The Wrasse Lover's Thread!

[OpenOcean33]

Hey guys, I was wondering about keeping different wrasse species in the same tank? I currently have a blue star leopard wrasse and would like to add a melanarus wrasse. Would that cause any probelms?

 

[the_cros]

I still haven’t seen him? Can he be hiding under the sand?

I don’t think flashers/fairy wrasse go into the sand. He is probably squeezed under or in between the rocks.

 

[jaganshi066]

I don’t think flashers/fairy wrasse go into the sand. He is probably squeezed under or in between the rocks.

I checked all the rocks so now I’m really distraught, he was doing so well in my quarantine even with copper. I lifted all the rocks yesterday but didn’t see anything m, I might have missed one rock so I’ll check today

 

[Trouble1375]

It's quite possible that "she" is transitioning to male and is being harassed by the mature male. It's generally not a good idea to try to pair wrasses. Wrasses don't pair in the wild. They live in harems with one mature male, several females and some smaller subordinate males. The majority of the time the female transitions to male in our aquaria. That usually results in all out war with the limited space for the subordinate male to escape.

It's hard to get a picture of wrasses that swim so fast. This is them on Day 1. The blue one is our existing male and the pinkish one is the new female. I know it's best not to try to pair them up as they live in harems naturally but she was locked in an acclimation box by her previous owner because she would not leave his pair of leopard wrasses alone so she was a rescue on my part and because she is smaller than my male by about an 1" I felt safe adding her to our system. We have seen her twice since this but she comes out very early before lights are on - makes a couple laps and goes back to her sand bed. With time things will adjust.

 

[DarkReefer]

You need to get a full-screen top with wrasses. He will jump. Even with the screen top they can jump while feeding and you may not notice.

Went bought the red sea DIY aquarium net yesterday during my lunch break.
Started to mess with it last night a little after installing a temp controller. Whilst I was doing something in the sump, it literally jumped out, bounced off of me somehow and landed in the sump.
Managed to pick it up and put it back into the main tank but it was breathing heavily etc, assuming from shock. Wasn't moving around too much but thought over night it might feel a bit better. Woke up this morning and it's not looking great at all. Kind of on its side at the bottom of the tank, still alive... just.

Not sure what happened to it, was only out for a few seconds, not sure if it injured itself, but it's not looking good. I expect by the time I get home it'll be dead

Expensive lesson learnt with these fish it seems.

 

[Tcook]

Sorry to hear this. Hopefully he pulls through. Been there.

 

[DarkReefer]

Sorry to hear this. Hopefully he pulls through. Been there.

Yeah really hope so too, but very doubtful.
Put the netting over the tank last night and today and just resting the frame on it to hold it down in case somehow he gets some energy and tries to go for it again, at least now there's something blocking him from doing it. (This is temporary until I have time to actually put it together, was very late last night when I finally started looking at it)

I also turned the powerhead down over night and even turned it down today. Last night he got sucked up against it shortly after I put him back in the tank (against protective cover), think he was too shocked or exhausted to fight against it so hopefully he doesn't get stuck there today.

 

[Hasted]

Hopefully that short recording works. Lights are just now coming on and reef is starting to wake up. Heavy blues unfortunately.

Got the Blue Flasher in! Everyone moved to main tank and looks good so far. Will be monitoring.

Splendid Pintail
Carpenter's
Blue

 

[Rudefish]

I just found this thread which is way to much to start from the beginning so I apologize if this question and answer was already addressed. I just obtained 4 female Blue Star Leopard Wrasse and located them in an observation tank set up with sand. When I first introduced them 3 days ago, they dive right into the sand. I have not seen them since. Now I am not sure how long it normally would take for them come back out and swim around or should I disturb the sand to see if they are still alive. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[DarkReefer]

I just found this thread which is way to much to start from the beginning so I apologize if this question and answer was already addressed. I just obtained 4 female Blue Star Leopard Wrasse and located them in an observation tank set up with sand. When I first introduced them 3 days ago, they dive right into the sand. I have not seen them since. Now I am not sure how long it normally would take for them come back out and swim around or should I disturb the sand to see if they are still alive. Any insight would be appreciated.

I think you need to leave them alone. Disturbing the sand etc will make them stress more. It's hard not to go digging because we all want to see our new additions!

