Hey guys so I recently bought a leopard wrasse last week (impulse buy) I had no idea these were finicky eaters until I put her in my display. My fault for not doing research and qt’n her. She comes out every night and will pick at rocks most likely eating pods. Every time she comes out I feed the tank with reef cavalier mysis and brine just to see if she will eat something. She doesn’t bother going for it. I feel like I will have a nitrate and phosphate spike trying to get this wrasse to eat. I went to buy some r.o.e from my lfs and he told me don’t waist your money just keep feeding frozen, so I was talked out of buying it. Any recommendations? It’s hard for me to try to catch her because of my rocks and she just digs in the sand, so I feel like pulling her out is not a option at the moment. Any one had any luck feeding this beautiful fish?
Star Leopard wrasse eating.
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I recently went through something similiar with my ornate leopard wrasse. To get mine to eat I used mysis shrimp, mixed it with reef roids(all my fish love it), let it soak for a minute or two, then broadcast feed, don't spot feed as you might scare it since it's still new. Garlic or similar might also work, but reefroids worked for me.
My thread.
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One of the first videos i got of mine eating.
My thread.
Few questions for those with leopard wrasses
So after some research i bought an ornate leopard wrasse, learned they are terrible shippers, I thought mine was going to die the first night, fairly heaving breathing, laying on her side a bit. I had it in an acclimation box for about 30 minutes, and decided to let it go to the sand, she did...
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Idoc
Getting lazier and lazier with upkeep!
They are considered an "expert" level fish due to the difficulties getting them to switch to frozen foods. It took me about 2-3 weeks to get mine switched over. I would recommend getting her into a quarantine tank so there isn't any competition to food available. I started feeding live brine only which she was good at eating. Then i started mixing in frozen brine with the live brine. Then once eating the frozen brine, i started adding in frozen mysis and other frozen foods... took about 2-3 weeks. I had mine in quarantine almost 3 months with training, copper tx, prazi tx, and just general observation.
Also, almost all leopards have internal parasites/worms. If seeing white poo strands, then mix the food early in the frozen training with General Cure +Focus.
Also, almost all leopards have internal parasites/worms. If seeing white poo strands, then mix the food early in the frozen training with General Cure +Focus.
mattzang
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my tamarin wrasse has gone for live blackworms quite well i'd recommend those. and masstick seemed to work semi well.
mysis seems hit or miss. i'd get the roe stuff from the lfs if i were you
mysis seems hit or miss. i'd get the roe stuff from the lfs if i were you
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The issue with Leopard Wrasses is that they are very delicate shippers and picky eaters and as a result many don't last long in captivity. Only the hardier more adaptable individuals do well and so it's a case of literally picking the right fish. Picking one that has been at your LFS for a couple of weeks that is active and eating basically takes the hassle factor out of keeping them. My Blue Star Leopard Wrasse readily adapted to Nori of all things and in a few days started going after LRS Reef Frenzy. Now it eats both like a pig. LRS Reef Frenzy would be my recommendation since it often induces picky feeders to eat and you could try Nori if nothing else works.
sfin52
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I just bought one. It was eating live and frozen. Now it seems just gone back to frozen now in DT. Suggestions.
ca1ore
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Leopard wrasse are a fish genus that screams out for quarantine .... counterintuitively NOT so much for disease as getting them eating. Because they are poor shippers and usually clock confused they simply will not do well if dumped immediately into an active display tank. Put into a calm, uncompetitive tank, they are not hard to get eating. OK, highly stressed or shipping damaged individuals may never eat, but this is the minority IME. I keep scrupulous notes on all acquired fish, and of the 21 leopard wrasse I’ve had only 4 refused to eat (including the sole choati). The remaining 17 all ate a variety of frozen foods within 2-3 days. Occasionally I had to resort to nutramar ova (pizza for fish), but in most cases brine or mysis did the trick. Although I do treat for internal parasites, I did lose a further 3 to weight loss. The remaining 14 are either still with me or remained with me until death by old age (5-6 years).
Putting a leopard directly into a community tank just isn’t a particularly good approach - not the least of which they are almost impossible to catch to remove since they just dive into the sand.
Putting a leopard directly into a community tank just isn’t a particularly good approach - not the least of which they are almost impossible to catch to remove since they just dive into the sand.
I got two of them eating frozen in about 3 days. I started with live brine so they would recognize me as bringing the food.. Then I did ova which they went nuts for..... Then LRS. They eat anything now.
I started mine in a conditioning tank so I could feed heavily to fatten them up.
Mysis usually doesn't go over well as the first food offered when I buy a finicky fish.
It finally ate a little bit today!! I mixed brine mysis reef cavalier and reef roids with garlic and selco. It ate a little bit but not much, and the cool thing is it went exploring the tank today. It left its little hiding spot. I’m actually pretty excited
That seems like a tricky one. I would either spot feed everything(depending on stock size/aggression) for a bit forcing it to open its diet back up, or feed less overall depending on stock once again, and see where it goes. You could also not feed for a day to try to get it eating live again.
Glad to hear it worked
Fish love reefroids, can be annoying when trying to feed corals LOL. Hope it lives a long time. 
sfin52
So many pedestrians so little time
Agree always leave on
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That's how mine started with reef frenzy and it progressively ate more. Level of activity and starting to feed is a good sign though.
Yes I always leave my powerheads on because some of my fish are little bullies and like to push everyone else away, so Ilet the food float all around the tank.
I’ll also buy some reef frenzy and try it out.
She comes out around 10pm and swims around for 2 hrs and she’s back in at 12am when my lights go out
