NEWS108
42
Sargocentron rubrum
aquarium. Being plankton feeders, they
leave sessile invertebrates completely
aloneandother fisheshavenothing to fear
from themas longas theyaren't regarded
not as food.
Inmy aquarium containing two large, ea-
sily 20 cm long,
Myripristis
I observed that
even small fisheswerepursued for only a
fewdays.Once theyhad survived this pe-
riod and become familiar with their sur-
roundings, the soldierfishes no longer re-
presentedany threat to them. Thesoldier-
fishes thenmadeonlyhalf-heartedattacks
that the small fishes were easily able to
avoid.
Even though soldier- and squirrelfishes
aren'tnotedasshoaling fishes,theyshould
bekept inasmallgroup,orat least in twos.
Agroup cangenerally consist of different
species.
Unfortunately soldier- and squirrelfishes
are only very sporadically available in the
aquarium trade.But if theopportunityof-
fers,anyonewitha largeaquarium should
seize itwithoutworries - itwill certainlybe
worth it!
Literatur:
DeGraaf,F. (1970):Das tropischeMeerwasser-
aquarium.Melsungen.Neumann308pp.
Randall,J.E.&D.W.Greenfield (1999):Holo-
centridae. inCarpenter,K.E.;Niem,V.H. (eds)
FAO species identificationguide for fishery
purposes.The livingmarine resourcesof the
WesternCentral Pacific.Volume4.Bony fishes
part2 (Mugilidae toCarangidae).
Rome,FAO. .pp.2069-2790.
Kuiter,R.H.&H.Debelius (2006).WorldAtlasof
marine fishes. IKAN-Unterwasserarchiv,Frank-
furt a.M.,720pp
Ayoung specimenofNeoniphon sammara.
Sargocentronpraslin
, juvenile.
Theaquarium forsoldier-andsquirrelfishes
should,however,beas largeaspossible,as
theyareactiveswimmersand rather impo-
sing as aquarium fishes go, Soldier- and
squirrelfishesareheavy feeders,andpollu-
tionof thewater is correspondingly high.
Asmentioned earlier, feeding these fishes
posesnoproblemsof anykind.
Unlike in thewild,soldier-andsquirrelfishes
aren't crepuscular or nocturnal at all in the
aquarium, but after a short settling-inpe-
riod are out and about all day. But a large
caveorsimilarshouldneverthelessbeavai-
lable to these fishes, if only so that youcan
observe the interestingbelly-upswimming
behavior from time to time.
