Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Not Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Red Sea and East Africa to Hawaiian, Marquesas, and Easter Islands, north to Southern Japan, and south to Lord Howe, Kermadec and Rapa Islands.
Size: 18 inches (45 cm)
Natural Environment: Inhabits surge zones in outer reefs and usually found at depths between 3 – 150 feet (1 – 45 m) where it feeds on benthic invertebrates and small fishes.
General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade with the adult male having a greenish head and body with several pinkish irregular lines on the head and several thin horizontal pinkish orange lines on the body. Females similarly colored, except they have a ‘V’ mark on the snout.
Best maintained in large fish-only aquariums having a fine sand bed, (0.5 – 2.0 mm) and at least 4 inches deep (for juveniles), along with several rocky caves and crevices to hunt or sleep in and also wide open swimming areas as those in this genus are highly active swimmers.
May rearrange bottom dwelling corals in its search for tasty bottom dwelling invertebrates, e.g., snails, tubeworms, sea stars, cucumbers, urchins, crabs, and shrimp and will also eat smaller fishes, even those slightly larger by first grabbing them and then bashing them against hard objects, then consuming the pieces. Will quickly burrow into the sand if frightened, and occasionally for sleeping at night.
Preferable tankmates are those that are larger and aggressive, e.g., groupers, angelfishes, hawkfishes, moray eels, and aggressive triggerfishes.
Requires a meaty diet, including fortified brine shrimp, mysis, and other meaty type marine-based frozen for fresh foods, and should be fed three times daily.
Taxonomy:
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Labroidei
Family: Labridae
Genus: Thalassoma
FYI: Will jump out of uncovered aquariums.
One male per aquarium.
Basically an unsuitable species for home aquariums as its very large and aggressive!
Experience Level: Professional
Temperament: Aggressive
Diet: Carnivore
Coral Safe: Yes
Fish Safe: With caution
Invertebrate Safe: With caution
Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+
Aquarium Environment: Fish-only aquarium
Tankmates: Aggressive
Minimum Tank Size: 300 gallons
Temperature Range: 72 - 82°F (22 – 27°C)
Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.026
pH: 8.0 - 8.5
