Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Not Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Eastern Pacific Ocean: Central California to the Sea of Cortez, and possibly Ecuador and Peru.
Size: 47 inches (120 cm)
Natural Environment: Inhabits rocky reefs and kelp forests in the intertidal zone and usually found at depths between 3 to 500 feet (1 - 150 m) where it feeds on small fishes, shrimp, worms, crabs urchins, and other crustaceans.
General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade, having a tan body with brown blotches.
Best maintained in large shark and stingrays type aquariums having deep fine-grained sand, and wide-open swimming areas, peaceful, none fin-nipping tankmates and tankmates too large to be eaten. Also a large, well-filtered and well-oxygenated system with few environment obstructions, however, should have a large cave to hide in.
Do not house with large triggerfishes, angelfishes, wrasses, and pufferfishes, as they can pick on the shark and cause skin and/or eye damage.
Requires a meaty diet, i.e., preferably live grass shrimp, earthworms and/or crabs and/or chopped meaty foods such as fish flesh, shrimp, clams, scallops and earthworms and be fed three times weekly. Place on the substrate near the specimen and it will suck up the food.
Taxonomy:
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Orectolobiformes
Family: Hemiscylliidae
Genus: Chiloscyllium
FYI: Will eat smaller tankmates.
Very sensitive to copper, therefore aquarium water should be made with RO/DI processed water.
Unsuitable for almost all home aquariums due to its size - more a public aquarium species.
A cool water species.
Experience Level: Expert
Temperament: Aggressive
Diet: Carnivore
Coral Safe: Yes
Fish Safe: No
Invertebrate Safe: No
Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+
Aquarium Environment: Fish-only aquarium/with caution
Tankmates: Peaceful and too large to be eaten
Minimum Tank Size: 500 gallons
Temperature Range: 55 - 70°F (13 - 21°C)
Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.025
pH: 8.0 - 8.5
