Pseudojuloides severnsi

Bellwood & Randall, 2000

Severn’s Pencil Wrasse

Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Sri Lanka, to Indonesia and north to Southern Japan.

Size: 3 inches (9 cm)

Natural Environment: Inhabits open reef areas covered in rubble and usually found at depths between 30 – 150 feet (10 – 45 m) where it feeds on small benthic invertebrates.

General Husbandry: Occasionally seen in the trade with males having an overall yellowish body with a large black blotch on the upper front body, two irregular blue horizontal lines on the aft body, and blue and black on the upper and lower tail lobes. Females are an overall pink.

Can be maintained with peaceful tankmates in reef or 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/rubble in its search for tasty bottom dwelling invertebrates, 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; therefore bottom dwelling corals are at risk

As to diet, will eat most regular aquarium foods, e.g., finely chopped various frozen or fresh meaty foods such as mysis, squid, fish flesh, shrimp, clam, etc., and should be fed two to three times daily.

Taxonomy:

Order: Perciformes

Suborder: Labroidei

Family: Labridae

Genus: Pseudojuloides

FYI: May jump out of uncovered aquariums.

An adequate diet seems to be a problem with maintaining those in this genus.

Experience Level: Intermediate

Temperament: Semi-aggressive

Diet: Carnivore

Coral Safe: Yes

Fish Safe: Yes

Invertebrate Safe: With caution

Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+

Aquarium Environment: Reef or fish-only aquarium

Tankmates: Peaceful

Minimum Tank Size: 75 gallons

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

Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.026

pH: 8.0 - 8.5