The Wrasse Lover's Thread!

[Steven C]

Honestly, it depends.

So I got very lucky, my first leopard success was a lone potters wrasse (actually a leopard). She was tough as nails and ate almost immediately. Every subsequent leopard addition was quick to eat as a result of watching her, I suspect. I have had little issue with leopards but again I highly suspect this is attributable to the plethora of other wrasses (particularly other leopard wrasses) present.

However, if you do not have access to a leopard that is established from another hobbyist or possibly divers den, I would buy a group. (You are not likely to be as lucky as me and have your first leopard eat like a pig and thrive, most likely and will go through several before this occurs). You can mix and match them just fine, so long as you have only one male.

I have:
1 Male Blue Star
2 Female Blue Star
2 Regular Leopards (Melagris)
1 Lg Black Leopard
1 Ornate Leopard
1 Potters Leopard

I actually have an additional teeny tiny black leopard that was shipped to me that I have no idea if it remains or not.

I had much more difficulty with female blue star leopards than any other type of leopard (Although my luck with the rest is atypical I hear).

Anyway, the end story here is you can mix and match leopards without issue.

Fully expect them to hide for 3 days to 2 weeks when you get them. They'll dive in the sand. It will take up to a month for them to adjust to the "jet lag" (they come from Africa generally and are used to a completely different light schedule). When they emerge from the sand for the first time, it is likely to be FIRST thing in the morning or towards the end of the evening just before the lights go out. Not sure why, but Jet Lag is the assumed culprit. Don't worry though, they seem to do fine even if they hide for two weeks. They either eat when the lights are off, or can go a long time without eating. I am not sure which. I would not stress. (Easy to say, hard to do in practice). It's completely standard leopard behavior.

Live blackworms can get almost any finicky leopards eating... mixing frozen foods (microwaved to thaw, drained, and soaked in selcon, garlic guard, and cod liver oil is how I do it) also works very well. Try both. You'll have to be slow moving and feed when you first see the leopard. Quick movements when they first emerge will send them back to the sand for another day or three.

Just some tips. I have mastered leopard wrasses it seems LOL

That is so helpful im going to do that i want to get maybe a group of 3 meleagris is that ok, and i want to keep them in qt tank with some medicine for a couple of weeks and see if i can get them to eat frozen and dried food and im not sure about this but i purchase alot of my fish online i like to reduce the stress of transportation so i like them sent to my house and they have all different sized females and only one type of male if i get all female will one eventually become male?

 

[4FordFamily]

That is so helpful im going to do that i want to get maybe a group of 3 meleagris is that ok, and i want to keep them in qt tank with some medicine for a couple of weeks and see if i can get them to eat frozen and dried food and im not sure about this but i purchase alot of my fish online i like to reduce the stress of transportation so i like them sent to my house and they have all different sized females and only one type of male if i get all female will one eventually become male?

Yes eventually one will become male.

Everyone has their own procedures, but I do not QT anything that goes in my wrasse tank. Wrasse are not particularly affected by MOST parasites, and the ones they are affected by (flukes, internal parasites, etc.) can be treated with prazipro which is reef safe.

So, I added my leopards, got them eating and established, and then dosed prazi pro for 10 days consecutively (Dosed at day 1, 4, and 7 - prior to dose at 7 days, I did large water change and ran my carbon/skimmer for a day or two). The tank does have ich but none of my fish ever show symptoms or seem to care. My Naso tang that shares the tank with them is tough as nails and is also unaffected.

IF you do QT leopard wrasses, you MUST have sand. The leopards will not sleep without it, and even if they do it will stress them out a LOT. IME the main reason they are horrible shippers is because they continuously try to dig in to the sand and hide during shipment because this is their reaction to stress.... but there is no sand. They wear themselves out and often die or weaken themselves critically by the time you receive them.

Since your QT would need sand, and sand absorbs treatments, you will need to add a bit more of any treatments. Not sure how to measure prazipro, but I wouldn't worry about overdosing it I hear it is safe up to 5x recommended dose. For cupramine, it will abosrb some cupramine for a few days to week until full absorption and then you can continue to maintain levels of .5 (using seachem's copper test kits). So test every morning and make up the amount absorbed each day until no more is absorbed. Increase the amount slowly (over a week) - this is what I do with my angelfish clan and it works well.

 

[Steven C]

Yes eventually one will become male.

Everyone has their own procedures, but I do not QT anything that goes in my wrasse tank. Wrasse are not particularly affected by MOST parasites, and the ones they are affected by (flukes, internal parasites, etc.) can be treated with prazipro which is reef safe.

So, I added my leopards, got them eating and established, and then dosed prazi pro for 10 days consecutively (Dosed at day 1, 4, and 7 - prior to dose at 7 days, I did large water change and ran my carbon/skimmer for a day or two). The tank does have ich but none of my fish ever show symptoms or seem to care. My Naso tang that shares the tank with them is tough as nails and is also unaffected.

