Bipartus Wrasse Help

charged · Jan 6, 2014

Hi,
I plan on purchasing 3 Bipartus Wrasses(small) from an online store this week. I was told they are eating prepared foods. I will be introducing them to an established 125G. I know from the past it is difficult acclimating these wrasses. Can anyone w/experience w/these wrasses offer suggestions to best help me acclimate them?

charged · Jan 8, 2014

Anybody?

Dashiki · Jan 8, 2014

They do not ship well. For best success make sure you are sitting at the door waiting for the delivery and get them acclimated quickly and I to the tank. They are known for internal parasites but qt is difficult unless they are eating well when you get them.

Do you have an established qt with live rock in it?

charged · Jan 8, 2014

Yes but I don't have any sand in the QT. If need be I could put in some LR from my DT. Some of the LFS tell me it's best to put them directly into the DT. It will increase there chance of surviving. Do you have any Leopards?

evolved · Jan 8, 2014

I hate to refer you to another forum, but there's so much good information/experiences in this thread I can't help it: Leopard Wrasse Primer - Reef Central Online Community

There's two very different schools of thought on what's "best" for the genus (QT or straight to an established DT). Unfortunately neither is perfect and both have negatives.

Yes, I know the thread above is huge, but do yourself a favor and go through the first ten pages at least.

vegasgungirl · Jan 8, 2014

I have a couple leopards in my DT tank at home plus when they are shipped to the fish store I worked at I was doing all the acclimating. They do not ship well at all unfortunately so like the guy said before be there for them and get them out of the bags ASAP. They most def need a sand bed. Fine sand and at least 1inch thick. The first 3-4 days they will stay under the sand wrapped in a cocoon of sorts they create to ward off predators. Do not go looking for them. When they are comfortable they will come out of the sand. I feed mine a wide variety of meaty foods from mysis to chopped clam and krill. Mine also graze on purple seaweed. Leopard wrasses are very particular to lunar cycles. Another reason why shipping and keeping them is so hard. If your running lights on a timer that's the best thing for them. Tinkering with the lights will stress them out. Sudden light changes are the hardest for them. They like a sun rise and sun set. I have my lights set on a lunar cycle and like clock work they appear at 7:45am each morning and are gone about 7pm each night. Hope this helps you.

charged · Jan 8, 2014

Did you QT the ones in your DT? When they came into your store were they shipped w/sand in the bags? How long did it take them to eat prepared foods? Did you treat them for internal worms? Sorry for all the questions.