Tell about the Green Wrasse

[Backreefing]

I’m thinking lately about getting a green wrasse, for a 90 gallon sps reef tank . Unfortunately all of my rock is covered with hydroids or vermited snails . I here the green wrasse maybe the right fish for the job .
how are they with corals and turbo snails ?

 

[Backreefing]

To be clearer I mean a ( green coris wrasse )

 

[Jesterrace]

Generally not a good community fish as they mature (become aggressive) and that is why you don't see them being recommended very often. With Vermatid snails you would be better off getting a large population of bumblebee snails to do the job. You could try another Halichoeres Wrasse (ie Yellow, Red Lined, Melanurus) as they can perform a similar service to the green but without being quite so nasty.

 

[mort]

Halichoeres chloropterus isn't a fish I'd recommend for the average community tank. They are nice when young but can mature into washed out, aggressive, monsters. You'd be better of going for a halichoeres chrysus or one of the other smaller species but I don't think they will do much for your hydroid or vermitiids unless your really lucky.

 

[mort]

Guess I was typing at the same moment Jesterrace was

 

[Backreefing]

I currently have a 6 line wrasse and yes he is a total bully and does nothing for vermited snails or hydroids

 

[Backreefing]

I’m willing to relocate the 6 line to a quarantine/ frag tank . The six line is good for pests but a bully.
how about a yellow coris wrasse? Any good for vermited snails, or colonia

 

[4FordFamily]

They aren’t as nasty as many say in my experience, but in fairness I kept mine in a very aggressive tank with large angels, puffers, and the like. A melanarus, dusky, red-lined, or vroliks would be my recommendation. A yellow “coris” (canary wrasse) is a good choice as well.

 

[B7Joe]

My melanurus wrasse is very active, colorful and is constantly picking at the rocks, searching for critters. He’s not particularly aggressive toward other fish but I believe is the reason for my cleaner shrimp and cuc disappearing. The only thing he leaves alone are my hermit crabs and one large snail. Everything else is on the menu.

 

[Backreefing]

The yellow coris wrasse has been recommended buy previous posters . But are they ok around snails ( turbos) ? And hermits ( red leg blue leg ) ?

 

[mort]

The yellow coris wrasse has been recommended buy previous posters . But are they ok around snails ( turbos) ? And hermits ( red leg blue leg ) ?

You should normally be fine with a halichoeres chrysus with cuc, it's the larger members of the family that are more of a gamble. I know people claim they eat vermitiids but I've personally never experienced it with any wrasse.

 

[saltyhog]

They are big, ugly and mean as adults. A friend of mine lost several fish to one. They can even be aggressive with non -wrassses. H. chrysus is usually very easy on clean up crew. Mine never ate snails, shrimp or any other invert.

I would not count on any fish fixing your problem with vermited snails. In my tank they ran their course and went away without any particular effort on my part. Bumble Bee snails are said to eat them as noted above.

 

[Jesterrace]

Guess I was typing at the same moment Jesterrace was

Yup. Happens to me all the time.

 

[Jesterrace]

The yellow coris wrasse has been recommended buy previous posters . But are they ok around snails ( turbos) ? And hermits ( red leg blue leg ) ?

The Yellow is probably one of the best behaved halichoeres around inverts and will perform pest removal services. . .BUT the claim that any Halichoeres Wrasse will eat Vermitid Snails is a bit of a stretch IMHO. I have a decent sized Melanurus in mine and when I had a few vermatids appear to pop up in my tank, it didn't do anything for them. On the other hand I noticed that one Vermatid that popped up disappeared overnight and the day before I added a handful of bumblebee snails to the tank. Can't prove for sure that they did it, but my best guess is that they did. Either way at around $12-15 to buy a few of the bumblebees to see if they do eat them vs spending $30 on a fish just to find out it doesn't seems like a better way to invest the money. Bumblebees are very similar to crabs in that they also will eat detritus and left over food bits as well, so not a loss if it doesn't work out. That and they do look pretty cool.

Here are some of mine:

 

[fluked]

As I don't see much information for green Coris wrasses, Just want to put my anecdotal experience. Mine isn't fully sized yet, maybe 4-5 inches, and only has minor aggression, i.e. chases away other wrasses occasionally, but not often, and doesn't go out of its way to do so.
However the issue I have with it, is how it hunts, it does this thing, where it buries into the sand, like it would to sleep, but moves through the sand, flicking up all the sand it can, knocking any corals on the sand above it over, and covering the tank in sand. I've had sand over a foot up on my rock work from this.
It seems to do this to stir the sand so it can go back and pick at whatever it uncovered doing this. its super interesting, but incredibly annoying as when its in a mood it will do it 20+ times a day.