anampses femininus in bare bottom tank

Reef Pro · Jul 1, 2020

Has anyone kept an anampses femininus or any anampses wrasse for that matter in a bare bottom tank with success...? @evolved
Thanks in advance!

Big G · Jul 2, 2020

evolved · Jul 2, 2020

Never got alerted here; sorry. (I see you edited in the tag after posting - that's why, fwiw)

You'd definitely need a sand box - a recipe for a short life without one.

Reef Pro · Jul 3, 2020

evolved said:
Never got alerted here; sorry. (I see you edited in the tag after posting - that's why, fwiw)

You'd definitely need a sand box - a recipe for a short life without one.

What type of sand is ideal for the sandbox method.... I have a lot of flow in my display and any type of fine coarse sand will create a sand storm.... any thoughts ?

evolved · Jul 3, 2020

Reef Pro said:
What type of sand is ideal for the sandbox method.... I have a lot of flow in my display and any type of fine coarse sand will create a sand storm.... any thoughts ?

It doesn't have to be sugar sand; something in the 2mm range is fine. You should still expect some sand to escape the container however, just from the fish burying. You will have to occasionally siphon out stay sand elsewhere in the tank.

Reef Pro · Jul 3, 2020

would something like natural reef grain size 3.0-5.5 cause a problem... trying to limit the amount of sand leaving the box as much as possible. Also how big of a box would be need for a fish lets say 4" in length?

evolved · Jul 3, 2020

Yes, that will work.

It just needs to be big enough for the fish to lay in, so in that case something 6" will do. Bear in mind that would need adjustment as the fish grows, though.

Reef Pro · Jul 3, 2020

evolved said:
Yes, that will work.

It just needs to be big enough for the fish to lay in, so in that case something 6" will do. Bear in mind that would need adjustment as the fish grows, though.

have you seen people do this with long term success or is this something that will stress to fish overtime to the point of death...

evolved · Jul 3, 2020

I've definitely seen it work long term with Halichoeres; I can't recall with certainty for an instance with an Anampses. But I have no reason to think it wouldn't be okay too - it works fine in a QT tank.