Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Not Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Indian Ocean: Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman to Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Size: 4 inches (10 cm)
Natural Environment: Inhabits holes and crevices in shallow offshore rocky reefs and is usually found between depths of 3 to 65 feet (1 – 20 m) where it feeds on small worms and crustaceans/zooplankton.
General Husbandry: Fairly common in the trade, having a yellowish-orange body with a well defined neon blue horizontal stripe from the snout to the tail on the upper body, and several smaller blue lines on the face.
Best maintained in fish-only aquariums having some rocky hiding places/crevices to take shelter, as this species is secretive and also aggressive. Cannot be trusted with anything less dominating than large eels, angelfishes, surgeonfishes, groupers, squirrelfishes, snappers, triggerfishes and rabbitfishes. Even then, it may nip larger tankmates.
As to diet, products such as marine fish and crustacean flesh, clams, and other marine meaty foods should make up the majority of their diet. Therefore a meaty diet such as enriched chopped fresh fish or shrimp flesh, and/or frozen carnivore foods should be fed once daily.
Taxonomy:
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Percoidei
Family: Pseudochromidae
Subfamily: Pseudochrominae
Genus: Pseudochromis
FYI: Since they are extremely fast moving and secretive, if having to remove it from a reef aquarium with many hiding areas, it would be a major task!
Will eat bristleworms and mantis shrimps.
Captive bred specimens available.
Experience Level: Intermediate
Temperament: Aggressive
Diet: Carnivore
Coral Safe: Yes
Fish Safe: With much caution
Invertebrate Safe: With caution
Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+
Aquarium Environment: Fish-only aquarium
Tankmates: Moderately aggressive/aggressive
Minimum Tank Size: 30+ gallons
Temperature Range: 72 - 81°F (22 – 27°C)
Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.026
pH: 8.0 - 8.5
