Hemigymnus fasciatus

(Bloch, 1792)

Barred thicklip Wrasse

Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Red Sea to Mozambique, and east to Tahiti.

Size: 30 inches (76 cm)

Natural Environment: Inhabits bottom areas composed of rubble, sand and coral on reef flats and usually found at depths between 3 – 85 feet (1 – 25 m) where it feeds on benthic invertebrates.

General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade with juveniles black with white bars on the body and the adults having more white and various colored stripes on the head, along with wider body bars.

Best maintained in large fish-only aquariums having several rocky crevices to sleep in and also open swimming areas. Sometimes bury themselves if frightened, however, usually sleep under rock shelves, on or under a coral branch, in a crevice, or directly on the sand surface. Providing a deep sandbed of about 8 inches (20 cm) of fine-grained sand would be a good idea.

As to diet, products such as marine fish and crustacean flesh, clams, and other marine meaty foods should make up the majority of the juveniles diet and be enriched and chopped into small pieces and fed small portions five or more times per day. Adults may need live foods, such as snails, crabs, and grass/glass/ghost shrimp to survive.

Taxonomy:

Order: Perciformes

Suborder: Labroidei

Family: Labridae

Genus: Hemigymnus

FYI: Collects sand in its mouth, then rises in the water column where it sifts through the sand in its mouth for small invertebrates, spits out the sand and then swallows the food, causing clouds of sand to be despised on objects below.

More a public aquarium species, than a home aquarium species.

Food fish in local areas.

One per tank.

Probably better left in the wild, as it is a difficult fish to maintain long term.

Its size makes it unsuitable for most home aquariums.

Experience Level: Professional

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: Active and moderately aggressive

Minimum Tank Size: 250 gallons

Temperature Range: 74 - 82°F (23 – 27°C)

Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.026

pH: 8.0 - 8.5