Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Not Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: East Africa to Hawaiian, Marquesas, Tuamotu Islands, and north to Southern Japan.
Size: 7 inches (17 cm)
Natural Environment: Inhabits shallow outer reef crests and usually found at depths between 3 – 50 feet (1 – 15 m) where it feeds on benthic invertebrates and small fishes.
General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade with the adult male having a frontal yellowish color, with the mid to aft body green with a red ‘spine’ shaped pattern, and yellow on the belly.
Best maintained in large fish-only aquariums having a fine sand bed, (0.5 – 2.0 mm) and at least 4 inches deep, along with several rocky caves and crevices to hunt or sleep in and also wide open swimming areas as those in this genus are highly active swimmers.
May rearrange bottom dwelling corals in its search for tasty bottom dwelling invertebrates, e.g., snails, tubeworms, sea stars, cucumbers, urchins, crabs, and shrimp and may also eat smaller fishes, even those slightly larger by first grabbing them and then bashing them against hard objects, then consuming the pieces. Will quickly burrow into the sand if frightened, and occasionally for sleeping at night..
Preferable tankmates are those larger and somewhat aggressive, e.g., groupers, angelfishes, hawkfishes, and moderately aggressive triggerfishes.
Requires a meaty diet, including fortified brine shrimp, mysis, and other meaty type marine-based frozen for fresh foods, and should be fed three times daily. Will also accept flake and other dry foods, such as pellet foods.
Taxonomy:
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Labroidei
Family: Labridae
Genus: Thalassoma
FYI: Will jump out of uncovered aquariums.
One male per aquarium.
Has been known to bite off stony coral polyps.
Experience Level: Intermediate
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: Moderately ggressive
Minimum Tank Size: 100 gallons
Temperature Range: 72 - 82°F (22 – 27°C)
Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.026
pH: 8.0 - 8.5
