Which to keep - Bluethroat Wrasse or Pintail Wrasse?

[JJKK]

I added a new bluethroat wrasse to my display tank a week and a half ago. The existing tank residence then are a pintail, blue star and melanarus wrasses, midas blenny, copperband, juv whitetail bristletooth tang, yellow watchman and diamond gobies.

The bluethroat was hiding for a couple of days. They was some chasing across the tank from the pintail to the new bluethroat. But things settled down after that and the tank was pretty peaceful for about the week. Starting yesterday, I noticed my pintail hasn't been out and about like its normal self. It has been hiding in the rockworks and I have seen the bluethroat chasing it now instead. I am not sure if both can exist in my Red Sea Reefer 525XL(108G Display). The bluethroat is slightly smaller than the pintail currently. I like the deep red and the splash of blue that it brings to the color pallette of the tank. The pintail is more orange with purple streaks but the color is more muted than the bluethroat.

I know I shouldn't use this as a factor, but the bluethroat cost 1/4 of the price of my pintail. I got the pintail quarantined from the LFS while the bluethroat came from an online seller. One other thing to note is that I will be looking to add a yellow belly regal angel and a potter's wrasse in the near future. Will the aggresive bluethroat bother them? Currently does not bother the copperband and other fish besides the pintail.

Which do you think I should keep? Anyway to keep both and have both of them actively swimming?

 

[albano]

Pintail... get rid of blue throat... was way too aggressive even in my 500g tank

 

[Maacc]

Bluethroats are terrors, check out the fairy wrasse complex chart. Hunter did an amazing job with it and will help out a ton with future selections.
You probably will have trouble with the leopard as well.

 

[JJKK]

Bluethroats are terrors, check out the fairy wrasse complex chart. Hunter did an amazing job with it and will help out a ton with future selections.
You probably will have trouble with the leopard as well.

I did check out the chart... but getting me to free shipping and thinking that all fish within the subspecies can behave differently got me to where I am at now.

 

[alton]

Sell the blue throat and keep the pintail

 

[JJKK]

Fish trap deployed. Looks like no love for the bluethroat and it has got to go. Thanks everyone for the input and voting.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I don’t have any experience with the blue throat, but I think I remember a bunch of people who bought them when they first became available later reporting that they lost the blue coloration over time.

 

[Rakie]

Fish trap deployed. Looks like no love for the bluethroat and it has got to go. Thanks everyone for the input and voting.

most people report them as extremely aggressive over time, unless they are the serious runt of the litter

 

[OrionN]

Mine go from the first picture to the second picture in 1 year. From 2 inches to about 4 inches. It is not true that they loose color. I have a number of wrasses in my 320 gal DT. He is the king of the wrasse.
He does not bother other fish ut does chase other Fairy and Flasher wrasse. It is not true that they loose color. Very intense, vibrant metalic blue throat with fuchsia pink. The color of the picture above is accurate (at least on my monitor). He flashes all the time. One of the most, if not the most colorful wrasse in my tank. He flashes so often that all the visitors will see it and always cause awe reaction from them.

With him in the tank, you need to have a large enough tank and maybe multiple other wrasse to defuse his aggression toward them. All of my wrasses are happy, fat and healthy.Most of the other male wrasses also flashes often but not anywhere near as much as he is.

I am happy to answer any specific question you may have.

 

[Rakie]

@OrionN -- You came to mind actually! You're the only person I've seen keep one long term without issues. Mine was a little beast and had to be rehomed.

 

[OrionN]

When I have my Blue throat in a 65 gal tank, he flashes with the tang and Flame Angel pair also. It is likely that he will keep his color and flashes even without other fairy wrasse.
I often put up a mirror on the side of the tank to stimulate him. It was my thought that the intense color and the blue throat was mood dependent.

 

[evolved]

Not hardly worth piling on here at this point, but the blue throat would severely limit your options for wrasses in the future. It needs to go in this case.

 

[OrionN]

If you are not going to add another Fairy or Flasher wrasse into your tank after this, then the Blue throat is a better choice because, IMO, he is more beautiful, and will not have problem with the rest of your fish.

 

[JJKK]

If you are not going to add another Fairy or Flasher wrasse into your tank after this, then the Blue throat is a better choice because, IMO, he is more beautiful, and will not have problem with the rest of your fish.

Thank you for your write-up above and providing feedback based on your experience. I do agree that the bluethroat does catches my eye more with the bright red and electric blue patch. I also believe, based on the limited time I have the fish, that the blue is mood base. It goes from a pale blue patch to the deep electric blue in an instance as it gets ready to strut around the tank. So, I don't anticipate it losing the blue color over time.

I am near the end of my current stocklist and do not anticipate adding another fairy or flasher. But I do have two timid/difficult fish(yellow belly regal angel and potter's wrasse) coming up next and hate to not give them the best chance to survive because of an aggressive bluethroat.

It is not a slam dunk decision for the pintail due to reasons you listed.

 

[evolved]

potter's wrasse

And that's a problem with the blue throat in the tank.

 

[OrionN]

My Blue throat does not cause problem with any of my Leopards. I have a Potter, Black and a Meleagris. My tank is a 320 with a numbers of wrasses. The only one he every pay attention to is some of the Flasher and Fairy, but not all of them, even the terminal males one.
He does not pay any attention to the non wrasse fishes. I have four flame angel in this tank and two Regal angels, small ones only the size of a Flame angel. No problem.When he was in a smaller tank with Flame angels and PBT, he does flashes more to keep from being intimidated by them.
Here he is trying to intimidate, or keep from intimidated by a Flame angel. With no wrasse (possible non Fairy or Flasher wrasses) he flashes but does not run at them.

 

[JJKK]

Such a beautiful specimen you got there OrionN. Got the bluethroat in the penalty box right now. The right side of the bluethroat might have gotten scratched up against a rock diving after the pintail. It has a white scratch mark. The pintail is now out and about too, but keeping a side eye on the bluethroat(see 2nd pic)

Any chance after a couple of days in the fish trap that the bluethroat can calm down with the pintail? OrionN is making a strong case to keep both but his DT is 3X the size of mine. Which I think ultimately why the bluethroat will have to go.

.

 

[OrionN]

I don’t think he will settle down. The very first Blue throat was at war with a larger Laboute for weeks when they are the only two wrasse in my tank. I have to trade my Blue throat for a baby Eightline Flasher. I later added a much smaller blue throat much later, which is the one I have now.