Wrasse and Reefs?

[Aspect]

Hello, I am curious on what other's experienced with certain wrasses and if they would or would not recommend them for reef tanks. The 3 wrasse I wanted to add would be Leopard wrasse, Dragon wrasse, and Bird wrasse. A buddy of mine who was in the hobby for a long time swore these 3 are reef safe and he never had an issue with them although nearly everything you read says they're not reef safe. Anyone have any firsthand experience with this? I would add all 3 of these to my tank at the same time and if possible all the same or similar size.

 

[Aspect]

Also add Lunar wrasse to this list.

 

[stovenut]

Lunar and bird wrasses are very active and beautiful fish. One could always claim they are reef safe if you remove all shrimp, crabs, CUC and small fish from your reef. But hence they are not reef safe as they will harass small fish and eat many of your inverts. Dragon wrasses are in the same category though I've heard stories of them killing and eating smaller fish.

However...All 3 are perfect fish to add color and movement to a fish only tank with soft corals.

 

[Aspect]

Lunar and bird wrasses are very active and beautiful fish. One could always claim they are reef safe if you remove all shrimp, crabs, CUC and small fish from your reef. But hence they are not reef safe as they will harass small fish and eat many of your inverts.

However...They are perfect fish to add color and movement to a fish only tank with soft corals.

Most of my snails/hermits are coexisting with my sharks. I'm not really wanting to sacrifice my CUC for wrasse though. I do only have soft corals so that wouldn't be an issue there.

 

[stovenut]

You might just have to replace your CUC more often or adjust and buy larger, tougher hermits. They will be fine around soft corals like shrooms, leathers and Zs/Ps.

 

[Aspect]

You might just have to replace your CUC more often or adjust and buy larger, tougher hermits. They will be fine around soft corals like shrooms, leathers and Zs/Ps.

I have large snails about the size of baseballs and 3" halloween hermits. If they can survive with my sharks then should be okay with wrasse you'd think.

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

Dragon wrasse has killed any other wrasse in my tank. He's cool with everybody else. He does move a lot of sand around but doesn't harm the corals

 

[attica38]

Hello, I am curious on what other's experienced with certain wrasses and if they would or would not recommend them for reef tanks. The 3 wrasse I wanted to add would be Leopard wrasse, Dragon wrasse, and Bird wrasse. A buddy of mine who was in the hobby for a long time swore these 3 are reef safe and he never had an issue with them although nearly everything you read says they're not reef safe. Anyone have any firsthand experience with this? I would add all 3 of these to my tank at the same time and if possible all the same or similar size.

I have had a male Leopard Wrasse for about 8 months now and have never had an issue

 

[Waters]

The only one I had out of those three was a pair of Bird Wrasses and they decimated my snails....left everything else alone. Leopard Wrasses are reef safe.....Dragon Wrasses will also hunt mobile inverts, and often turn over a lot of rockwork in the process.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Dragon wrasse are basically tuskfish: large teeth for flipping rocks and eating shelled foods like crabs and shrimp. If you want to take that risk with your hermits, that's up to you. Leopards are 100% reef safe but small and shy, so I don't know how that would play out with your current stocking.