Halichoeres chrysus

After you add it, it may stay buried for several days or even weeks: this is normal, and most healthy, unharassed fish then become bolder. As with any marine fish, a 2–4 week quarantine in a separate tank limits the risk of bringing parasites into your display.

A 5–8 cm sand bed is essential, as is a tight-fitting lid: wrasses jump, especially newly added fish. Plan an established tank of at least about 190 litres (50 US gallons), plenty of live rock with nooks to explore, a large open sand area and room to swim.

Peaceful, it does well with other peaceful wrasses, including its own species: a small group of canary wrasses works in a large enough tank.

It usually leaves soft and stony corals and other sessile invertebrates alone, but eats small shrimp, crustaceans, fan worms and molluscs; it also reduces microfauna (amphipods, copepods), which makes it a poor match for fish that depend on them. Recommended parameters: about 22–26 °C (72–78 °F), specific gravity 1.020–1.025, pH 8.1–8.4, alkalinity 8–12 dKH.

In the wild it hunts small crustaceans, molluscs, worms and echinoderms on and in the substrate.

In the aquarium, vary its food: vitamin-enriched frozen mysis and brine shrimp, other meaty foods such as chopped crustacean or mollusc flesh, plus quality marine flakes and pellets. It benefits from frequent small feedings through the day, and tops up by hunting amphipods and copepods in the sand and rock.