The Wrasse Lover's Thread!

4FordFamily · May 10, 2016

evolved said:
Alright, I've been MIA for a bit. Too many irons in the fire for 24 hour days!

I always advocate using acclimation boxes, but I agree about using them without sand.

Agree!

And that being the reason I don't use sand either in them. Plus if the bury out of site, it really defeats the whole point of what you're trying to achieve.

Yup; totally agree. Avoid the species completely. They simply cannot be provided with enough food in captivity.

It's possible your established male won't accept them.

Beautiful male!

Live blackworms, if you can find them in your area.

You've missed nothing; those are all female Kwazulu.

Congrats on finally finding another earmuff! I know you've been after one for a long while.

Don't worry, the earmuff was DOA.

No ones fault they are rough shippers

Greenstreet.1 · May 10, 2016

4FordFamily said:
Don't worry, the earmuff was DOA.

No ones fault they are rough shippers

[emoji36][emoji36]sorry to hear bro. I hate losing wrasses for any reason.

eatbreakfast · May 11, 2016

TUSI said:
It's possible your established male won't accept them.

It's very possible, never saw the male flash until these females but lost both of them unfortunately. The weird thing is they were eating in the bucket during acclimation, looked perfectly fine. One thing that took place that I never experienced before was that they never went in the sand to sleep and I think it has to do with were they came from. Wonder what is your thoughts

Did you qt? I know not everyone does with leopards and Anampses. Did you use a social acclimation box for introduction to the dt? Personally, I feel that qt is best with all fish, and it allows them to get used to your light schedule, and often won't bury when added to the dt. If skipping qt, using a social acclimation box for a couple of days also helps to a degree for getting the new fish used to light schedule, and in many cases they won't bury if gently introduced to the tank.

Paul87 said:
Was told it was a male. Looks like it could possibly be a female. Anyone know?

It's definitely a male.

cale0721 said:
Lol is it not a female?
Sorry I'm fairly new to wrasse keeping!

Nope, it's a male. The markings on the face of females are more 'spotted' rather than striped.

4FordFamily said:
Don't worry, the earmuff was DOA.

No ones fault they are rough shippers

Sorry to hear. So the long search continues.

Djbrandriff150 · May 11, 2016

Wrasser said:
Just picked up a really nice pair of Hawaiian Flame Wrasses from Vivid here in LA. Thought I would share a vid with you guys.

Man I can not wait until my female changes into a beautiful one like that

evolved · May 11, 2016

Paul87 said:
Was told it was a male. Looks like it could possibly be a female. Anyone know?

Yeah, definitely a male. Not terminal yet though.

cale0721 said:
Lol is it not a female?
Sorry I'm fairly new to wrasse keeping!

Yes, as TJ said, the marking on the face illustrate it's a male.

4FordFamily said:
Don't worry, the earmuff was DOA.

Sorry to hear

Djbrandriff150 said:
Man I can not wait until my female changes into a beautiful one like that

Just a matter of time...

evolved · May 11, 2016

TUSI said:
It's very possible, never saw the male flash until these females but lost both of them unfortunately. The weird thing is they were eating in the bucket during acclimation, looked perfectly fine. One thing that took place that I never experienced before was that they never went in the sand to sleep and I think it has to do with were they came from. Wonder what is your thoughts

eatbreakfast said:
Did you qt? I know not everyone does with leopards and Anampses. Did you use a social acclimation box for introduction to the dt? Personally, I feel that qt is best with all fish, and it allows them to get used to your light schedule, and often won't bury when added to the dt. If skipping qt, using a social acclimation box for a couple of days also helps to a degree for getting the new fish used to light schedule, and in many cases they won't bury if gently introduced to the tank.

I agree here, and feel QT would have been best. My understanding is that they went directly into the DT.

But the fact they didn't bury at night leads me to believe a couple things. The only time I've seen a sand sleeper not bury when they should is either when they are in a state of shock, or just prior to dying (almost never do they die when actually buried). Therefore, I tend to think either the male was being rather rough on them (and induced a state of shock - not hard to do with the rest of their world being turned upside down at the same time), or they succumbed to a parasite/disease.

Amps Reef Life · May 11, 2016

TUSI · May 11, 2016

evolved said:
I agree here, and feel QT would have been best. My understanding is that they went directly into the DT.

But the fact they didn't bury at night leads me to believe a couple things. The only time I've seen a sand sleeper not bury when they should is either when they are in a state of shock, or just prior to dying (almost never do they die when actually buried). Therefore, I tend to think either the male was being rather rough on them (and induced a state of shock - not hard to do with the rest of their world being turned upside down at the same time), or they succumbed to a parasite/disease.

I did not quarantine them. They did eat while they were being acclimated. As soon as I introduced them they looked ok nipping at the rocks and one tried to go in the sand but it was not able to. The other

evolved said:
I agree here, and feel QT would have been best. My understanding is that they went directly into the DT.

