Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Likely Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Western Indian Ocean: Maldives, Chagos Archipelago, Seychelles and Mauritius.
Size: 3 inches (7 cm)
Natural Environment: Inhabits coastal and outer steep reef slopes and usually found near caves and drop-offs in small groups at depths between 50 to about 200 feet (15 – 60 m) where it feeds on zooplankton.
General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade, with the male having an orange-pink/purplish color, and pink on their pectoral fins. Females are overall somewhat the same body color, and a yellow dorsal and tail fin.
Best maintained in dimly lit aquariums as this is usually a deep-water collected species, along with some rocky caves and strong water movement that has a large unencumbered area for schooling in small groups. Tankmates should be peaceful species and those that perfer low light aquariums, and all tankmates should be the last to enter the aquarium.
If maintained in brightly lit reef aquariums, will be extremely shy, difficult to feed, with the acclimation timeframe lengthy.
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 offered at least twice daily and dispensed upstream so water currents carry food to their location.
Sometimes difficult to get feeding, and if so, fortified live adult brine shrimp may be necessary until they accept other types of aquarium foods, e.g., frozen foods and fresh marine fish and invertebrate flesh.
Taxonomy:
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Percoidei
Family: Serranidae
Subfamily: Anthiinae
Genus: Pseudanthias
FYI: Can be maintained in small groups, with only one male and several females.
Can jump out of the aquarium, therefore some sort of cover may be necessary.
Experience Level: Intermediate
Temperament: Peaceful
Diet: Carnivore
Coral Safe: Yes
Fish Safe: Yes
Invertebrate Safe: Yes
Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+
Aquarium Environment: Reef or fish-only aquarium
Tankmates: Peaceful
Minimum Tank Size: 100 gallons
Temperature Range: 72 - 80°F (22 – 27°C)
Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.026
pH: 8.0 - 8.5
