The entire genus known as Pseudojuloides does not get near enough love. There are only a few species that make it into the aquarium trade with any regularity, and fewer still that are once-in-a-blue-moon opportunities at your LFS. All of them are excellent, gorgeous, (mostly reef safe) fish that are size appropriate for aquariums that are within the reach of most hobbyists.
Pseudojuloides severnsi is one of these blue moon specimens that you should be on the lookout for. While it is still pretty rare, they're more common than they were said 10 years ago, and this makes sense as the species was only described in 2000. It was named for Mike Severns, the man who first brought attention to it, and showed it to the venerable Dr. Jack Randall. More commonly this fish has a few names you might see displayed in your LFS. Here at QM we call it the Decolores Wrasse, it is frequently called Severn's (Pencil) Wrasse and we've also seen it labeled the Royal Pencil Wrasse; a less common but very fitting name with the brilliant yellow, gorgeous blue and royal purple coloration that adorns the adult male of the species. On that note, the females and juveniles are usually a soft pastel, orange-ish pink.
On the topic of feeding time, these fish like to eat buffet style. A little at a time, but all the time. They can also be somewhat shy when first added to the tank, so if they hide when you approach, feed with the lights in the aquarium on, but the room lighting off, which will hide your presence at the tank side somewhat (dark clothing helps too). Here we feed them a mix of meaty foods from Gamma. Their wild diet is almost all invertebrates, so we lean heavily into that. The mix changes, but includes items like Mysis, Brine Plus Garlic, Brine Plus Omega 3, Bloodworms, Copepods (and Copepods plus Garlic), Finely Chopped Mussel and Prawn round it out. We ALWAYS feed this mix with a dose of Nutramar Marine Complete Pellets and sometimes Shots. Shots let the Decolores graze as they normally would, and introducing the pellets with the meaty foods is all about training them to recognize the pellets as food. Once you get them on pellets, you can use an auto-feeder to get them a couple meals a day that you don't have to be present for. Here we feed them two to three times a day, and that's enough, but for long term, at home, you could bump that up as much as you want, as long as you fed less per feeding time; four, even five meals a day wouldn't be a bad idea. If you have trouble getting them to stop hiding during mealtimes, start with some live food like the Artemia from Nutramar. These come gut loaded with Nutramar IC live microalage and are basically irresistible to carnivore fish. Click here to learn more
Pseudojuloides severnsi is one of these blue moon specimens that you should be on the lookout for. While it is still pretty rare, they're more common than they were said 10 years ago, and this makes sense as the species was only described in 2000. It was named for Mike Severns, the man who first brought attention to it, and showed it to the venerable Dr. Jack Randall. More commonly this fish has a few names you might see displayed in your LFS. Here at QM we call it the Decolores Wrasse, it is frequently called Severn's (Pencil) Wrasse and we've also seen it labeled the Royal Pencil Wrasse; a less common but very fitting name with the brilliant yellow, gorgeous blue and royal purple coloration that adorns the adult male of the species. On that note, the females and juveniles are usually a soft pastel, orange-ish pink.
On the topic of feeding time, these fish like to eat buffet style. A little at a time, but all the time. They can also be somewhat shy when first added to the tank, so if they hide when you approach, feed with the lights in the aquarium on, but the room lighting off, which will hide your presence at the tank side somewhat (dark clothing helps too). Here we feed them a mix of meaty foods from Gamma. Their wild diet is almost all invertebrates, so we lean heavily into that. The mix changes, but includes items like Mysis, Brine Plus Garlic, Brine Plus Omega 3, Bloodworms, Copepods (and Copepods plus Garlic), Finely Chopped Mussel and Prawn round it out. We ALWAYS feed this mix with a dose of Nutramar Marine Complete Pellets and sometimes Shots. Shots let the Decolores graze as they normally would, and introducing the pellets with the meaty foods is all about training them to recognize the pellets as food. Once you get them on pellets, you can use an auto-feeder to get them a couple meals a day that you don't have to be present for. Here we feed them two to three times a day, and that's enough, but for long term, at home, you could bump that up as much as you want, as long as you fed less per feeding time; four, even five meals a day wouldn't be a bad idea. If you have trouble getting them to stop hiding during mealtimes, start with some live food like the Artemia from Nutramar. These come gut loaded with Nutramar IC live microalage and are basically irresistible to carnivore fish. Click here to learn more
