Diamond Tail Flasher wrasse

evolved · Mar 17, 2020

TheShrimpNibbler said:
Can anyone confirm that this is a female diamond tail flasher wrasse?

It is a female right now, and as that changes, so will it's coloration.

OrionN · Mar 17, 2020

Even female Diamond Tail gets darker with bright light. even low light reef is bright for these wrasse.

alton · Mar 17, 2020

Here is a picture of my two females with one playing possum earlier. When I moved my male from my office to my home he did the same thing. I thought he was dying. These two go in isolation for 4 weeks in my rubber maid tub to help an adult imperator learn how to eat. A trick OrionN taught me.

OrionN · Mar 29, 2020

Here are pictures of my Diamond Tail wrasse. Growing really fast and changing color quickly.

2/16/2020, just under 1 inch

Today at 1.5 inches

Zionas · May 31, 2020

They’re such beautiful fish but don’t live long enough to sustain my interest. The most beautiful ones are pretty much all terminal male species which probably means they don’t have that much time left. It’s almost a bit eerie when we look at their names.

Flasher Wrasse- Gone in a flash.

Fairy Wrasse- In ancient Chinese fortune telling, some women who died young were believed to be fairies incarnated into humans. These were usually beautiful young women, but their lives were plagued with illness and misfortune, they were believed to be fairies unsuited for the mortal world. Maybe these wrasses are the fairies among fish, too beautiful, too unique to live long among most fish kind.

Variant · Jul 5, 2020

@evolved @OrionN

Do you know if diamond tails turning darker in color is common in captivity?

Mine turned nearly black after 4 months. No stress, frequent feedings of pellet food, nice and fat, etc.

Was wondering if our artificial lighting is doing this or if they need more conspecies interaction.

Scurvy · Jul 5, 2020

Not great pics but my Diamond Tail from NY Aquatic back in March while in Observation. Sub adult probably just shy of an inch then.

And today about 1.5” and maturing.

Also a favorite of mine though hard to find affordable. NY Aquatic is best bet when he has them.

OrionN · Jul 5, 2020

Variant said:
@evolved @OrionN

Do you know if diamond tails turning darker in color is common in captivity?

Mine turned nearly black after 4 months. No stress, frequent feedings of pellet food, nice and fat, etc.

Was wondering if our artificial lighting is doing this or if they need more conspecies interaction.

They get much darker in high light reef tanks. Aparently they are fairly deep water fish.

Scurvy said:
Not great pics but my Diamond Tail from NY Aquatic back in March while in Observation. Sub adult probably just shy of an inch then.

And today about 1.5” and maturing.

Also a favorite of mine though hard to find affordable. NY Aquatic is best bet when he has them.

Nice fish. Do you have two or just one? So far my Female stay female over the last 4 months and the larger quickly developed to a male wrasse.

Scurvy · Jul 5, 2020

OrionN said:
They get much darker in high light reef tanks. Aparently they are fairly deep water fish.

Nice fish. Do you have two or just one? So far my Female stay female over the last 4 months and the larger quickly developed to a male wrasse.

Just the one but housed with another male flasher and multiple male Fairies. Hasn’t transitioned as quickly as yours but moving that way for sure.

OrionN · Jul 5, 2020

2/16/2020

6/14/2020

7/4/2020

evolved · Jul 9, 2020

Variant said:
Do you know if diamond tails turning darker in color is common in captivity?

Yes, it happens to all of them in captivity, regardless of what type of lighting is used (meaning, it's not related to UV exposure, IMO). I believe it just to be an artifact of bright lighting; it would be interesting to see what happens if kept in a very dimly lit tank.

Variant · Jul 9, 2020

evolved said:
Yes, it happens to all of them in captivity, regardless of what type of lighting is used (meaning, it's not related to UV exposure, IMO). I believe it just to be an artifact of bright lighting; it would be interesting to see what happens if kept in a very dimly lit tank.

Is this with just the diamond tail, flasher wrasses or just wrasses as a whole?

evolved · Jul 9, 2020

Variant said:
Is this with just the diamond tail, flasher wrasses or just wrasses as a whole?

Just attenuatus.

joshyross70 · Jul 10, 2020

NY aquatics has some for sale right now

evolved · Jul 10, 2020

joshyross70 said:
NY aquatics has some for sale right now

Beware; his photos depict C. africanus.

OrionN · Jul 10, 2020

@evolved is right (as if he can be wrong about wrasse). Right now on 7/10/2020 7:25PM Central time, Mike at @NYAquatic have image of the male P. attenuatus, but the females that he have pictured on the site is not of the same species.
Below are pictures of the female P. attenuatus I got from him in 2/2020 (correctly ID) and his current wrasse's picture. It does not seem to be the same species to me.
If you want to buy it, I would as him for a warranty, and replace the wrasse if it turn out to be wrongly ID in a few months.
Correctly ID P. attenuatus female from NYAquatic in 2/2020