But the fact they didn't bury at night leads me to believe a couple things. The only time I've seen a sand sleeper not bury when they should is either when they are in a state of shock, or just prior to dying (almost never do they die when actually buried). Therefore, I tend to think either the male was being rather rough on them (and induced a state of shock - not hard to do with the rest of their world being turned upside down at the same time), or they succumbed to a parasite/disease.

i guess I'm going to have to qt the next ones. Tough loss these fish are hard. On my first one I had to get three for one to survive, from shipping alone.

Paul87 · May 12, 2016

So I finally got my Potter's leopard to eat frozen (to an extent). Frozen cyclops with some pods mixed in. He ate plenty of the pods but I also seen him eat some of the cyclops as well. This is good news. Hopefully I can get him to eat it without the pods. Ill probably try that tomorrow. Here is a video I putt together of everyone together and eating.

cale0721 · May 12, 2016

@Paul87 does your potters kick up a lot of sand and knock corals over much?

He's been trashing my Goni and acan gardens [emoji35]

Paul87 · May 12, 2016

cale0721 said:
@Paul87 does your potters kick up a lot of sand and knock corals over much?

He's been trashing my Goni and acan gardens [emoji35]

No not that I've noticed. I have seen him swoop down and graze the sand on his side a couple times, but didn't really kick much up.

Greenstreet.1 · May 12, 2016

Most wrasses that sleep in the sand will turn over any and everything looking for pods and bugs so you may want to start glueing down those frags. Also sometimes when they are they are looking for a spot to sleep they kick up a lot of sand or if they see a worm or something to eat in the sand that's trying to get away. I don't have a potters but I see this with my melenarus and famous wrass.

cale0721 · May 13, 2016

Paul87 said:
No not that I've noticed. I have seen him swoop down and graze the sand on his side a couple times, but didn't really kick much up.

Hmm! I'm going to pick up more live food today to see if that helps. Thought maybe it was a desperate attempt at finding food. Bc he only does it when the lights are about to go out around 8-9 pm.

evolved · May 13, 2016

Greenstreet.1 said:
Most wrasses that sleep in the sand will turn over any and everything looking for pods and bugs so you may want to start glueing down those frags.

I have to beg to differ here. Sure, the species which exceed 6 inches or those of the Coris genus are well known to flip over items looking for food. But the smaller species of Halichoeres and especially all the Macropharyngodon are very unlikely to do so.

Greenstreet.1 said:
if they see a worm or something to eat in the sand that's trying to get away

We can agree there. The sand sleepers are all prone to sifting the sand, in search of food. And of course if they see something, they'll go after it.

So it would be normal for geoffroy to occasionally make a mess with some sand, but not very normal for it to toss around corals sitting on the sand.

cale0721 said:
I'm going to pick up more live food today to see if that helps.

That should help; may well be underfed currently.
But if it's only happening just prior to lights out, that sounds more like seeking out a safe place to bed down for the night. In which case, I'd expect that to quit with time, once it learns the "safe" spots of the tank.

TheHarold · May 13, 2016

My wrasse

cale0721 · May 13, 2016

evolved said:
I have to beg to differ here. Sure, the species which exceed 6 inches or those of the Coris genus are well known to flip over items looking for food. But the smaller species of Halichoeres and especially all the Macropharyngodon are very unlikely to do so.

We can agree there. The sand sleepers are all prone to sifting the sand, in search of food. And of course if they see something, they'll go after it.

So it would be normal for geoffroy to occasionally make a mess with some sand, but not very normal for it to toss around corals sitting on the sand.

That should help; may well be underfed currently.
But if it's only happening just prior to lights out, that sounds more like seeking out a safe place to bed down for the night. In which case, I'd expect that to quit with time, once it learns the "safe" spots of the tank.

Thanks much for all your input. I'm new to keeping wrasse especially sand sleepers. I really enjoy his beauty but not the tossing of sand all over my rocks and coral so I'm hoping it stops.

I bought two bottles of tiger pods today. The closest store doesn't carry any other live food like brine. Will they eat live brine if I hatch some myself?

evolved · May 13, 2016

cale0721 said:
but not the tossing of sand all over my rocks and coral so I'm hoping it stops

There's a chance it may not.

cale0721 said:
Will they eat live brine if I hatch some myself?

Yes, but that won't fill them up much; brine offers little nutrition.

Paul87 · May 13, 2016

My new potter's leopard went to town on some frozen cyclops today. I'm so happy now. Mixed it with pods yesterday, but not today. He gobbled the stuff up. Awesome news for me thought he was gonna be a strictly live food guy. Love this fish!

cale0721 · May 13, 2016

Paul87 said:
My new potter's leopard went to town on some frozen cyclops today. I'm so happy now. Mixed it with pods yesterday, but not today. He gobbled the stuff up. Awesome news for me thought he was gonna be a strictly live food guy. Love this fish!

Congrats! That's awesome. I bought some cyclops today and pods I'm going to try!