Blue star leopard ...where from?

dewboy1127 · Dec 5, 2015

First post on here however i read the forum daily and appreciate all knowledge i have gained from you guys...but just get right to it i recently had a melanarus wrasse in my tank that was terrorizing the rest of my fish and cause of a red velvet and naoko wrasse death (my 6yr old could pet the naoko literally. ..very disappointing with the loss) however i have caught him now.so im looking to get the blue star leopard female i have tried two and the melanarus didnt have it.. ...My question is live aquaria for example has them but from either maldives or africa..has anyone had good or bad experience with this wrasse and where was it from? Im not sure which one to order if i do..if someone could enlighten me to the differences they might have from Maldives or africa it would be greatly appreciated.

kschweer · Dec 5, 2015

@eatbreakfast or @3FordFamily may be able to help you out. Welcome to R2R!

dewboy1127 · Dec 5, 2015

@kschweer...thank you

@eatbreakfast or @3FordFamilyau any input??

eatbreakfast · Dec 5, 2015

No real difference in hardiness or coloring from either location.

Leopards in general don't handle shipping stress well, and I recommend treating for internal parasites, but after acclimation to captivity are quite hardy.

bsagea · Dec 5, 2015

Our pair came from LA last September. I don't recall the area ours came from. They survived shipping, their 60 cube cracking and living in a 10 gal with (2) ORA Premium Snowflakes for (9) months. They are back in their cube now and very healthy and happy. I think the most important thing with the leopards is to QT them and make sure they are eating before putting them in your DT. We recently purchased a black leopard from LA and he is doing well. After 11 days, he is now eating pellets as well as cyclopys, mysis, flakes, etc. Tuesday we have a Kuiteri, Potters and Melagris coming from LA as well. Hopefully they will do as well as our others. Time will tell. Be sure to check your salinity and acclimate very slowly. The salinity is usually around 1.019 with LA's water. We usually spend 6 - 8 hours acclimating our livestock from there.
LA is by far one of the best for customer service and for that reason alone, we continue to buy from them. Here's our two.

4FordFamily · Dec 5, 2015

I never got this notification for some reason. All four of mine came from petsolutions.com which is the same source and same warranty as live aquaria, with the same customer service and cheaper prices. Free shipping for orders over $99 too which is nice. Highly highly recommend! I had three males and one female (submale actually) but I just sold one of my boys

Piranhapat · Dec 5, 2015

I had one for almost 4 yrs and then my melanarus decided to bully him . To the point where he went into hiding and died. One of my favorite wrasse.

dewboy1127 · Dec 5, 2015

There was one at the lfs this past weekend on sale too about 2-3" and was sold when asked if sell her to me anyways ...they said was others and when stirred them up were much smaller but what i noticed while he was doing that the original 2-3" one was still just hanging out and didnt scurry into the sand which unusual for this fish and a good sign imo so i tried for bout hr to get them to sell her to me but they wouldn't do it some lucky person got her and she probably doing great

dewboy1127 · Dec 5, 2015

@3FordFamily any pics of yours?

4FordFamily · Dec 6, 2015

dewboy1127 said:
@3FordFamily any pics of yours?

Here is one of the boys. I don't have many good photos I have some videos on YouTube (my channel is 3fordfamily).

I need to upload new videos those are old.

dewboy1127 · Dec 7, 2015

Awesome. ..I am debating a pair of the blue stars or a female blue star and a potters wrasse.....the other half likes the female blue star so now that i got her on bored definitely one will be in the works......Will the female eventually turn to a male if i dont get a male also?

eatbreakfast · Dec 7, 2015

dewboy1127 said:
Awesome. ..I am debating a pair of the blue stars or a female blue star and a potters wrasse.....the other half likes the female blue star so now that i got her on bored definitely one will be in the works......Will the female eventually turn to a male if i dont get a male also?

Sometimes females will transition without a male, sometimes they won't, there really is no way to know for sure with leopards.

Baldguy · Dec 7, 2015

I've always liked coloration on female leopards more than the males. Is it just me?

dewboy1127 · Dec 9, 2015

I do like both but something about the spots on the females that i cant stop looking at...by far some of my favorite wrasses to look at and will hopefully be to have as well when i can get some

dewboy1127 · Jan 6, 2016

@bsagea how are your new wrasses doing that you got in?

dewboy1127 · Jan 6, 2016

I dont really have a qt setup right not is it possible to just acclimate these guys and go right to the display or should i try get a small tank and put water and Tupperware sand in it for week or so ...could i use air pump to supply oxygen??.....@basgea @4FordFamily @eatbreakfast

eatbreakfast · Jan 6, 2016

dewboy1127 said:
I dont really have a qt setup right not is it possible to just acclimate these guys and go right to the display or should i try get a small tank and put water and Tupperware sand in it for week or so ...could i use air pump to supply oxygen??.....@basgea @4FordFamily @eatbreakfast

Skip qt if you don't have one for a leopard, but dose prazi to the dt.