Scientific Name: Stethojulis balteata Common Names: Belted Wrasse
Care Level: Difficult Adult Size: 5.9in pH Range: 8.1 – 8.3 Temperature Range: (F/C) 77-79F/25-26C Specific Gravity/Hardness Range: 1.023-1.026 Origin/Habitat: Hawaiin Islands and Johnstone Atoll Temperament/Behaviour: Peaceful
Compatible Tank mates: Blennies, Gobies, Cardinalfishes. Diet: Difficult to feed. Even when eating, it tends to pine away. Does best if kept in a tank with live rock and fed meaty foods, including vitamin-enriched live brine shrimp and frozen mysis shrimp.
Tank Size For Adult: 55gal (208l) Narrative: Not harmful to sessile invertebrates; adult specimens may attack more-delicate ornamental shrimps. This beautiful wrasse usually does not fare well in captivity. In the wild, it feeds by taking mouthfuls of sand and spitting out the in edibles and lives on relatively small prey items. Chances of success increase slightly in a tank full of healthy live rock, live sand, and a productive refugium attached. Provide with plenty of hiding places, including a layer of sand in which it can bury when threatened and at night. Avoid placing it with aggressive tankmates. Males should be kept singly, but a male and one or more females can share the same tank.
Scientific Name: Thalassoma lunare Common Names: Moon Wrasse (Lunare Wrasse
Care Level: Moderately easy Adult Size: 9.8in pH Range: 8.1 – 8.3 Temperature Range: (F/C) 77-79F/25-26C Specific Gravity/Hardness Range: 1.023-1.026 Origin/Habitat: Indo-Pacific Temperament/Behaviour: Predatory
Compatible Tank mates: Angels, Butterflyfishes, Surgeonfishes, Triggers. Diet: Meaty foods, including chopped, fresh or frozen seafoods, frozen preparations for carnivores, frozen or live brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, flake foods..
Tank Size For Adult: 75gal (284l) Narrative: harmless with corals, but will eat small fishes, ornamental crustaceans, and many other motile invertebrates, including snails, serpent stars, bristleworms, and mantis shrimps. This and other members of the genus Thalassoma start as drab juveniles but grow into exceptionally beautiful and hardy adults that make great display specimens. They need plenty of swimming room and will harass new introductions to the aquarium if they are smaller or similar in shape. This species is highly predatory and will make short work of smaller fishes; keep with some more-belligerent or larger fishes. A male and female can occupy the same tank if it is at least 125gal(473l). Thalassoma spp. wrasses do not bury in the sand, but hide among rockwork at night or when frightened.
Scientific Name: Xyrichtys pavo Common Names: Blue Razorfish (Indian Fish, Pavo Razorfish)
Care Level: Moderately difficult Adult Size: 16.1in pH Range: 8.1 – 8.3 Temperature Range: (F/C) 77-79F/25-26C Specific Gravity/Hardness Range: 1.023-1.026 Origin/Habitat: Indo-Pacific Temperament/Behaviour: Predatory
Compatible Tank mates: Angels, Butterflyfishes, Surgeonfishes, Triggers. Diet: Meaty foods, including chopped, fresh or frozen seafoods, frozen preparations for carnivores, frozen or live brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, live black worms, cleaned earthworms, flake food, live grass shrimp and even small feeder fish.
Tank Size For Adult: 300gal (1,136l) Narrative: Will eat small fishes, ornamental crustaceans, and many other motile invertebrates (including snails and serpent stars). Will also eat bristleworms and mantis shrimps. The razorfishes have the astonishing ability to dive headfirst into the substrate when threatened and actually swim under the sand. Require a large tank, with plenty of open sand bottom at least 3-4 inches deep for adults. Large specimens often ship poorly; smaller individuals tend to acclimate more readily. Do not keep with members of its own kind, or with other razorfishes.
