How hard are leopard wrasses to keep

[Average joe the reefer]

i was thinking about getting a leopard wrasse for my mixed reef tank and live aquaria says that the carelevel is expert only and I was wondering how hard it is to keep

 

[Waters]

I personally don't think they are as hard as advertised. Once eating prepared foods, they are no more difficult than any other wrasse in my experience. I kept them in a pod free tank for years without any issues.

 

[GregOyeah]

Hardest part is training them to eat frozen food, which isn’t hard at all. I’ve had one for over two years now with no issues

Get one from your LFS that’s already been acclimated from shipping if possible.

 

[Almondkc]

When I had my 125, I kept leopard wrasses and had a harem of 4 females. There are a few things to consider. 1) they bury in the sand so the type of substrate you have is important if you have a coarse sand it can be hard for the LW to bury at night and can damage their mouth as they dig in. I used oolitic sand which is tiny spheres and that worked best in my experience. 2) purchasing them...they are not good shippers and so purchasing from a lfs is best and can facilitate their acclimation to prepared foods. If they are shipped I only purchased from Blue Zoo because they didn’t just bag them the bag had a black out bottom of thick silver plastic to reduce some of the shipping stress. Not sure if they still do that. 3) acclimation can take some time if they are just caught and shipped their clock is off for a while and they will be buried during the time you want them out swimming and it could take a few days or so. 4) food- my system was mature with a 45 gallon sump with a large pod population. I attribute that to my success in keeping them. They can be difficult to transition to prepared foods but not impossible. I hate to see a fish perish because an aquarists not prepared for the proper husbandry. There are all sorts of other details.. hope this helps and I can’t stress enough this was my experience. They love to hunt and I had lots of live rock with many crevices and caves. Was about a year of my tank being setup before I got them. And most controversial is that because of their sensitive shipping...I never quarentined them

 

[maroun.c]

As said above theybcan be bad shippers to some extent, many times arrive with jaw damage due to being kept in tanks without sand. They are tricky to take to prepared foods but dont rexall any i couldnt get to feed. The most tricky part i find is in introduction to tanks with other leopards in as they can be vicious.

 

[Average joe the reefer]

I personally don't think they are as hard as advertised. Once eating prepared foods, they are no more difficult than any other wrasse in my experience. I kept them in a pod free tank for years without any issues.

Should I make sure my tank has been running for 6 to 12 months and make sure that the one I buy is eating prepared food

 

[Average joe the reefer]

Also I live in Australia so I can’t order from liveaquaria so I will go to my PCs and make sure I pick one that is eating prepared food and in good health

As said above theybcan be bad shippers to some extent, many times arrive with jaw damage due to being kept in tanks without sand. They are tricky to take to prepared foods but dont rexall any i couldnt get to feed. The most tricky part i find is in introduction to tanks with other leopards in as they can be vicious.

lso

 

[Land Shark]

Do you have a refugium with pods? If you do, you can place your new arrival there for a couple of weeks and greatly improve your survival rate. No competition, pods, acclimation to your water, opportunity to transition to regular fish food. All keys to survival.

 

[Waters]

Should I make sure my tank has been running for 6 to 12 months and make sure that the one I buy is eating prepared food

If you can't verify that it is already eating prepared foods, then yes, you want to make sure you live rock is mature and has a healthy pod population.

 

[PatW]

I just got one. It is in the third week of quarantine. He happily eats brine and mysis like a little pig. He also seems to be resilient. I had to catch him for a full water change. Right afterwards, there he was begging for food. The fairy wrasse spent the day hiding. The big thing is getting them to eat. Once they catch on they seem to do fine.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Best way to get then eating is live white worms. They devour them and when you need to get them over to frozen, start with mysis and feed it with white worms and they'll catch on.

You can also try feeding a small amount of nori (very small amount) as mine tend to feed on it with my tangs. Bizarre.

 

[ihavecrabs]

When I had my 125, I kept leopard wrasses and had a harem of 4 females. There are a few things to consider. 1) they bury in the sand so the type of substrate you have is important if you have a coarse sand it can be hard for the LW to bury at night and can damage their mouth as they dig in. I used oolitic sand which is tiny spheres and that worked best in my experience. 2) purchasing them...they are not good shippers and so purchasing from a lfs is best and can facilitate their acclimation to prepared foods. If they are shipped I only purchased from Blue Zoo because they didn’t just bag them the bag had a black out bottom of thick silver plastic to reduce some of the shipping stress. Not sure if they still do that. 3) acclimation can take some time if they are just caught and shipped their clock is off for a while and they will be buried during the time you want them out swimming and it could take a few days or so. 4) food- my system was mature with a 45 gallon sump with a large pod population. I attribute that to my success in keeping them. They can be difficult to transition to prepared foods but not impossible. I hate to see a fish perish because an aquarists not prepared for the proper husbandry. There are all sorts of other details.. hope this helps and I can’t stress enough this was my experience. They love to hunt and I had lots of live rock with many crevices and caves. Was about a year of my tank being setup before I got them. And most controversial is that because of their sensitive shipping...I never quarentined them

This

As said above theybcan be bad shippers to some extent, many times arrive with jaw damage due to being kept in tanks without sand. They are tricky to take to prepared foods but dont rexall any i couldnt get to feed. The most tricky part i find is in introduction to tanks with other leopards in as they can be vicious.

And this

 

[Pete1968]

If your tank is established you should be fine! I have female and male leopard wrasse i bought a year ago they eat everything from pellets, nori, flake and frozen LRS

 

[Pete1968]

If your tank is established you should be fine! I have female and male leopard wrasse i bought a year ago they eat everything from pellets, nori, flake and frozen LRS

 

[Waynerock]

i was thinking about getting a leopard wrasse for my mixed reef tank and live aquaria says that the carelevel is expert only and I was wondering how hard it is to keep

Mine was great, very easy ate reef frenzy she was funny sleeping in the sand just covering her head and thinking she was totally covered. Make sure you have a lid. I did not at time time and my cats got a 50.00 meal. Ingrates did not even tip there waiter!

 

[Average joe the reefer]

Do you have a refugium with pods? If you do, you can place your new arrival there for a couple of weeks and greatly improve your survival rate. No competition, pods, acclimation to your water, opportunity to transition to regular fish food. All keys to survival.

I don’t have a refugium but I have quite a bit of rock and bio balls in my sump would I be able to place it in there

 

[Average joe the reefer]

Mine was great, very easy ate reef frenzy she was funny sleeping in the sand just covering her head and thinking she was totally covered. Make sure you have a lid. I did not at time time and my cats got a 50.00 meal. Ingrates did not even tip there waiter!

I am going to get a lid because I am going to get fire fish. Would egg crate be good enough for a lid

 

[Pete1968]

I am going to get a lid because I am going to get fire fish. Would egg crate be good enough for a lid

I bought the diy kit from brs it’s cheap and very effective

 

[GregOyeah]

I don’t have a refugium but I have quite a bit of rock and bio balls in my sump would I be able to place it in there

You’ll need to have sand in your sump, at least a 1” layer. They burrow into the sand to sleep and hide when scared, in an area with no sand they’ll seriously injure their mouths from trying to find a place to burrow

 

[Land Shark]

I don’t have a refugium but I have quite a bit of rock and bio balls in my sump would I be able to place it in there

Yes, as long as you don't have an exposed impeller from a skimmer pump or return pump, that should work fine.

Gregoyeah is right about the sand. A breakfast cereal bowl made of ceramic will do as a container.