Okay, so, The Naoko’s Fairy Wrasse (
Cirrhilabrus naokoae) is a highly active species compared to their smaller size. As I said, I have kept mine in an 18”x15”x18” tank. He was happy in there for over a year. I got him in I believe July of 2021, he was around 0.5 inches, maybe smaller. He is now residing in my 4’ tank and has been since August of this year. He is the smallest wrasse (And possibly smallest fish) in the tank however he is the most active on there. 3’ would be best longterm however, a 15g would suffice for a grow out or a temporary house.
I had to move my naoko into my 4’ tank due to him having damaged pelvic fins. He was also much less colourful without a reason to display. Here he is when he was in my max nano:
The rock scape has to be designed around these fish. The Naoko’s fairy is a top/mid column swimmer so I didn’t want as tall of a rock scape to help him have the swimming room.
As you may be able to see, he was in there with 2 other wrasses. He was totally peaceful around them, where they get the reputation for aggressive behaviour is most likely due to the flashing. I have seen others (I even did this until recently) saying that flashing was the same as aggression. It really isn’t, flashing is just where two or more males display towards eachother to show their territory. Aggression is when they start to nip at eachother.
Here’s the naoko in display, yes they’re a beautiful fish with a great personality but displaying is when theyre at their height in speed.
Here is the reason as to why I had to move the naoko into my 4’ tank. He would display rather often and due to this the risk of damage was higher. I left it rather late to transfer him to the 4’ tank so here’s the damage that was done.
One of his pelvic fins got torn, the other did get ripped but that was a day or so after he went into this tank. He also had a damaged Caudal fin, he was swimming but he wasn’t the best at it. He ended up with a wound just above his eye and another half way down his body. All of these wounds did heal however I moved him into my 4’ tank due to the room he now has to swim (and he uses the majority of it) meaning that he is less likely to get blemishing on him from the rockscape. Another reason I moved him was due to the wounds being less likely to get infected. The more water you have, the harder it is to lose stability. When fish get infected it’s often due to the stability constantly on the move, if something doesn’t stay balanced during the healing time then the likelihood is that you will have an infected fish.
Here he is in a more recent photo;
As you can see, all of the damages are healed. He is also in with these wrasses and out of them all he is the most peaceful;
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Cirrhilabrus lubbocki (Indonesian)
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Cirrhilabrus lubbocki (Cebu)
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Paracheilinus spp (Three Way Hybrid)
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Halichoeres iridis
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Halichoeres chloropterus
Hope you figure out what’s best for the fish in the future.
You can keep him for now however once he grows you’ll want to rehome him either in your own larger tank - 3’ length and 16” Width is minimum IMHO - or in someone else’s tank.
