Wrasse Recommendation

[kzitzman1]

We had to get rid of our Melaranus Wrasse as it became a bully to new fish. We want to replace it with a wrasse that is beautiful but also friendly. What recommendations do you have for a Wrasse that would do well in a 125 gal tank with soft coral and passive/friendly fish?

 

[Tcook]

Hooded flame wrasse

 

[kzitzman1]

Hooded flame wrasse

Thanks. While we have two flasher wrasses we don’t have a fairy wrasse so that’s a good option.

 

[A sea K]

Lined wrasse aka H. biocelatus

 

[dwest]

If you are getting some fairy wrasses be sure to check out the chart. My two favorite are my flame and rhomboid.

Fairy Wrasse Compatibility

BIG THANKS to Hunter Hammond (@evolved) for sharing his phylogram on Fairy Wrasse compatibility (below). His full article on the subject can be found here: The Wrasse Guy - Mixing Cirrhilabrus

humble.fish

 

[jmichaelh7]

Leopard !! Mine just turned female to male , it is like owning a new wrasse

 

[kzitzman1]

Lined wrasse aka H. biocelatus

Thanks. That one is gorgeous. Is it safe with cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp?

 

[kzitzman1]

If you are getting some fairy wrasses be sure to check out the chart. My two favorite are my flame and rhomboid.

Fairy Wrasse Compatibility

BIG THANKS to Hunter Hammond (@evolved) for sharing his phylogram on Fairy Wrasse compatibility (below). His full article on the subject can be found here: The Wrasse Guy - Mixing Cirrhilabrus

humble.fish

Thanks. I’ve definitely added fairy wrasses to the potential list. It will be critical to find a wrasse that won’t kill inverts. I don’t mind if it eats hermit crabs as those are inexpensive but I don’t want it eating/killing my cleaner shrimp when they molt like the Melaranus did. Personality is also appreciated.

 

[Not an IT guy]

Earmuff > all

 

[reefz]

Yellow or Leopard wrasses are my favorite

 

[kzitzman1]

Leopard !! Mine just turned female to male , it is like owning a new wrasse

We had a leopard wrasse at one point but it died after several months. We got another one and the Melaranus killed it prior to realizing the Melaranus turned killer. Do you recommend any particular leopard wrasse

 

[Tamberav]

leopard wrasse, whichever one is eating and appears healthy.

radiant wrasse, same as above.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Fairy wrasse vote also. We just picked up our first one, love the color pop!

 

[jmichaelh7]

I like the African blue star .

 

[saltyhog]

I've kept almost all the ones mentioned above and they are good choices. Another under rated wrasse that has some utility as well is the yellow wrasse (Halichoeres chrysus). They are very peaceful, beautiful and effective pest removers.

H. biocellatus mature

Earmuff

Radiant, Orange back fairy, Earl' fairy, Hooded fairy

Potter's leopard wrasse, Flame wrasse, Labout's wrasse

 

[i cant think]

Honestly, I agree with many of the ones above but some of the ones mentioned may not agree with the wallet, I can add some cheaper ones that IME aren’t as aggressive as they say, the first one will most likely trigger some people.
Aussie Scott’s Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus scottorum)
If I’m telling you what is the truth then sure the Fiji and Cook variants can be aggressive to other fairy wrasse however, my Aussie Scott’s only chases my two male Lubbock’s every so often - There’s a ton of bickering between him and my Jade though because they’re both 4”. He will loose colour so I recommend just getting a female or transitional male because then you don’t buy a beautiful male just for it to become dull. Here’s a photo of mine (Note the flame red anal fin, the other two variants don’t have that).

Another one I have that could be a good fairy wrasse is the naoko fairy wrasse that is soon going to be moved into the tank with the Scott’s - Yes I have added a wrasse in with the Scott’s before, and he was established at that point. The naoko has the same colours as the Iridis just in a different pattern
I would take a photo of mine however, he has just tried to jump which makes me say he is getting too big for the nano tank.

Another two wrasses I have are both variants of Cirrhilabrus Lubbocki.
Both colour variants add a nice pop of purple and pink, I personally prefer the Indonesian variant (Although I do have both in the 4’ tank) both of my males get along with eachother.
Cebu Lubbock:

Indo Lubbock:

Another wrasse I have is the Iridis, be warned they are notoriously hard to ship - I have yet to have issues personally with it but the LFS I worked at has lost several of them because of it. After you get past the shipping stage it’s easy but trying to get one past that is easier said than done.

