reef aquarium. The Debelius Reef Lobster needs a water temperature between 24 and 26 °C and a saltwater density between 1.022 and 1.024.

A single Debelius reef lobster fits perfectly into a well equipped aquarium with a volume of 50 liters or more. If you align the caves and hiding places to the front glass, you can observe the reef lobster more often. At feeding time the rather nocturnal Debelius reef lobsters appear after a short time and then search eagerly for food.

Enoplometus debelius feels comfortable in the marine aquarium in a burrow, which it can dig under a flat stone - for this the substrate under this stone should be at least 5 cm high. A substrate with a fine grain size below 5 mm is recommended for keeping an Enoplometus debelius in a reef aquarium. Corals and other sessile invertebrates of saltwater tend to be left alone.

Characteristic: Predatory loner