Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Not Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Indo-Pacific Ocean: Red Sea and East Africa to Samoa.
Size: 36 inches (90 cm)
Natural Environment: Inhabits subtidal reef flats, lagoons and seaward reefs where bottom areas are composed of rubble, sand and coral and usually found at depths between 15 – 100 feet (5 – 30 m) where it feeds on benthic invertebrates.
General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade with juveniles having a whitish frontal body with the aft body black with some yellow on the tail. Adults have a frontal greenish body with blue and pink marking on the head, with the aft body dark green.
Best maintained in large fish-only aquariums having several rocky crevices to sleep in and also open swimming areas. Sometimes bury themselves if frightened, however, usually sleep under rock shelves, on or under a coral branch, in a crevice, or directly on the sand surface. Providing a deep sandbed of about 8 inches (20 cm) of fine-grained sand would be a good idea.
As to diet, products such as marine fish and crustacean flesh, clams, and other marine meaty foods should make up the majority of the juveniles diet and be enriched and chopped into small pieces and fed small portions five or more times per day. Adults may need live foods, such as snails, crabs, and grass/glass/ghost shrimp to survive.
Taxonomy:
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Labroidei
Family: Labridae
Genus: Hemigymnus
FYI: Collect sand in its mouth, then rises in the water column where it sifts through the sand in its mouth for small invertebrates, spits out the sand and then swallows the food, causing clouds of sand to be despised on objects below.
More a public aquarium species, than a home aquarium species.
Food fish in local areas.
One per tank.
Probably better left in the wild, as it is a difficult fish to maintain long term.
Its size makes it unsuitable for most home aquariums.
Experience Level: Professional
Temperament: Semi-aggressive
Diet: Carnivore
Coral Safe: Yes
Fish Safe: With caution
Invertebrate Safe: With caution
Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+
Aquarium Environment: Fish-only aquarium
Tankmates: Active and moderately aggressive
Minimum Tank Size: 250 gallons
Temperature Range: 74 - 82°F (23 – 27°C)
Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.026
pH: 8.0 - 8.5
