Melanurus Wrasse Behavior

TheEngineer · Mar 30, 2016

AquaBelle said:
Yes. Once a day but not much.

In the future, that's generally a sign you should be keeping it in QT longer. Did you have a sandbed for it in the QT?

AquaBelle · Mar 30, 2016

I still believe he ate my little clowns. They couldn't both disappear overnight and the next morning they had vanished and my Melanurus had a big belly.

Dan1789 said:
Qt for less than 4 weeks is kinda pointless imo, not familiar enough with wrasses to explain the behavior though.

I knew I was moving too fast. Never again!

AquaBelle · Mar 30, 2016

Alisha said:
Hopefully everything works out for you. I have had a melanarus for a couple of years he's kind of a bully we recently moved everyone into a qt and he didn't come out of the sand for almost a week! There's barely any Sand in the qt tank I just dumped 2 small bowls in a corner and he does fine with that. He's never killed another fish but he does do some chasing! I feed my trigger clams and the melanarus loves them.

Thanks for sharing. Moving him to my tank might be a perfect.

icecool2 said:
In the future, that's generally a sign you should be keeping it in QT longer. Did you have a sandbed for it in the QT?

I have about 3" now. I just added another inch very slowly.

TheEngineer · Mar 30, 2016

You added sand to what?

AquaBelle · Mar 30, 2016

Sorry...my 55 gal tank. I also just added sand in the corner of the qt just in case I move him.

TheEngineer · Mar 30, 2016

OK. I would recommend not making any more changes to your display tank. The fish is stressed or sick and changes don't help that. Adding sand might give you a cycle, closely monitor your ammonia levels in the tank. Don't do anything else aside from feeding and water changes at this point.

McMullen · Mar 30, 2016

How bout chemistry results?
Ammonia?
Salinity?
Temp?

zoomonster · Apr 3, 2016

Reef safe is a subjective thing. Generally if a fish does not eat corals, clams or my shrimp I consider them reef safe. Inverts are another matter. I have a ~6" Melanurus that I've had for some time (among other wrasses) and he does not bother anything. He does graze looking for pods and worms but that's about it. My army of various hermits has not been eaten and no one bothers my pair of blood shrimp. My xlarge cleaners died of old age but they were never bothered. I have a variety of wrasses including a largish china pearl that is "not reefsafe" but is as docile as they come.

Good luck with that wrasse. Very nice looking fish and a true utility fish for eating unwanted pests like AEFW.

mr11 · Apr 4, 2016

AquaBelle said:
I still believe he ate my little clowns. They couldn't both disappear overnight and the next morning they had vanished and my Melanurus had a big belly.
I knew I was moving too fast. Never again!

Is your tank covered? It's possible you new wrasse chased the clowns out of the tank.