Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Not Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Size: 28 inches (72 cm)
Natural Environment: Inhabits tide pools and seagrass beds and usually found at depths between 3 to 40 feet (1 - 12 m) where it feeds on small fishes, shrimp, worms, crabs urchins, and other crustaceans.
General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade, having a cream colored body with numerous golden brown spots/honeycomb appearance, and also with a very pronounced large black spot just behind the pectoral fins.
When it comes to keeping sharks in very large home aquariums, those in this genus are the best. They are 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 large caves and/or ledges to hide in/under, especially during daylight hours. They will also dig under rockwork; so unstable reef structures can end up crushing the shark.
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 two to three times weekly. Place food on the substrate near the specimen and it will find it and suck it up. Can also be fed using a feeding stick.
Taxonomy:
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Orectolobiformes
Family: Hemiscylliidae
Genus: Heterodontus
FYI: Will eat smaller tankmates.
Very sensitive to copper, therefore aquarium water should be made with RO/DI processed water.
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: 180 gallons
Temperature Range: 72 - 82°F (22 - 27°C)
Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.025
pH: 8.0 - 8.5
