Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Likely Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Western Atlantic Ocean: Florida and Texas, and throughout the Caribbean, and south to Brazil.
Size: 8 inches (20 cm)
Natural Environment: Inhabits lagoon patch reefs, reef faces, and fore-reef slopes in small groups at depths between 3 to about 200 feet (1 – 60 m) where it feeds mainly on planktonic crustaceans (copepods, mysis, and shrimp larvae), fish eggs, and algae.
General Husbandry: One of the largest Chromis species and rarely seen in the trade, as its somewhat unattractive having a silvery light grey body with the dorsal edged in yellow and yellow on the tips of the tail lobes.
As with most Chromis species, quite hardy, peaceful, and better maintained in small groups of at least five to seven members. Should be given wide-open swimming areas, as they are open water swimmers almost always in the upper aquarium areas, and non-aggressive tankmates.
As to diet, will eat most regular aquarium foods, e.g., live fortified brine shrimp and/or finely chopped various frozen or fresh meaty foods such as mysis, squid, fish flesh, shrimp, clam, etc., and plant material, e.g., flake foods, especially those containing Spirulina and should be offered several times daily.
Taxonomy:
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Labroidei
Family: Pomacentridae
Subfamily: Chrominae
Genus: Chromis
FYI: Even though quite passive and will ignore other fish in the aquarium, larger aquariums, e.g., 75 gallons and above for this species provide far more openness for small shoals to ‘peacefully’ coexist.
If maintained in groups of less than mentioned above, they tend to be over dominate of each other and may force some members into hiding. The bigger the group, the less intergroup picking on each other exists.
Experience Level: Beginner
Temperament: Peaceful
Diet: Zooplanktivore/Omnivore
Coral Safe: Yes
Invertebrate Safe: Yes
Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+
Aquarium Environment: Reef or fish-only aquarium
Tankmates: Peaceful
Minimum Tank Size: 75 gallons
Temperature Range: 70 - 82°F (21 – 27°C)
Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.026
pH: 8.0 - 8.5
