Range: Indo-Pacific Ocean: Red Sea to South Africa, Line, Marquesan, and Tuamotu Islands, southern Japan, Great Barrier Reef, New Caledonia

Size: Up to 12 in (30 cm)

Natural Environment: Inhabits coral and sponge growths at moderate depths

General Husbandry: Has a temperature range of 72 - 81°F (22 - 27°C) and has a natural diet of zooplankton, small fishes, invertebrate, and just about anything else that moves. Requires a meaty diet, including fortified brine shrimp, mysis, and meaty type frozen foods and with two or three feedings per day. I've seen side panels of aquariums disfigured by these fish because they were trying to chew whomever came close to the aquarium! Either keep it by itself or only with other tough members of its family, and in nothing less than 75 gallon aquarium. Extremely hardy, and will bite the hand that feeds it.

Aquarium Suitability: * * * * *