Blue Star Leopard Wrasse

JohnA26 · Oct 15, 2023

Is the fish really as peaceful as described. Or does it need to be stocked later on a stocking list?

steveschuerger · Oct 15, 2023

JohnA26 said:
Is the fish really as peaceful as described. Or does it need to be stocked later on a stocking list?

I have one. Model citizen.

JohnA26 · Oct 16, 2023

Thanks, maybe you can help me decide. I have done 90 day fallow after a velvet breakout. Now restocking and this fish was not on my original plans. However it was on sale through ReefPro (and conditioned-eating) and I jumped on it. I order small, but a 3 (maybe plus) inch showed up. My plan was to observe in my 13 gallon "QT" for several weeks, probably a month. ( with a lemon peel angel that I purchased together). Well they are both eating great, swimming and such. The tank doesn't have the deepest sand bed as it was meant to be a QT. The wrasse seems bored and wanting more sand. In the evening (an hour) before bed she swims into the sand and sort of "flounders" around creating a massive dust cloud every night in the little tank. I see no signs of parasites or anything. This is why I seem to think it wants more sand.

Have you seen this behavior?

I have a quarantined delivery coming next week of a few shy fishes. I wanted to wait until (a week after at least) to put theses two in main display. (I definitely am with angel fish).

Should I add the wrasse this week or wait the 2 more weeks?

Cell · Oct 16, 2023

Its recommended to research fish before purchasing. Leopard wrasses burrow in the sand to sleep and when stressed. You need at least 2" sandbed to properly home it.

twentyleagues · Oct 16, 2023

JohnA26 said:
Thanks, maybe you can help me decide. I have done 90 day fallow after a velvet breakout. Now restocking and this fish was not on my original plans. However it was on sale through ReefPro (and conditioned-eating) and I jumped on it. I order small, but a 3 (maybe plus) inch showed up. My plan was to observe in my 13 gallon "QT" for several weeks, probably a month. ( with a lemon peel angel that I purchased together). Well they are both eating great, swimming and such. The tank doesn't have the deepest sand bed as it was meant to be a QT. The wrasse seems bored and wanting more sand. In the evening (an hour) before bed she swims into the sand and sort of "flounders" around creating a massive dust cloud every night in the little tank. I see no signs of parasites or anything. This is why I seem to think it wants more sand.

Have you seen this behavior?

I have a quarantined delivery coming next week of a few shy fishes. I wanted to wait until (a week after at least) to put theses two in main display. (I definitely am with angel fish).

Should I add the wrasse this week or wait the 2 more weeks?

Those wrasses sleep in sand so a deeper sand bed is required to keep them happy. That behavior is normal. As for when you should add I am unsure, if the fallow period in your tank was sufficient then you should be good. As stated above that type of wrasse usually behaves in tanks with maybe the exception of others of that type. I had a blue star and a black in one of my previous tanks that got along fine with each other which I was asked how i accomplished it (?) I didnt know they weren't supposed to get along. They were fine with all the other fish also.

JohnA26 · Oct 16, 2023

twentyleagues said:
Those wrasses sleep in sand so a deeper sand bed is required to keep them happy. That behavior is normal. As for when you should add I am unsure, if the fallow period in your tank was sufficient then you should be good. As stated above that type of wrasse usually behaves in tanks with maybe the exception of others of that type. I had a blue star and a black in one of my previous tanks that got along fine with each other which I was asked how i accomplished it (?) I didnt know they weren't supposed to get along. They were fine with all the other fish also.

I do have a 2" sand bed in QT and probably 3-4 inch sand bed in Display, thanks for the other info.

Dburr1014 · Oct 16, 2023

JohnA26 said:
Thanks, maybe you can help me decide. I have done 90 day fallow after a velvet breakout. Now restocking and this fish was not on my original plans. However it was on sale through ReefPro (and conditioned-eating) and I jumped on it. I order small, but a 3 (maybe plus) inch showed up. My plan was to observe in my 13 gallon "QT" for several weeks, probably a month. ( with a lemon peel angel that I purchased together). Well they are both eating great, swimming and such. The tank doesn't have the deepest sand bed as it was meant to be a QT. The wrasse seems bored and wanting more sand. In the evening (an hour) before bed she swims into the sand and sort of "flounders" around creating a massive dust cloud every night in the little tank. I see no signs of parasites or anything. This is why I seem to think it wants more sand.

Have you seen this behavior?

I have a quarantined delivery coming next week of a few shy fishes. I wanted to wait until (a week after at least) to put theses two in main display. (I definitely am with angel fish).

Should I add the wrasse this week or wait the 2 more weeks?

Put a small cup or dish with sand in the qt. They will use that to sleep.

JohnA26 · Oct 16, 2023

I thank you folks for the comments, however I guess I didn’t write the question direct enough. Let me re-try:

Yes I researched the fish, yes my display has more than enough sand and my “qt” has sufficient sand. Yea my fallow is done.

The question was, being the fish arrived a lot bigger than I ordered, and it looks healthy, and looks very bored in my 13 gallon “qt” and is eating, is it really that shy of a fish that I can add it to my display before/with the first arrivals (shyest fish on my stocking list) next week?

(No I will not add the angel yet, as it is quite a bit more aggressive and arrived as small as I ordered so the “qt” looks ok for him for a few more weeks)

twentyleagues · Oct 17, 2023

yeah add it.

Slocke · Oct 17, 2023

JohnA26 said:
I thank you folks for the comments, however I guess I didn’t write the question direct enough. Let me re-try:

Yes I researched the fish, yes my display has more than enough sand and my “qt” has sufficient sand. Yea my fallow is done.

The question was, being the fish arrived a lot bigger than I ordered, and it looks healthy, and looks very bored in my 13 gallon “qt” and is eating, is it really that shy of a fish that I can add it to my display before/with the first arrivals (shyest fish on my stocking list) next week?

(No I will not add the angel yet, as it is quite a bit more aggressive and arrived as small as I ordered so the “qt” looks ok for him for a few more weeks)

They are very peaceful except for males with other male leopard wrasse. They generally need a good pod population to do well long term. Also they don’t handle aggression well and can be very delicate.

I would not worry about aggression from it in other words so you can add it but make sure to try and up your pod population if you haven’t already.

landlubber · Oct 17, 2023

mine was peaceful to the point it would be bullied by fast moving other peaceful fish during feeding. If i were to buy another it'd only be with completely docile tankmates.