Scientific Name: Cetoscarus bicolor Common Names: Bicolor Parrotfish
Care Level: Difficult Adult Size: 31.5in pH Range: 8.1 – 8.3 Temperature Range: (F/C) 77-79F/25-26C Specific Gravity/Hardness Range: 1.023-1.026 Origin/Habitat: Indo- Pacific Temperament/Behaviour: Relatively peaceful Compatible Tank mates: Triggers, Angels, Damsels, Butterflyfishes. Diet: Varied diet, including chopped fresh or frozen seafoods, frozen preparations for herbivores, frozen or live brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, and flake food. Also provide pieces of live rock and/or calcareous coral skeletons for it to graze on. Tank Size For Adult: 300gal (1,136l) Narrative: Will bite chunks from live stony corals. Can be kept with soft corals, and is safe with motile invertebrates. This and other parrotfishes make very poor aquarium subjects. They naturally feed on algae that encrust the reef, crunching up substantial amounts of coral with their beaklike dental plates. They are difficult to feed and get too large for the vast majority of home tanks. In the wild, they sweep freely across the reef and often act painfully confined in an aquarium. This species is not aggressive toward other species, with the possible exception of other parrotfishes. It might fight with members of it own species.
Scientific Name: Scarus taeniopterus Common Names: Princess Parrotfish
Care Level: Difficult Adult Size: 13.8in pH Range: 8.1 – 8.3 Temperature Range: (F/C) 77-79F/25-26C Specific Gravity/Hardness Range: 1.023-1.026 Origin/Habitat: Tropical Western Atlantic Temperament/Behaviour: Relatively peaceful Compatible Tank mates: Triggers, Angels, Damsels, Butterflyfishes. Diet: Difficult to feed. Offer a varied diet including chopped fresh or frozen seafoods, frozen preparations for herbivores, frozen or live brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, and flake food. Provide pieces of live rock and/or calcareous coral skeletons for it to graze on. Plaster of Paris feeding blocks, impregnated with food, can also be used. Tank Size For Adult: 180gal (681l) Narrative: Should not be kept with stony corals as it will rasp on them. Can be kept with soft corals. A favourite of Caribbean divers and snorkelers, this in one of a number of parrotfishes that is best appreciated in the wild. It ranges widely, grazing on algae throughout the day and does poorly in a confined space. Will typically starve to death if kept in an aquarium without microalgae. Peaceful with other species, but may fight with members of its own kind. Although smaller than others in the genus, it requires a large aquarium and efficient filtration.
Care Level: Easy Adult Size: 11.8in pH Range: 8.1 – 8.3 Temperature Range: (F/C) 77-79F/25-26C Specific Gravity/Hardness Range: 1.023-1.026 Origin/Habitat: Indo- Pacific Temperament/Behaviour: Aggressive Compatible Tank mates: Best kept on its own. Diet: Mixed diet of meaty foods, including chopped shrimp, squid, clams, and fish. Also frozen rations with marine algae and vitamin-enriched foods. Tank Size For Adult: 55 gal (208l)) Narrative: Not suitable for the reef aquarium. Feeds on a wide range of invertebrates. An exceptionally beautiful species often called the most belligerent marine aquarium fish available. Because it is so attractive, hardy, and has a great repertoire of behaviours, it is a favourite with some aquarists. Best kept singly in an aquarium of its own; even if housed with aggressive species; it is likely to attack tankmates sooner or later. Often shy at first, but in time many specimens learn to associate their caretaker with food and swim near the surface for a tasty morsel. Use care when working in a tank housing this fish: it will bite the hand that feeds it.
Scientific Name: Balistes vetula Common Names: Queen Triggerfish
Care Level: Easy Adult Size: 23.6in pH Range: 8.1 – 8.3 Temperature Range: (F/C) 77-79F/25-26C Specific Gravity/Hardness Range: 1.023-1.026 Origin/Habitat: Tropical Atlantic Temperament/Behaviour: Aggressive Compatible Tank mates: Best kept on its own or with basses, puffers and other animals too unpalatable to bite or mean and smart enough to bite back Diet: Mixed diet of meaty foods, including chopped shrimp, squid, clams, and fish. Also frozen rations with marine algae and vitamin-enriched foods. Tank Size For Adult: 200gal (757l) Narrative: Not suitable for the reef aquarium. Feeds on a wide range of invertebrates. Truly the most regal triggerfish of the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean. Unfortunately, it gets larger and more aggressive than most aquarists can handle. Juveniles and adolescence’s can be kept with larger fish species, but they will begin to wreak havoc on their tankmates as they mature. Such large, menacing individuals can decimate the population of an aquarium and are note easily passed along to other aquarists. As with other aggressive triggerfishes, it is notorious for rearranging aquarium décor and may even bit and break heater tubes, air-line tubing, and plastic siphons.
