Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Not Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: India and Maldives east to Papua New Guinea north to Japan, and south to Indonesia.
Size: 37 inches (95 cm)
Natural Environment: Inhabits crevices and caves on inshore coral reefs and usually found at depths between 3 to 150 feet (1 - 45 m) where it feeds on small fishes, shrimp, worms, crabs and other crustaceans.
General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade, having a light brown body with dark brown bands and numerous white or bluish spots.
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.
Taxonomy:
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Orectolobiformes
Family: Hemiscylliidae
Genus: Chiloscyllium
FYI: Will eat small tankmates.
Very sensitive to copper, therefore aquarium water should be made with RO/DI processed water.
They like to dig, so having anything that may topple could cause a danger in the aquarium. They also like to hide and need caves and ledges to hide in or under.
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: 300 gallons
Temperature Range: 72 - 82°F (22 - 27°C)
Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.025
pH: 8.0 - 8.5
