Help deciding on a wrasse.

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I'm looking to purchase my next couple fish (currently have 1 chromi and 1 ocellaris clownfish). It's for a newly established 75 gallon with plans of a mixed reef. I'm having a hard time deciding on a wrasse. I have a lot of dwarf ceriths, ceriths, nerites, margarita, and nessarius snails and plan to stay crabless. I also want to eventually peppermint and cleaner shrimp. I want a wrasses that will pick away at unwanted pests, is colorful and friendly. So far I was thinking of a melanurus wrasse or a six line. I am concerned about the melanurus picking at shrimp and snails but hear it's good with coral pests. Any suggestions?
 
I had a mystery wrasse in a mixed reef tank with inverts and never had a problem with it. Six lines are good too.
 
I strongly recommend against sixlines and mystery wrasses. Both belong to the genus Pseudocheilinus. This genus is notorious for getting aggressive, particularly towards fish added after them.

Any of the wrasses that eat coral pests also may end up picking at cuc. Of the options you mentioned the melanurus is the better choice. A pretty safe choice that will get the pests but is a little more safe around cuc is Halichoeres chrysus.
 
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I strongly recommend against sixlines and mystery wrasses. Both belong to the genus Pseudocheilinus. This genus is notorious for getting aggressive, particularly towards fish added after them.

Any of the wrasses that eat coral pests also may end up picking at cuc. Of the options you mentioned the melanurus is the better choice. A pretty safe choice that will get the pests but is a little more safe around cuc is Halichoeres chrysus.
I must have got lucky then. My Mystery and Sixline when I had them were no problems even when adding fish after the fact.
 
I strongly recommend against sixlines and mystery wrasses. Both belong to the genus Pseudocheilinus. This genus is notorious for getting aggressive, particularly towards fish added after them.

Any of the wrasses that eat coral pests also may end up picking at cuc. Of the options you mentioned the melanurus is the better choice. A pretty safe choice that will get the pests but is a little more safe around cuc is Halichoeres chrysus.
X100.

These guys are MONSTERS. I have seen sixline bully tangs and other fish 3-4X their size to DEATH. Please do yourself a favor and avoid these ticking time bombs.

Just my .02
 
More on topic,

I recommend the following:

Yellow "Coris" Wrasse
th-76385-wrasse.jpg

Melanarus OR Vroliks wrass
e
th-80626-hoevens-wrasse2.jpg
th-37462-vroliks.jpg
(Variances in appearance between these two is vast, so the pictures are not always representative)

Both of these are relatively "docile" for the genus (halichoeres). I have also had them coexist well together. They're inexpensive, very hardy, and will take awhile to outgrow your tank (years most likely). They are also very active, colorful, and have a lot of personality. They may decide to eat your clean up crew as they get larger and older, but I have always considered it a necessary "evil". They are worth it.

If you venture in to fairy and flasher wrasse, I would add three or so at once. I have personally struggled when only adding one and my issues went away so long as other similar wrasse species were present. Although anecdotal at best, those I have advised to do this have had success. Lubbocks fairy, exquisite fairy, flame fairy, most flasher wrasse would also be good choices as they're not too aggressive and are pretty hardy. Flame are expensive though ($150-300), exquisite and flasher wrasse range from $35-75 bucks. Lubbocks are under $35 generally as are yellow coris and melanarus typically.

Lubbocks:
th-75670-Multicolor-Lubbock.jpg

Exquisite: (although many color variants exist with more color)
th-26144-Exquisite-Fiji.jpg

Flame:
th-75696-wrasse.jpg


Here is one of many very similar types of flasher wrasse:
th_90161-filmented-flasher.jpg
 
Put me in with the "never had a problem with sixline" crew :)

I have had two. One vanished for no apparent reason. The other bullied anything and everything after 6 months in my tank and I had to rip apart a 180 reef with flawless aquascaping to get rid of the little turd! If not for the fact that I love animals, I would have flushed him.
 
I have a sixline and a melanurus in my 120 gal. reef and have no problems. I even added a couple of fish after the sixline. my "peaceful" Lamarcks angel is the terror of my tank. goes to show that fish have their own personalities, and you can't just say this ones bad and this ones ok.
 
I have a 5 1/2" H. chrysus and he is a puppy dog. I put two very small cleaner shrimp in the tank and he never looked at them. Beautiful fish that is always front and center and constantly on the move. Very under rated fish. That, Vroliks or H. biocellitus would be my choices.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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