Male meleagris or ornate leopard?

[DylanE]

I recently added a new leopard wrasse to my 75g. My LFS had this guy in stock, which I think is a male meleagris, so I picked him up to add to my preexisting female. It was eating like a champ from the get go, and has been in the DT for a week now getting along with everyone. The two leopards spend pretty much all their time cruising together, and get along great. I just realized while doing more research today, though, that I don't really know how to tell the difference between a male meleagris and an ornate leopard wrasse. I just wanted to double check that I got what I thought I did, although it wouldn't change much either way.

 

[eatbreakfast]

That's a male M. ornatus. Male meleagris are a more 'pastel' blue.

 

[ca1ore]

Yup, ornate

 

[DylanE]

Awesome, thanks for the quick response, guys. Out of curiosity, is it just from the coloring that you can tell? And I know that a week is a short amount of time, but can I expect them to continue to get along despite being different leopards?

 

[ca1ore]

I cannot reliably tell male from female ornate (will leave that to TJ), but ornate is base red while meleagris male is base green.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Color is the way to tell the difference between these two species. Pattern and color changes a bit as it transitions gender.

Leopards are often fine together. Males of different species are pretty intolerant. Individuals can vary though.

 

[MIKE NY]

Yup male Ornate... the red is the telltale. I lucked out and have both males in my DT and they actually get along ......
Ornate

Meleagris