Got the Blue Flasher in! Everyone moved to main tank and looks good so far. Will be monitoring.

Splendid Pintail
Carpenter's
Blue

Just got a Blue Flasher myself, nice looking fish was a bit timid for a day or two though, seems to be coming out a bit now though.

 

[Hasted]

I think you need to leave them alone. Disturbing the sand etc will make them stress more. It's hard not to go digging because we all want to see our new additions!


Just got a Blue Flasher myself, nice looking fish was a bit timid for a day or two though, seems to be coming out a bit now though.

Mine is the opposite of timid. Out doing loops with the Carpenter's a day. He's like 1/3 of the size of the other two Wrasse, which I didn't expect.

 

[DarkReefer]

This is a pic of the new Blue Flasher I got.
He's come out of his shell a bit more since I first got him, swimming around more freely etc.

 

[Rudefish]

I think you need to leave them alone. Disturbing the sand etc will make them stress more. It's hard not to go digging because we all want to see our new additions!

I appreciate the insight and will now leave them alone to come out on their own. Hopefully soon to start eating.

 

[Kershaw]

So I ordered a 60x24x20 aquarium and am planning on having as many wrasses as possible.
In my last 48x30x20 tank I had malanarus, checkerboard and a leopard wrasse.
I plan to get these same 3. Can I have more then that with out issues. What other wrasses could I have? I am not a huge fan of flasher but will consider and research all suggestions. Thank you.

 

[SaltyT]

This is a pic of the new Blue Flasher I got.
He's come out of his shell a bit more since I first got him, swimming around more freely etc.

This may or may not disappoint you, but your wrasse in this pic is a fairy wrasse instead of a flasher wrasse.

 

[SaltyT]

So I ordered a 60x24x20 aquarium and am planning on having as many wrasses as possible.
In my last 48x30x20 tank I had malanarus, checkerboard and a leopard wrasse.
I plan to get these same 3. Can I have more then that with out issues. What other wrasses could I have? I am not a huge fan of flasher but will consider and research all suggestions. Thank you.

Nice tank upgrade! "having as many wrasses as possible" is also my motto LOL
There are several other halichoeres wrasses you could add to that mix. A few of my favorites are H. melasmapomus, H. biocellatus, and H. leucurus. You could also add other leopards like M. bipartitus, M. ornatus, and M. kuiteri. And there are a lot of fairy wrasses to choose from, too. I would just avoid the smaller more timid fairies with your checkerboard.

 

[DarkReefer]

This may or may not disappoint you, but your wrasse in this pic is a fairy wrasse instead of a flasher wrasse.

How can you tell?
It was sold to me as a flasher, what type of fairy is it ?

When I was at the LFS, I commented that it didn't seem to match the picture on their webpage but the guy told me that it was due to that pic being a 'super male' and that this one wasn't.

 

[SaltyT]

How can you tell?
It was sold to me as a flasher, what type of fairy is it ?

When I was at the LFS, I commented that it didn't seem to match the picture on their webpage but the guy told me that it was due to that pic being a 'super male' and that this one wasn't.

The blue flasher wrasse (paracheilinus cyaneus) has different coloring, dorsal, and caudal fin shape than your wrasse. I typically see fairy wrasses from the filamentosus complex mislabeled as "flashers".

 

[DarkReefer]

The blue flasher wrasse (paracheilinus cyaneus) has different coloring, dorsal, and caudal fin shape than your wrasse. I typically see fairy wrasses from the filamentosus complex mislabeled as "flashers".

Appreciate your input.
I knew it wasn't the same, definitely didn't pop like the one in the picture but took their word for it as I figured the LFS would be the experts between the two of us.

Is there any way I can identify what it is? I'm wanting to add more wrasse to the tank and don't want to obviously mix from same family and cause fights etc.

 

[SaltyT]

Appreciate your input.
I knew it wasn't the same, definitely didn't pop like the one in the picture but took their word for it as I figured the LFS would be the experts between the two of us.

Is there any way I can identify what it is? I'm wanting to add more wrasse to the tank and don't want to obviously mix from same family and cause fights etc.

I'm leaning towards C. filamentosus. Can you post another pic under white lights?