Wrasse burial period

Ben jammin · Oct 1, 2014

This weekend (Sat) I got a bonded pair of pencil wrasses and a melanarus wrasse at my LFS. They had come in last Wednesday and the guy at the store said they had emerged from hiding in the sand bed on Friday. When I added them to my tank the male pencil and the melanarus dove straight into the sand. The female pencil did not. She has been out and about every day since, but the other two wrasses have not emerged yet. They've now been in the sand for three days - longer than they were at the LFS. Just curious how long they can stay under, especially since I don't think they'd eaten much if any since arriving at the LFS, and certainly not in my tank. Is it possible, if they die from the stress, that they never come out and I have to dig for them?

I know this is not exactly abnormal, wrasses just always freak me out with how long they disappear for so I'm curious what other people have experienced with these species.

eatbreakfast · Oct 1, 2014

Wrasses can stay buried for quite some time. Usually it is a day or to, but in some cases they can bury for close to a month. Do not go looking for a buried wrasse as this only causes more stress. Be patient, they will slowly adjust to thi timing of your lights and be out more.

IME burying wrasses often come out of the sand to die, coming up and laying on their side or swimming erratically.

Joe Ftw · Oct 1, 2014

Don't worry about it, they will come out soon enough =]

jackson6745 · Oct 1, 2014

I had a leopard wrasse that buried himself for 2 weeks after introducing him to my reef. I thought it was dead for sure and then he popped out eating everything in site

evolved · Oct 1, 2014

eatbreakfast said:
Wrasses can stay buried for quite some time. Usually it is a day or to, but in some cases they can bury for close to a month. Do not go looking for a buried wrasse as this only causes more stress. Be patient, they will slowly adjust to thi timing of your lights and be out more.

IME burying wrasses often come out of the sand to die, coming up and laying on their side or swimming erratically.

+1

A month is certainly possible. Be patient!

diablomaster9045 · Oct 1, 2014

I have a little yellow coris wrasse I added to one of my tank and he burrowed for about 3 weeks before coming out. Now he is a decimator of brown flatworms

Ben jammin · Oct 1, 2014

Thanks for the responses. That's encouraging, and it's what I expected but a little reaffirmation is always good. :angel: I do have a small red coris wrasse (<3"), and he disappears for days, sometimes a week or two weeks at a time, then just reappears in fine shape. I keep hoping that when he emerges he'll be bigger, but the little bugger has barely grown at all in 8 months. Colors on him are so gorgeuous I want him to get bigger, but he doesn't seem to!

As for the new kids on the block, I am hoping it won't be hard to get the melanarus to start eating. The Pseudojuloides will be more of a problem, and I have a FOWLR with Ready Reef rock so no microfauna for them to pick at it. I just hope he comes out hungry!

MIKE NY · Oct 1, 2014

I concur with all the advise.... I have about a dozen sand burying species of wrasses. I do have a couple that did stay out right away, but most did bury for a day or two except my Blue Star leopard which stay buryed for almost three weeks....

Ben jammin · Oct 2, 2014

Well the melanarus was out when I got home tonight, and he and the female pencil showed some interest when I fed. Not a lot, but it looks like they're starting to figure it out so that's encouraging. Still no sign of the male pencil yet, but it sounds like it may be a while.

stunreefer · Oct 2, 2014

Since you're using cultured rock you might consider adding a large amount of aquacultured pods (Reef Nutrition or AlgaGen). I do this for finicky pickers every time they're introduced into QT and it helps get some calories into them right off the bat (THE most important thing, initially).

jasonp87 · Oct 2, 2014

Be patient, sometimes it just takes time. New tank means new acclimation period.

Ben jammin · Oct 2, 2014

stunreefer said:
Since you're using cultured rock you might consider adding a large amount of aquacultured pods (Reef Nutrition or AlgaGen). I do this for finicky pickers every time they're introduced into QT and it helps get some calories into them right off the bat (THE most important thing, initially).

I've been wondering about this. If I add live pods, is it possible to establish a self-sustaining population in the tank even though my rock is Ready Reef and not real live rock? I know some would get eaten by my wrasses but I don't have any dragonets or other dedicated pod-eaters. I do have fairly high nitrates compared to a reef though (above 20 ppm) - might that be toxic to the pods? I am planning on adding a refugium to my sump in the next month or so for nitrate control and with the idea that it could provide a source of pods and allow me to cut back feeding as well.

evo187 · Oct 3, 2014

I had a yellow wrasse that hit the sand and did not come out for 6 weeks. We thought it had died so pruchased another one (six weeks later), that's when it finally came out and fought the new wrasse. Kind of crazy. Luckily had two tanks and split them up but sometimes you just have to wait them out.

oh207 · Oct 3, 2014

I put a leopard wrasse 3 weeks ago into my DT after having it in QT for 6 weeks. I haven't seen it since and figured its dead.
So today I got a melanrus. I guess time will tell if its truly dead.

choff · Oct 3, 2014

I just put 5 blue star leopards in my dt on Wednesday morning. 1 came out of the sand within in an hour and has been cruising around ever since. I have not seen the other 4 yet. I also dumped In a large order of pods. Hopefully they come up soon and get some.

Tony Vargas · Oct 4, 2014

Your wrasses are more than likely coming out to feed in the middle of the night and are back in the sand during the day. Where these guys are collected is the complete opposite of our daylight schedule. It takes some time and if the fish is healthy it will adjust to our time schedule. None of these wrasses will survive long term in the sand without coming out.

Ben jammin · Oct 4, 2014

The melanarus came out Tuesday, and he and the female pencil have adjusted well and are eating flake and frozen food. Hopefully they're getting enough. I have not seen the male pencil yet and today marks one week. I am going to the LFS right now to buy some live pods and I'll add them tonight after the lights go off. Hopefully the male is still alive and is coming out like you said, although I am usually up till 2 am every night and I definitely have not seen him even that late. Also, he was out at the LFS, so I would think he'd be adjusted by now. Nothing I can do but wait though, and add the pods.

BYW, when adding the pods, do I have to acclimate them like any other invert?

choff · Oct 4, 2014

Tony Vargas said:
Your wrasses are more than likely coming out to feed in the middle of the night and are back in the sand during the day. Where these guys are collected is the complete opposite of our daylight schedule. It takes some time and if the fish is healthy it will adjust to our time schedule. None of these wrasses will survive long term in the sand without coming out.

Has anyone tried setting their lights to their home time zone and then slowly shifted back to our time?

If a second one didn't come out today, I might have given that a go. That's 2 of 5 in 3 days. I'm pretty happy about that.

I did do a midnight recon the last 2 nights and didn't see anything. I'll keep at it.

TarHeelReefer22 · Oct 4, 2014

eatbreakfast said:
Wrasses can stay buried for quite some time. Usually it is a day or to, but in some cases they can bury for close to a month. Do not go looking for a buried wrasse as this only causes more stress. Be patient, they will slowly adjust to thi timing of your lights and be out more.

IME burying wrasses often come out of the sand to die, coming up and
I agree with this that they can stay down for some time till they are adjusted! The one thing that you have to be careful of is that when they do come out they can be pretty food aggressive and even aggressive towards the female you have in the tank. I have seen a pair of leopards that were together for over a year fine go to a new tank bury and when the male came out all was good. The next day when the female came out it was like he had never seen her before and killed her within thirty mins!