Newton's First Law of Fishy
Thalassoma Wrasses are huge favorites around here for their intense colors and high activity levels; Newton's Wrasse has all this and more. They're large, but not huge, generally reef safe (with a caveat) and because they come from the east Atlantic Ocean along the African coast, where collection is uncommon for fish destined for North America, they're also quite rare in aquariums here. Newton's Wrasse also gets called the African Newtoni Wrasse but doesn't have any other common names. Its scientific name is Thalassoma newtoni, named for the man who originally cataloged it in 1891, Colonel Francisco Xavier Aguilar O’Kelly Azeredo Newton. He was an explorer and naturalist from Portugal. The name Thalassoma is of Greek origin and is a reference to a body that is the color of the sea.
Fully grown, Newton's Wrasse could get as large as eight inches or so from tip to tail, but they'll hit adulthood around four or five inches long, and only rarely get much longer than six and a half inches long. When juvenile, they are usually pale yellow, with two prominent, horizontal black lines that run the length of their body, one along the dorsal fin, and another right down their side. When they hit adulthood, they go through a major color change and turn into the (also) stunning fish you usually see in photos.
Six inches long is still a fairly sizable fish in an aquarium, and as we've referenced a very active one, so the tank should be large. A bare minimum would be 75 gallons in a sparsely populated tank, but a tank that was six feet long, in the 100-150 range would be more comfortable long term. This tank should feature a fine-grained sand bed, it doesn't need to be overly deep, a couple inches will be fine, but there needs to be enough for the wrasse to bury itself, which it will do to sleep over night, and will do during the daylight if spooked. Another thing that they like to do when spooked is bolt, and if they do this in the upward direction, they can torpedo right out of the tank, so cover it! They'll appreciate all the rock you can throw in a tank; the more caves, swim-throughs, overhangs and undercut hidey places you can have, the happier your wrasse will be, assuming there is at least a little sand bed to snooze under. They also do well in big flow, like big. It would be hard to give them too much, you are going to be more limited by keeping your sand bed on the bottom of the tank, than by having too much flow for the wrasse!
What can you keep with a Newtons? Lot's of stuff. Contrary to popular opinion, they are generally reef safe, meaning they are really unlikely to eat your corals. However, in the wild, they mostly eat invertebrates like shrimp, but they'll also happily break into an urchin, or remove a hermit crab or snail from its shell. They'll even take down crabs, but they might wait until it molts. Clams are also going to get picked on and eaten if the wrasse can manage it. As a result of this appetite, you'll often see them listed as not reef safe, but really, we'd call them, not cleanup crew safe... Thalassoma Wrasses mostly mind their own business when it comes to other fish, except for other Thalassoma Wrasses. It's possible to keep a group of Newton's Wrasses if you get them all together as Juveniles and have a very large tank. One will segue into a male, and the rest will (or should) stay female or juvenile and they could possibly co-exist this way for a long time. Other large and active fish make the best choices. Tangs, Angels, Triggers, big Anthias, Pseudochromis, some Damsels, even some of the large Clowns like Tomatoes and Maroons would make good tankmates. Avoid fish that are very docile and shy like Firefish as your Newton will likely scare them into hiding most of the time.
Newton's Wrasses are easy to feed, and you should keep them well fed, especially if you want to keep your collection of snails and hermits around. The better fed your wrasse is, the less it's going to pick on your cleanup crew. Here we feed twice a day and more would be just fine. We use a mix of thawed foods from Gamma that focuses on inverts like Bloodworms, Chopped Mussel, Cockle in Shell, Chopped Prawn and both Krill Superba and Pacifica and Mysis / Brine for smaller specimens. Newton's Wrasses will also love both the Pellets and Shots from Nutramar, and we prefer the Nutramar Complete product for them. Utilizing pellets for a portion of their diet makes it much easier to get them the broad spectrum of nutrients and high protein levels they require to stay healthy.
Do you have a big fish tank? Do you like super colorful and active fish? Do you also like rare fish? Is your tank a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) or maybe you don't mind replacing your cleaners a little more often? If the answer to these is yes, then Newton's Wrasse is definitely a fish worth checking out! Ask your LFS about getting you one from Quality Marine today!