The Wrasse Lover's Thread!

navysandsquid · May 19, 2014

Just a pair for Wyoming white.

TUSI · May 19, 2014

I am blown away. I had three earlie wrasses that died one after the other in a month with no signs of any diseases. They were not that old the oldest 1 1/2 years . The only thing different I did was fed blood worms from Hikari. Does any one have any opinions pls help cause I'm loosing my mind.thx

evolved · May 20, 2014

What else do you have in the tank? How/where/when did you find them in the tank?

Things can happen during growth, particularly at a mid-life point, which essentially results in internal maldevelopment. But to happen to all three, that certainly sounds like something much more systemic.

jerseypete · May 20, 2014

My new vorliks wrasse. He fit right in. Eating well. He out for the night as soon as the lights start to dim.

TUSI · May 21, 2014

evolved said:
What else do you have in the tank? How/where/when did you find them in the tank?

Things can happen during growth, particularly at a mid-life point, which essentially results in internal maldevelopment. But to happen to all three, that certainly sounds like something much more systemic.

I have other wrasses like flame wrasses, Johnson's wrasse, bells wrasse, feminines wrasse and some tangs. It's the weirdest thing that I ave see. Since I have been in the hobby.

MIKE NY · May 21, 2014

Joe ..Im so sorry to hear, Matt told me about it, if the only thing that is different is the food then maybe it's something in it that causes a problem with this specific species of wrasses..many of these foods we feed our fish are not a natural food item for them in the wild and maybe they can't adjust in digesting them...just a theory..

eatbreakfast · May 21, 2014

Even for freshwater feeding bloodworms too often can cause issues. Bloodworms are difficult to digestand can cause digestive tract blockages because of the chiton grom the exoskeleton.

Mike&Terry · May 21, 2014

MIKE NY said:
Joe ..Im so sorry to hear, Matt told me about it, if the only thing that is different is the food then maybe it's something in it that causes a problem with this specific species of wrasses..many of these foods we feed our fish are not a natural food item for them in the wild and maybe they can't adjust in digesting them...just a theory..

Joe, sorry to hear about your losses.

We keep/have kept several species of fairy wrasses, including C earlei, and routinely feed Hikari bloodworms as a snack. We have never had issues.

I agree with Hunter's observations and if you are able to rule out parasites and aggression, then I would suspect that your issues may be related to collection and/or handling of the fish before they made it to the wholesaler.

studioac · May 21, 2014

I love my melanurus except for one thing--he sleeps too much! He gets up at about 6 am and is perky and energetic but at by 2 or 3 in the afternoon he buries himself in the sand and is not seen again until the next morning. Is this normal?

TUSI · May 21, 2014

Mike&Terry said:
Joe, sorry to hear about your losses.

We keep/have kept several species of fairy wrasses, including C earlei, and routinely feed Hikari bloodworms as a snack. We have never had issues.

I agree with Hunter's observations and if you are able to rule out parasites and aggression, then I would suspect that your issues may be related to collection and/or handling of the fish before they made it to the wholesaler.

I had these wrasses for almost two yrs and never had a problem. They definetly had an internal desease cause there was no signs what so ever on the body. The least aggressive one and the youngest died first and the fish was twirling which makes me believe it was internal.im just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't loose more.

TUSI · May 21, 2014

MIKE NY said:
Joe ..Im so sorry to hear, Matt told me about it, if the only thing that is different is the food then maybe it's something in it that causes a problem with this specific species of wrasses..many of these foods we feed our fish are not a natural food item for them in the wild and maybe they can't adjust in digesting them...just a theory..

Thank you mike I'm just disgusted right now cause I take care of my fish better than my kids sometimes, but this is the hobby nothing is for ever. Learned my lesson. Lost one of my sunburst too but that is easy to replace. I'm gonna wait a month or two to make sure before I get them back hopefully they become available cause right now the only place that have one is live aquaria. Mike you got to stop by one day

TUSI · May 21, 2014

eatbreakfast said:
Even for freshwater feeding bloodworms too often can cause issues. Bloodworms are difficult to digestand can cause digestive tract blockages because of the chiton grom the exoskeleton.

The rule is never feed fresh water food to salt water fish and vise versa but I broke it and I'm paint the price for it.

NeverlosT · May 22, 2014

Potters wrasse

Some shots of my Potters wrasse, he was in rough shape coming in, and tough to get him to start eating frozen food, but doing just fine now and eats a ton! His colors are amazing and only getting better, had him for about 2 months. He gets along with our radiant wrasses, naoko wrasses, the tangs, the anthias, heck, he is probably the most peaceful fish in there.

Still fattening him up. My girlfriend claims to have read him bedtime stories and that is why he is healthy now. Fish whisperer?

evolved · May 22, 2014

studioac said:
I love my melanurus except for one thing--he sleeps too much! He gets up at about 6 am and is perky and energetic but at by 2 or 3 in the afternoon he buries himself in the sand and is not seen again until the next morning. Is this normal?

In the beginning, yes. It can take a few months before they adjust to your lighting schedule.

TUSI said:
The rule is never feed fresh water food to salt water fish and vise versa but I broke it and I'm paint the price for it.

And I'm a bit old school and never sway from that rule; I can't comment on long term effects of blood worms. I am very sorry for your losses, however.
If you were seeing the "death spins", that's certainly an internal issue. Something directly, or indirectly, effected the swim bladder.

KaneH · May 22, 2014

Ok. I'm wanting to get a Cirrhilabrus solorensis and a Cirrhilabrus rubrimarginatus. I'm being told that I should get a harem and introduce them at the same time. Is this good advice? I have a 120g with lots of hiding spaces and sand.

evolved · May 22, 2014

Odds are you won't find a harem for sale, especially with solorensis. I don't bother with pairs/trios or the like anymore; a bunch of single males in my tank. All the females tend to transition to male, regardless if there's a male in the tank or not.

KaneH · May 22, 2014

You don't have any fighting problems? How many males could I keep in a 120g?

NeverlosT · May 23, 2014

Radiant and Naoko Male

A few pics of our Radiant wrasse, such a beautiful fish. Then our Naoko male. It started as a she along with the other female, then I went on a work trip, and got back a week later to find that she became a he.

He goes bananas once a day at 5pm, flashes his fins, and tries to make woopie with everything in the tank.

studioac · May 23, 2014

evolved said:
In the beginning, yes. It can take a few months before they adjust to your lighting schedule.

Thanks evolved, but this guy has been in my tank for several months. In fact, he used to stay up until lights out, now he just buries himself in the afternoon and doesn't come out until the next morning. When he's awake he looks great, but he's become a sleepyhead. Any thoughts, wrasse lovers?

evolved · May 23, 2014

KaneH said:
You don't have any fighting problems? How many males could I keep in a 120g?

It's much more a matter of which ones, rather than how many. Sure, there's a ceiling, but if you choose wisely, there's room for quite a few.

studioac said:
Thanks evolved, but this guy has been in my tank for several months. In fact, he used to stay up until lights out, now he just buries himself in the afternoon and doesn't come out until the next morning. When he's awake he looks great, but he's become a sleepyhead. Any thoughts, wrasse lovers?

Hmm; any dynamics in the tank change? New fish addition? I wouldn't be too worried if the health of the fish is not degrading.