Scientific Name: Balistoides conspicillum Common Names: Clown Triggerfish
Care Level: Can be difficult depending on age of specimen. Adult Size: 19.9in pH Range: 8.1 – 8.3 Temperature Range: (F/C) 77-79F/25-26C Specific Gravity/Hardness Range: 1.023-1.026 Origin/Habitat: Indo-Pacific Temperament/Behaviour: Aggressive Compatible Tank mates: Best kept on its own or with basses, puffers and other animals too unpalatable to bite or mean and smart enough to bite back Diet: Mixed diet of meaty foods, including chopped shrimp, squid, clams, and fish. Also frozen rations with marine algae and vitamin-enriched foods. Tank Size For Adult: 135gal (511l) Narrative: Not suitable for the reef aquarium. Dramatic, almost bizarre, colouration makes this species a prize among aquarists, despite a number of drawbacks. The mortality rates of very small juveniles (often available in large numbers and sold as “tiny” Clown Triggerfish) are often high. Larger juveniles, adolescents, and adults, are typically very hardy. Sadly, some manifest a Jekyll and Hyde personality: amiable for many months, then suddenly turning nasty – nipping and even killing their tankmates. Keep only one per tank. Grows quickly if well fed. Has been known to attack its owners.
Scientific Name: Melichthys vidua Common Names: Pinktail Triggerfish
Care Level: Relatively Easy Adult Size: 13.8in pH Range: 8.1 – 8.3 Temperature Range: (F/C) 77-79F/25-26C Specific Gravity/Hardness Range: 1.023-1.026 Origin/Habitat: Indo-Pacific Temperament/Behaviour: Relatively peaceful Compatible Tank mates: Surgeonfishes, Cardinalfishes, Blennies, Gobies, Maroon Clownfish, Angelfish. Diet: Mixed diet of meaty foods, including chopped shrimp, squid, clams, and fish. Also frozen rations with marine algae and vitamin-enriched foods. Tank Size For Adult: 100gal (379l) Narrative: One of the few triggers that can be kept in a reef aquarium. Will usually ignore sessile invertebrates, but larger specimens may eat ornamental shrimps. This is an attractive species with subtle beauty that does not fit the usual aggressive profile of the triggerfishes. Can be retiring when first introduced, but will become quite tam over time, and is even more sociable than the O. niger triggerfish. Because of its hardiness and more-passive disposition, it is a great choice for the beginning aquarist. Can be kept with peaceful fishes of equal size or larger, or with more-aggressive fishes that are smaller. Unlike some of its cousins, this fish is less likely to rearrange the aquarium décor or dig holes in the substrate although it has been heard that it can do both.
Scientific Name: Odonus niger Common Names: Niger Triggerfish (Redtooth Triggerfish)
Care Level: Relatively Easy Adult Size: 19.7in pH Range: 8.1 – 8.3 Temperature Range: (F/C) 77-79F/25-26C Specific Gravity/Hardness Range: 1.023-1.026 Origin/Habitat: Indo-Pacific Temperament/Behaviour: Relatively peaceful Compatible Tank mates: Surgeonfishes, Cardinalfishes, Blennies, Gobies, Maroon Clownfish, Angelfish. Diet: Mixed diet of meaty foods, including chopped shrimp, squid, clams, and fish. Also frozen rations with marine algae and vitamin-enriched foods. Tank Size For Adult: 100gal (379l) Narrative: Can be housed in a reef aquarium, but may nip at sponges, tunicates, ornamental crustaceans, and snails. Harmless to corals. To keep with a cleaner shrimp, add the crustacean first. An excellent aquarium fish, relatively peaceful and quite handsome when well-fed and properly illuminates. Usually not hostile to tankmates, it tends to be shy at first, becoming bolder with time. More than one can be kept per tank if they are added simultaneously as juveniles to a large tank. Should be provided with a piece of live rock with a hole where it can retreat if threatened. It may bite: before handling aquarium decorations to clean or relocate them, make sure you know where your triggerfish is.
