Creole Wrasse- A Schooling Solution?

PicassoClown04 · Dec 29, 2020

Diving in the Caribbean recently has really opened my eyes to the variety of fish in the ocean! I saw this massive (like- hundreds) school of Creole Wrasse (blue, not pink) and it got me wondering why these don’t seem to be widespread or available to aquarium hobbyists. Here’s the couple meager pics I was able to take of a male and female that broke off of ten school to mate.

And here are some pics off google that correctly show the schooling ability of these fish

So why are we not using these fish?? I didn’t see any individuals more than around 7” (not to say that they can’t grow larger) and I didn’t see any of them damaging coral but many wrasses are not reef safe even though they’re found on reefs so I’m not sure if these would be a FOWLR fish or something suitable for everybody. I think they’re very pretty, just as pretty as any chromis, especially the males which have the nice yellow belly. Maybe these are the solution to the desire for schooling fish in larger tanks!

Wolf89 · Dec 29, 2020

I've done a decent bit of research on these fish. As far as I can tell, they don't have the best track record in captivity. Albeit, all the threads I read were from upwards of a decade ago, so maybe we could have more success now. Plus, like you said, they are an atlantic species and are seldomly available, though I do agree that they should be a bit more mainstream.

PicassoClown04 · Dec 29, 2020

Wolf89 said:
I've done a decent bit of research on these fish. As far as I can tell, they don't have the best track record in captivity. Albeit, all the threads I read were from upwards of a decade ago, so maybe we could have more success now. Plus, like you said, they are an atlantic species and are seldomly available, though I do agree that they should be a bit more mainstream.

It seems like they should be relatively easy to acquire, I mean they do come in by the hundreds. Any tang collection method should be fine for these guys right? I’ve seen them while diving much of the Caribbean, but I just now got into reefing!

Wolf89 · Dec 29, 2020

footgal said:
It seems like they should be relatively easy to acquire, I mean they do come in by the hundreds. Any tang collection method should be fine for these guys right? I’ve seen them while diving much of the Caribbean, but I just now got into reefing!

I believe they can be reasonably compared to purple queen anthias. They eat extremely small food, many, many times a day and are hard to keep long term. They are definitely on my list of fish to keep looking in to and to try one day.

Weasel1960 · Dec 29, 2020

Great pics. Did a quick google there are a couple of places on line that appear to sell them (although not all pictures look like yours). I also saw that they can grow up to a foot long so that maybe why they aren’t to popular in the hobby.

Zionas · Dec 30, 2020

Yeah they look nice! I’ve seen them in Scott W. Michael’s book on wrasses but other than that haven’t really seen / heard anyone keeping them. I’d say even if they get to 7” that’s still pretty big for a schooling fish unless your tank’s maybe 300 or more gallons, if not 400.

I’d love to know more about their hardiness though!

BTW congrats on the 20!

PicassoClown04 · Dec 30, 2020

Weasel1960 said:
Great pics. Did a quick google there are a couple of places on line that appear to sell them (although not all pictures look like yours). I also saw that they can grow up to a foot long so that maybe why they aren’t to popular in the hobby.

I did see that Blue Zoo has them listed (out of stock rn) but I find it hard to believe that they grow a foot long. Out of thousands, shouldn’t there be at least a handful that are that big? I saw many, many more today and still not a single one over 7”. I also asked the dive master if he’d ever seen a really big one and he said no, they’re all the same size we just saw. Maybe they get bigger in aquaria?

revhtree · Dec 30, 2020

Beautiful shots!

Weasel1960 · Dec 30, 2020

footgal said:
I did see that Blue Zoo has them listed (out of stock rn) but I find it hard to believe that they grow a foot long. Out of thousands, shouldn’t there be at least a handful that are that big? I saw many, many more today and still not a single one over 7”. I also asked the dive master if he’d ever seen a really big one and he said no, they’re all the same size we just saw. Maybe they get bigger in aquaria?

Yeah you would think that in a large school like that there would be a couple unless the bigger ones are consumed by something bigger. LOL

PicassoClown04 · Dec 30, 2020

Weasel1960 said:
Yeah you would think that in a large school like that there would be a couple unless the bigger ones are consumed by something bigger. LOL

We did also see a ton of very large barracuda.... like 5-6’

mort · Dec 31, 2020

Fishbase lists 30cm as the largest one recorded but an average population size of 22cm. So they have the potential to get to a foot but most average smaller.

I think the reason we don't see them is simply because they just don't do well in aquaria for the reasons wolf89 mentions above.

PicassoClown04 · Dec 31, 2020

mort said:
Fishbase lists 30cm as the largest one recorded but an average population size of 22cm. So they have the potential to get to a foot but most average smaller.

I think the reason we don't see them is simply because they just don't do well in aquaria for the reasons wolf89 mentions above.

True. I can see them needing to be fed multiple times a day similar to anthias, but I had no idea that they needed such specialized food. By watching them, I assumed that they foraged around the reef and ate regular wrasse stuff like flatworms and small crustaceans. It’s a shame that they require such specialized care, they are a gorgeous fish

mort · Dec 31, 2020

I must admit I knew them by reputation when I was running a lfs. I was warned about them by so many other shops that said you'd be lucky to get them out of the door. I don't know if it's because they acclimate poorly (they always looked ok at the wholesalers) or if it was a feeding problem. I assume it's the later by how quickly they apparently faded away which is very reminiscent of most people's experience of tuna anthias.

It's a bit of a shame as it's a cool species. Maybe @evolved or @eatbreakfast has more info, they are the go to guys for wrasse.

PicassoClown04 · Dec 31, 2020

mort said:
I must admit I knew them by reputation when I was running a lfs. I was warned about them by so many other shops that said you'd be lucky to get them out of the door. I don't know if it's because they acclimate poorly (they always looked ok at the wholesalers) or if it was a feeding problem. I assume it's the later by how quickly they apparently faded away which is very reminiscent of most people's experience of tuna anthias.

It's a bit of a shame as it's a cool species. Maybe @evolved or @eatbreakfast has more info, they are the go to guys for wrasse.

Hopefully they do! I know evolved enjoys caring for “rare” species of wrasse (as in, rare in the hobby maybe not necessarily rare in the wild). If anybody knows it’s gotta be him!