Bi-color leopard wrasse killed my leopard wrasse

[Fishnfun]

I run a very peaceful tank. All of my fish get a long great, and I did a lot of research selecting each one. I have an awesome bi-color leopard that is in the water column all day, and is very social, always front and center, and has a ton of personality.

Well, we added a leopard wrasse the other day, and holy s*($*((@. My bi-color leopard turned into a sicario, straight from Mexico. The second the leopard wrasse would come out of the sand, the bi-color was attacking him, non-stop. It only took 2 days, and the new leopard wrasse was dead.

I didn't find anything about compatability issues during my research, but I thought it might be an interesting experience for others to read about.

 

[OrionN]

How big is your tank? That is likely problem.

 

[Big G]

@evolved

 

[Fishnfun]

How big is your tank? That is likely problem.

I have a red sea 750. So the display tank is 160 or 170. I have a 40 gallon sump underneath.

 

[ca1ore]

Bi-color? Do you mean vermiculate, scientific name bipartitus? Almost all fish are aggressive to newcomers, including the various leopard wrasse species. Perhaps your resident is male and exerting dominance. Either way, QT helps survival rates enormously.

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

Did you use an acclamation box?

 

[OrionN]

Isn’t that almost 200 gal? Sometime leopards can be aggressive with newcomer. Whenever I see this, I use a large mirror to distract the establish fish.
Sorry.

 

[evolved]

Bi-color? Do you mean vermiculate, scientific name bipartitus? Almost all fish are aggressive to newcomers, including the various leopard wrasse species. Perhaps your resident is male and exerting dominance. Either way, QT helps survival rates enormously.

+1

And I'm still not sure either what two species are being discussed here.

 

[lebreef]

If both fish are macropharyngodon leopards they are ruthless towards each other especially at introduction, I’ve seen them in quite large tank not accepting of any newcomers even with acclimation boxes. I would add them together or remove and re-add together at a later date in case one of them is already in the tank.

 

[Fishnfun]

Macropharyngodon bipartitus was the aggressor.

Macropharyngodon meleagris was the loser.

 

[OrionN]

My Black Leopard male is the most territorial fish their is in my tank. If I put a mirror on my tank, he is glue to it for the duration of the time the mirror is up. None of my other fish come even close to this level of aggressiveness.

 

[maroun.c]

Ornatus and bipartitus were always very aggressive against any new added leopard till I removed them. Aggression usually subsides after few days but then do a lot of damage till then. Most of the time newcommwe will stay in sand and starve. They might learn to come up a bit before lights come on and hide when aggressor is out so make sure to feed then... mine had to be removed as I wanted to add other leopards.