What's good about Wrasses and why do people like them?

lolmatt · Sep 24, 2019

Subnautica said:
I've had a small female Melanurus for a week now and she's fun to watch. But other than that she hasn't shown any interesting behaviour. She spends all day swimming around the rock looking for food... Surprisingly my Yellow Tang is more fun than her.

So I was wondering what else did I miss. What's good about Wrasses that make people like them so much? Is my Wrasse a boring fish or she's just too young to be more interesting?

For what it's worth, it could be the photo but I think you have an adorned wrasse (halichoeres cosmetus). Commonly confused with h melanurus, basically the same fish but quite a different color as an adult male (much less blue). There are a few others it could be (h Richmond comes to mind), these juvenile halichoeres wrasses are very hard to identify, but it doesn't quite seem like h melanurus to me.

Flippers4pups · Sep 24, 2019

For the record, I love wrasses!

Subnautica · Sep 24, 2019

lolmatt said:
For what it's worth, it could be the photo but I think you have an adorned wrasse (halichoeres cosmetus). Commonly confused with h melanurus, basically the same fish but quite a different color as an adult male (much less blue). There are a few others it could be (h Richmond comes to mind), these juvenile halichoeres wrasses are very hard to identify, but it doesn't quite seem like h melanurus to me.

No mine is still a Mela. If you google the young fish for both species you will see the Mela has 2 dots, one on top and one near the tail, while the Adorned wrasse has different spot placement.

Pbh-reef · Sep 24, 2019

This morning I got to watch as my pink streaked wrasse laid a huge turd as he ate breakfast, still covered in mucus from his nightly cocoon. It was breathtaking ;Happy

lolmatt · Sep 24, 2019

Subnautica said:
No mine is still a Mela. If you google the young fish for both species you will see the Mela has 2 dots, one on top and one near the tail, while the Adorned wrasse has different spot placement.

Ah good point on the spot placement. Still, don't be surprised if you have h richmondi or a similar wrasse, looking at it again h richmondi seems very likely.

Epic Aquaculture · Sep 25, 2019

foxt said:
Congratulations on that! How big is the tank? Every time I see these listed in the preview, I spend the next several hours trying to talk myself into spending the big bucks and seeing if I can beat everyone else to it when it goes live. But I chicken out before it gets to that point. Good to know she's settled in though, maybe I will go for it next time.

The tank is a RS 750XXL so about 180 gallons, however I recently ordered a new custom tank from Crystal Reef Aquatics that will be 84"L x 42"W x 27"H 416 gallons so she'll have even more room to swim. Of course the great thing about ordering from DD is the 14 day guarantee, and the fact that they already have them eating before shipping. I was nervous too since I spent more than my house payment on her, but she's been awesome so far!

Subnautica · Sep 25, 2019

lolmatt said:
Ah good point on the spot placement. Still, don't be surprised if you have h richmondi or a similar wrasse, looking at it again h richmondi seems very likely.

If I have a richmondi I will be happier !

Halal Hotdog · Sep 25, 2019

Subnautica said:
I've had a small female Melanurus for a week now and she's fun to watch. But other than that she hasn't shown any interesting behaviour. She spends all day swimming around the rock looking for food... Surprisingly my Yellow Tang is more fun than her.

So I was wondering what else did I miss. What's good about Wrasses that make people like them so much? Is my Wrasse a boring fish or she's just too young to be more interesting?

Honestly I never completely understood all the hype as well. Some are gorgeous fish but I find them to be outliers. QT them with meds is much harder. My Harlequin tusk is definitely my favorite fish, but that is specific to his species rather than the wrasse family. I'm definitely more partial to tangs.

saltyhog · Sep 25, 2019

That's what's great about the hobby. So many different choices in coral/fish/inverts. To each his own!

To fully appreciate the flasher and fairy wrasses you need more than one. The interaction between males is beautiful and fascinating.

This video is just my wrasses eating nori but it will give a small glimpse at the variety in color/shape/size that wrasses come in. If you watch to the end you can see a little bit of the competitive display in the background put on by a flame male.