Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Not Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Red Sea to the Line Islands, Tuamotu, the Marquesas, Japan, and south to the Great Barrier Reef.
Size: 10 inches (25 cm)
Natural Environment: Inhabits sandy and rubble slopes and drop-off areas and usually found at depths between 3 – 100 feet (1–30 m) where it feeds mainly on crabs, snails, worms, shrimp, urchins, and small fishes.
General Husbandry: Occasionally seen in the trade with the adult male having a silvery white body with a black checkerboard pattern, light green face with orange to pink striped markings, and a yellow dorsal and tail. Colors vary depending upon the age of the specimen, collection areas, and breeding timeframes.
Best maintained in fish-only aquariums having a fine sand bed, (0.5 – 2.0 mm) and at least 4 inches deep, along with several rocky crevices to hunt and also open swimming areas. Those in this genus will not only rearrange bottom dwelling corals in its search for tasty bottom dwelling invertebrates, as it grows into adulthood may also eat smaller fishes by first bashing them against hard objects, then consuming the pieces. It may also consume snails, tubeworms, sea stars, cucumbers, urchins, crabs, and shrimp, also bashing them, if needed, to be consumed.
It will also quickly burrow into the sand bed if frightened or for sleeping at night. This diving into the sand bed will cause clouds of sand particles to be dispensed into the water, and would cause various corals harm, therefore, those in this genus, depending upon their size, are not often recommended for reef aquariums.
Requires a meaty diet, including fortified brine shrimp, mysis, and other meaty type marine-based frozen or fresh foods, and should be fed twice daily.
Taxonomy:
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Labroidei
Family: Labridae
Genus: Halichoeres
FYI: Upon first entering the aquarium may stay buried for days. Simply await its decision when to emerge. Once established, it will go to sleep under the sand and arise the next morning at almost the exact same time every day!
The aquarium should have small pieces of rocks for the wrasse to ‘play’ with in its daily search for prey.
Can greatly stir bottom sandbeds creating large clouds of sand being dispensed in many directions.
One male per aquarium.
Colors tend to fade in captivity.
Experience Level: Intermediate
Temperament: Semi-aggressive
Diet: Carnivore
Coral Safe: Yes
Fish Safe: With caution
Invertebrate Safe: With caution
Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+
Aquarium Environment: Fish-only aquarium
Tankmates: Larger, active and moderately aggressive
Minimum Tank Size: 100 gallons
Temperature Range: 74 - 82°F (23 – 27°C)
Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.026
pH: 8.0 - 8.5
