Female Leopard Wrasse

[jackalexander]

I was thinking about getting an ornate leopard wrasse for my 55g tank and live aquaria lists them as an EXPERT ONLY fish. Is this true or is there any easy way to get them on frozen meaty foods?

 

[EvanDeVita]

I have a small female ornate in my 30 long. She's my favorite fish and has been bulletproof after her break-in period. Leopard wrasse bury themselves in the sand at night and when stressed, so it is possible that yours will bury itself for the first week or so. In this time it may only come out at night, hunting for pods. There is nothing you can do during this time. Do not distrub the sandbed or you will stress it out more which is not good for the fish's health.
The reason they are considered expert only is because they do not ship well. Because of this, it is best to buy them from your LFS. I recommend giving the fish a week at your LFS before taking it home, but this is hard to do because some people may not have the patience I recommend and they might take the fish before a week is up. If the wrasse survives a week at your LFS, it is safe to take home. My LFS fortunately always has leopard wrasse in stock, so I can ask them to hold one for me for a week while I wait to see if it survives. If you do not have this luxury, you're in a tough spot.
After waiting for a week, I brought mine home and it was immediately swimming around hunting for pods (why I recommend waiting), and it immediately ate PE mysis. Although the mysis is bigger than its mouth, mine was able to get mysis down in time. I spot fed it so it could get the shrimp down without being pestered by my other fish.

All in all, I don't recommend ordering this fish online (especially from LA). Try and get one from your LFS. If this isn't possible, find someone who quarantines fsih to get one for you, and to make sure it survives before sending it your way.
Best of luck

 

[Viva'sReef]

Beautiful fish, I've had one in my 75g for a few weeks now. Picked it up from my LFS seeing as it had been there for a couple weeks already and looked good.

I would say it's expert only because it requires a sand bed 2 to 2.5" min and that they can injure their mouths in transit trying to bury themselves in a plastic bag. That's why the caution with purchasing any Leopard Wrasse online. Lots of stories that go wrong with that species specifically from what I've seen over the years.

Mine sleeps in the sand every night so be prepared for it to go missing. During the day it cruises the tank hunting and readily takes prepared foods (spectrum regular size pellets and smaller bits of Mysis.)

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

LA is trash right now. I would ask your local fish store to order one for you. All wrasses bury at night and when they are stressed so they will disappear from time to time. I’ve never had any of mine ever be difficult to feed. They’ve always bullseyes whatever I throw into the tank. I fed my leopard frozen brine shrimp. Smaller and easier for her to eat than mysis.

 

[Tamberav]

I was thinking about getting an ornate leopard wrasse for my 55g tank and live aquaria lists them as an EXPERT ONLY fish. Is this true or is there any easy way to get them on frozen meaty foods?

Poor shippers... buy local... one that appears to look good and eats with no damaged mouth.

 

[reef4life!!!]

Well i got a female leopard wrasse in early december and she is doing great in my 65 gallon tank. She recognises me as food source so it comes up in the front with the other fishes when i get close to the tank.For 1-2 weeks mine was burried in the sand and came out at night to hunt copepods. After that period she slowly starting to show up when the lights were on.The food was my issue at first but thank god i had a lot of copepods in the tank so she was hunting constantly.Mine is a weird girl haha,she only eats nori and the ocean nutritions spirulina flakes and pellets, she has no interest in frozen food.I think that even if you get a really bad specimen they could possibly recover and be ok in your tank just like every other fish but you will need to not stress the tank when the fish is out for some time and perform water changes when it sleeps. That's what i did and it worked pretty good for me.Overall i think that you just need have a good amount of copepods in the tank and not stress the fish until you see it's eating good and is looking good.

 

[EvanDeVita]

LA is trash right now. I would ask your local fish store to order one for you. All wrasses bury at night and when they are stressed so they will disappear from time to time. I’ve never had any of mine ever be difficult to feed. They’ve always bullseyes whatever I throw into the tank. I fed my leopard frozen brine shrimp. Smaller and easier for her to eat than mysis.

Careful- not all wrasse bury themselves in the sand bed!