Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Likely Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Red Sea to Southern Japan and south to the Great Barrier Reef.
Size: 8 inches (20 cm)
Natural Environment: Inhabits areas near caves and ledges on seaward reefs where they form small groups and are usually found at depths between 85 to about 500 feet (25 – 150 m) where it feeds on zooplankton.
General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade, yet quite attractive. Males have a pale reddish body with a horzontal deep red bar on the mid body to the caudal peduncle and a couple of red streaks on the face along with somewhat long streamers on the upper and lower tail lobes. Females have a similar colored body, yet no tail streamers.
Best maintained in dimly lit aquariums as this is usually a deep water collected species, along with some rocky caves and strong water movement that has a large unencumbered area for schooling in small groups. Tankmates should be peaceful and those that prefer low light aquariums, and all tankmates should be the last to enter the aquarium.
If maintained in brightly lit reef aquariums, will be extremely shy, difficult to feed, with the acclimation timeframe lengthy, maybe not achievable.
As to diet, will eat most regular aquarium foods, e.g., finely chopped various frozen or fresh meaty foods such as mysis, squid, fish flesh, shrimp, clam, etc., and should be offered at least twice daily and dispensed upstream so water currents carry food to their location.
Sometimes difficult to get feeding, and if so, fortified live adult brine shrimp may be necessary until they accept other types of aquarium foods, e.g., frozen foods and fresh marine fish and invertebrate flesh.
Taxonomy:
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Percoidei
Family: Serranidae
Subfamily: Anthiinae
Genus: Pseudanthias
FYI: Best maintained with only one male, and several females.
Can jump out of the aquarium, therefore some sort of cover may be necessary.
Experience Level: Intermediate/Professional
Temperament: Peaceful
Diet: Carnivore
Coral Safe: Yes
Fish Safe: Yes
Invertebrate Safe: Yes
Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+
Aquarium Environment: Reef or fish-only aquarium
Tankmates: Peaceful
Minimum Tank Size: 150 gallons
Temperature Range: 68 - 78°F (20 – 26°C)
Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.026
pH: 8.0 - 8.5