IF you do QT leopard wrasses, you MUST have sand. The leopards will not sleep without it, and even if they do it will stress them out a LOT. IME the main reason they are horrible shippers is because they continuously try to dig in to the sand and hide during shipment because this is their reaction to stress.... but there is no sand. They wear themselves out and often die or weaken themselves critically by the time you receive them.

Since your QT would need sand, and sand absorbs treatments, you will need to add a bit more of any treatments. Not sure how to measure prazipro, but I wouldn't worry about overdosing it I hear it is safe up to 5x recommended dose. For cupramine, it will abosrb some cupramine for a few days to week until full absorption and then you can continue to maintain levels of .5 (using seachem's copper test kits). So test every morning and make up the amount absorbed each day until no more is absorbed. Increase the amount slowly (over a week) - this is what I do with my angelfish clan and it works well.

Yea i plan on putting like a little bin of sand at the bottom of the qt tank its not large its a 10 gal qt tank do you think i would be able to do all 3 Melegaris at the same time

 

[4FordFamily]

Yea i plan on putting like a little bin of sand at the bottom of the qt tank its not large its a 10 gal qt tank do you think i would be able to do all 3 Melegaris at the same time

If you do necessary water changes you should be OK I would think, but I have little experience with QT'ing leopards. They're so fragile I just figured they would prefer the DT. BUT if you have other inhabitants that are sensitive to certain parasites, I completely understand the QT mentality... I just have no experience doing so from which to draw from.

 

[Steven C]

If you do necessary water changes you should be OK I would think, but I have little experience with QT'ing leopards. They're so fragile I just figured they would prefer the DT. BUT if you have other inhabitants that are sensitive to certain parasites, I completely understand the QT mentality... I just have no experience doing so from which to draw from.

I do that is why i believe i have to i have a Yellow tang,Blue tang, carpenter flasher wrasse ,2 bluegreen chromis, 2 ocellaris clowns, diamond watchman goby, 2 neon gobys
These will be my last fish so i want to do it right is all and im trying to find out as much information as possible cause i love the way they look and they are just amazing so before i purchase them want to know all that i can about them so i thought it would reduce the stress if i got 3 at the same time

 

[4FordFamily]

I do that is why i believe i have to i have a Yellow tang,Blue tang, carpenter flasher wrasse ,2 bluegreen chromis, 2 ocellaris clowns, diamond watchman goby, 2 neon gobys
These will be my last fish so i want to do it right is all and im trying to find out as much information as possible cause i love the way they look and they are just amazing so before i purchase them want to know all that i can about them so i thought it would reduce the stress if i got 3 at the same time

For what it is worth, I have kept all of those fish in systems with ich.

Velvet or Brook is a different story - so not qt'ing is a gamble. Those fish can readily develop "immunities" to ich, but in my experience Velvet will wipe them out without issue.

Many Tangs may show ich for a week or two but if the params are good, you'll be fine. Be careful on the chromis, they tend to kill each other even in large schools. Two will become one very quickly, IME. They also bring many unique parasites and illnesses to marine aquaria.

 

[Steven C]

For what it is worth, I have kept all of those fish in systems with ich.

Velvet or Brook is a different story - so not qt'ing is a gamble. Those fish can readily develop "immunities" to ich, but in my experience Velvet will wipe them out without issue.

Many Tangs may show ich for a week or two but if the params are good, you'll be fine. Be careful on the chromis, they tend to kill each other even in large schools. Two will become one very quickly, IME. They also bring many unique parasites and illnesses to marine aquaria.

Ah yea i have all of them for a little over a year i believe. All my fish are fine except one the blue tang has ich always has doesn't matter what i do always will i believe it goes away and comes back but doesn't seem to effect any of the fish and trust me i check cause i become paranoid and the chromis are good they hang out together for over a year now growing slowly good fish they hide alot come out during feeding time but yea i want these leopards and i just want to make sure i do it right so im going to set up the qt for it i just going to have to make sure i do it right

So my plan is to get a container longer then taller and fill it with sand for dt and put it in the 10 gallon qt and get 3 leopards and introduce them to Qt from there try to get them to eat frozen and dried foods and buy some bloodworms and see if i can get them to eat that if they dont eat. and keep them in there for a while to see how it goes. does any of this sound like a bad plan cause trust me i rather you tell me no i don't think that is good cause id rather keep the fish alive

 

[4FordFamily]

Since you already have all of those fish and ich is already in your system I would just add to the display. I would also mix up the leopards. Pet solutions sells ornate leopards, black leoprds, blue star, regular, and I think a couple others.

But that's just a taste thing. They get along great and look cool in groups. The largest female will likely turn male within the first year.

 

[4FordFamily]

Just prazi the whole system after you get them eating.

