fishnchips17
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2021
- Messages
- 122
- Reaction score
- 214
- Location
- Vancouver BC
- What state or country do you live in
- Canada
So this is my 3rd time trying to keep a black leopard wrasse.
The first time was an impulse buy and I didn't really pay close attention to how the wrasse was swimming and behaving at the LFS. The wrasse lasted only 2 days in my tank. I think it was just a really unhealthy specimen.
My second time I did more research and observed the wrasse closely before purchasing. This wrasse lasted 1 week in my care before succumbing. The problem this time was my flame angel is the resident bully and harassed the wrasse non stop. Normally the angel stops harrassing new fish after a day or two but it just never took a liking to this wrasse. The wrasse was really weak before I was able to capture it and move it to my sump. I don't know if it died or jump out of the sump, never saw it again and never found the body. I swore off trying to keep this kind of wrasse.
Fast forward to this Christmas sale at the LFS. I went in intending to purchase a copperband butterfly fish unfortunately they were out of stock. Instead I saw this black leopard wrasse that looked really healthy. After thinking about it for 20 mins, I made the purchase.
Again, the angel harassed the wrasse non stop. This time though, I put a mirror up against the tank so that the angel saw its reflection and harassed that instead of the wrasse. After 3 days, I was able to remove the mirror because the angel has accepted the wrasse into the community.
It's only been 1.5 weeks, but the wrasse is eating and behaving normally in the tank. I feel good about this fish being able to survive long term in my tank. This is the last type of challenging fish on my bucket list (I've already successfully kept mardarin and copperband butterfly).
What are some of your hard to keep or hard to acquire fish stories?
Happy New Years!
The first time was an impulse buy and I didn't really pay close attention to how the wrasse was swimming and behaving at the LFS. The wrasse lasted only 2 days in my tank. I think it was just a really unhealthy specimen.
My second time I did more research and observed the wrasse closely before purchasing. This wrasse lasted 1 week in my care before succumbing. The problem this time was my flame angel is the resident bully and harassed the wrasse non stop. Normally the angel stops harrassing new fish after a day or two but it just never took a liking to this wrasse. The wrasse was really weak before I was able to capture it and move it to my sump. I don't know if it died or jump out of the sump, never saw it again and never found the body. I swore off trying to keep this kind of wrasse.
Fast forward to this Christmas sale at the LFS. I went in intending to purchase a copperband butterfly fish unfortunately they were out of stock. Instead I saw this black leopard wrasse that looked really healthy. After thinking about it for 20 mins, I made the purchase.
Again, the angel harassed the wrasse non stop. This time though, I put a mirror up against the tank so that the angel saw its reflection and harassed that instead of the wrasse. After 3 days, I was able to remove the mirror because the angel has accepted the wrasse into the community.
It's only been 1.5 weeks, but the wrasse is eating and behaving normally in the tank. I feel good about this fish being able to survive long term in my tank. This is the last type of challenging fish on my bucket list (I've already successfully kept mardarin and copperband butterfly).
What are some of your hard to keep or hard to acquire fish stories?
Happy New Years!