And the final wrasse I shall recommend is the Blue Star Leopard wrasse, yes they are hard to get eating but if she’s eating at the LFS and she doesn’t have any signs of illness or stress then it should be okay - Just make sure she has been in for Atleast a week. I would take a picture of my Blue star however she is asleep and I don’t want to stress out the naoko more than I already did trying to clean the glass.

Please excuse the bad iPhone pictures, I tried to get them as good as I could (I figured out a trick for a decent photo of the darty/quick swimmers)

 

[A sea K]

Thanks. That one is gorgeous. Is it safe with cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp?

Never had any issues with cleaner shrimp when I had mine. Always a model citizen for me and one of my favorite wrasses. Can be a little hard to find but not rare by any means either and very reasonably priced.

 

[i cant think]

Honestly, I agree with many of the ones above but some of the ones mentioned may not agree with the wallet, I can add some cheaper ones that IME aren’t as aggressive as they say, the first one will most likely trigger some people.
Aussie Scott’s Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus scottorum)
If I’m telling you what is the truth then sure the Fiji and Cook variants can be aggressive to other fairy wrasse however, my Aussie Scott’s only chases my two male Lubbock’s every so often - There’s a ton of bickering between him and my Jade though because they’re both 4”. He will loose colour so I recommend just getting a female or transitional male because then you don’t buy a beautiful male just for it to become dull. Here’s a photo of mine (Note the flame red anal fin, the other two variants don’t have that).

Another one I have that could be a good fairy wrasse is the naoko fairy wrasse that is soon going to be moved into the tank with the Scott’s - Yes I have added a wrasse in with the Scott’s before, and he was established at that point. The naoko has the same colours as the Iridis just in a different pattern
I would take a photo of mine however, he has just tried to jump which makes me say he is getting too big for the nano tank.

Another two wrasses I have are both variants of Cirrhilabrus Lubbocki.
Both colour variants add a nice pop of purple and pink, I personally prefer the Indonesian variant (Although I do have both in the 4’ tank) both of my males get along with eachother.
Cebu Lubbock:

Indo Lubbock:

Another wrasse I have is the Iridis, be warned they are notoriously hard to ship - I have yet to have issues personally with it but the LFS I worked at has lost several of them because of it. After you get past the shipping stage it’s easy but trying to get one past that is easier said than done.

And the final wrasse I shall recommend is the Blue Star Leopard wrasse, yes they are hard to get eating but if she’s eating at the LFS and she doesn’t have any signs of illness or stress then it should be okay - Just make sure she has been in for Atleast a week. I would take a picture of my Blue star however she is asleep and I don’t want to stress out the naoko more than I already did trying to clean the glass.

Please excuse the bad iPhone pictures, I tried to get them as good as I could (I figured out a trick for a decent photo of the darty/quick swimmers)

Also, I found a beautiful photo I took yesterday of my Blue Star leopard wrasse, she’s a true juvenile and I may aswel grab a photo of the naoko fairy while I’m at it.
Here’s the Blue Star Leopard:

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Never had any issues with cleaner shrimp when I had mine. Always a model citizen for me and one of my favorite wrasses. Can be a little hard to find but not rare by any means either and very reasonably priced.

When I first got my Halichoeres biocellatus she'd occasionally pop astraea snails off the rocks for sport but never troubled any of my other inverts and she got tired of bothering the snails pretty quickly. Saw her have a pretty intense faceoff with a peppermint shrimp over an algae pellet once. She finally got bold and stole the pellet and raced around the tank with her prize. She's quite the character and one of my favorite fish!

 

[GuppyHJD]

I am looking to add 3-5 wrasses – looking into the fish below, it the order I would prefer, but not sure on compatibility. My tank is a 120g.

1. Carpenter’s Flasher Wrasse
2. McCosker’s Flasher Wrasse ( LFS has in stock)
3. Scott’s Fairy Wrasse
4. Lubbuck Wrasse (LFS has in stock)
5. Diamond Tail Flasher Wrasse
6. Splendid Pintail Fairy Wrasse
7. Purplelined Fairy Wrasse
8. Blueside Wrasse