 

[Steven C]

i may try that i have to research more before i actually take the leap to buying them

 

[4FordFamily]

i may try that i have to research more before i actually take the leap to buying them

Never a bad idea I do about 5-6 hours of reading minimum for each difficult to expert only fish I take on. Now I'm finding that many have similarities so it's easier! (What makes a moorish idol difficult may be similar to what makes a regal angel difficult or Achilles tang difficult)

 

[Steven C]

Never a bad idea I do about 5-6 hours of reading minimum for each difficult to expert only fish I take on. Now I'm finding that many have similarities so it's easier! (What makes a moorish idol difficult may be similar to what makes a regal angel difficult or Achilles tang difficult)

Yea I see the 2 things really important so far they get stressed easily when first introduced and getting them to eat seems to be the challenge

 

[4FordFamily]

Yup. The stress isn't such a big deal they'll just hide for 2-14+ days before emerging. Once they emerge they'll be skittish and prone to dashing back in to the sand if frightened for another day to three. So slow movements and feeding them while they're out is key.

I'm telling you though feeding as I outlined above (many frozen foods, microwaved two minutes, drained with a tiny hole strainer, then add garlic guard, selcon, and cod liver oil. 5 parts garlic to 2 parts selcon to 1 part cod liver oil.). They frenzy for it. If that doesn't work, black worms will. I've had them go three weeks or more without eating and pull through and suddenly eat like pigs.

My frozen mix consists of angel formula from doctors foster and smith, bloodworms, mysis, spirilina brine, brine, emerald entre, formula two frozen, squid, clam on the half shell, and a couple others. A nice variety works. Pe mysis would be fantastic but I cannot find it at my lfs :/

 

[Steven C]

Yup. The stress isn't such a big deal they'll just hide for 2-14+ days before emerging. Once they emerge they'll be skittish and prone to dashing back in to the sand if frightened for another day to three. So slow movements and feeding them while they're out is key.

I'm telling you though feeding as I outlined above (many frozen foods, microwaved two minutes, drained with a tiny hole strainer, then add garlic guard, selcon, and cod liver oil. 5 parts garlic to 2 parts selcon to 1 part cod liver oil.). They frenzy for it. If that doesn't work, black worms will. I've had them go three weeks or more without eating and pull through and suddenly eat like pigs.

My frozen mix consists of angel formula from doctors foster and smith, bloodworms, mysis, spirilina brine, brine, emerald entre, formula two frozen, squid, clam on the half shell, and a couple others. A nice variety works. Pe mysis would be fantastic but I cannot find it at my lfs :/

I wrote that all down and pasted it to a board by my fish tank lol i am going to do that and ya i feed frozen food almost every night if i miss a night here and and there its a lot i usually every night and i alternate between foods mysis cyclops emerald entree and marine cuisine but most of the time its mysis and cyclops my fish go crazy for it. I am so excited to go get them i need to get some garlic guard though

 

[4FordFamily]

By the way you can buy cod liver oil, garlic guard and selcon on Amazon. That's where I source nearly everything.

I also add Cyclopeez to my mix as well I forgot to mention that. I mix my food and feed it for 1-2 weeks until I am out and then I mix it again. That way all of my fish have a varied diet all the time.

Like I said blackworms are great also. You can buy them online for 30 bucks shipped and if you rinse the bag out with very cold water every day they can last two or more weeks. It's great for their slime coat and immune system. Fish don't have fat they have oil. That's why liver oil and black worms are a critical aspect of their diet.

 

[Steven C]

By the way you can buy cod liver oil, garlic guard and selcon on Amazon. That's where I source nearly everything.

I also add Cyclopeez to my mix as well I forgot to mention that. I mix my food and feed it for 1-2 weeks until I am out and then I mix it again. That way all of my fish have a varied diet all the time.

Like I said blackworms are great also. You can buy them online for 30 bucks shipped and if you rinse the bag out with very cold water every day they can last two or more weeks. It's great for their slime coat and immune system. Fish don't have fat they have oil. That's why liver oil and black worms are a critical aspect of their diet.

Wow that's new to me i had no idea and i will definitely get that and you say you mix it and us it for 2 weeks so is that like you mix it in a container and put it in the fridge?

 

[4FordFamily]

Wow that's new to me i had no idea and i will definitely get that and you say you mix it and us it for 2 weeks so is that like you mix it in a container and put it in the fridge?

Yup. I keep it in the fridge. The garlic will evaporate out after a week a bit I just add a tiny bit more to keep it moist

 

[Steven C]

alright im going to have that ready to go and i can add three types of food in there like cyclops mysis emerald and marine cusine?

 

[Steven C]

Also what kind of cod liver oil i was trying to find it online

 

[4FordFamily]

Yup I mix lots of food.i just searched cod liver oil. No capsules just liquid