Acclimating a Kuiter's Leopard Wrasse

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stklaw

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Hi there!!!! Anxiously awaiting your Leopard!!!! Is he still coming today????
Alrighty.... my friend and I have got the golden rhomboidalis wrasse and Kuiter's diligently acclimated and in their new home. The Goldie was great thru a acclimation, then chipper and swimming around in his new DT casually and curiously. The Kuiters during acclimation didnt seem too stressed and/but was looking up vertically most of the time. We inspected her well throughout; didn't seem stressed or injured, nor breathing heavy or anything too concerning. Upon gently placing her in, she gathered her bearings in the tank, then gently swam down to a lower quadrant of the DT where she cautiously inspected the LR in the area, then after about 3 minutes gently wriggled herself into the sand. We could occasionally see her ripple the sand afterwards, getting comfy I reckon. Then, after about 2 hours she poked half herself out of the substrate and posed for pictures with sand on her head. A couple minutes later she came all the out and has been casually checking out the left half of the DT and picking at LR every couple minutes. Shes been out for 3 hours now - still is. Shes now covering the right half and seems comfortable around the Golden, and vice versa. So, so far so good. I'll post another pic later. Let you know what and when she eats in the near future.
And guys+gals, the Golden Rhomboidalis is awesome too man, they put one on DD yesterday but mine was just LA Cali Facility (not WYSIWYG) and beautiful...and $100+ less. Anyway here's my Leopard...
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Cassian

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Edit: never mind, I didn’t realize you already had them.

I’m still curious about the below.


Also, you said they are shipped with sand in the bag.... I’ve never heard of that and I would think that would be a cloudy mess during shipping and bad for their gills???? Cause we all know UPS doesn’t pay attention to the “this side up” text on the box. Any one else think this is curious????
 
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stklaw

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Edit: never mind, I didn’t realize you already had them.

I’m still curious about the below.


Also, you said they are shipped with sand in the bag.... I’ve never heard of that and I would think that would be a cloudy mess during shipping and bad for their gills???? Cause we all know UPS doesn’t pay attention to the “this side up” text on the box. Any one else think this is curious????
No they didn't ship her in sand. Initially someone there said they did, but I double checked with customer service and this time the person said they did not ship them in sand for what you said, kicking up sand if they panic/dive. I think a lot just comes down to its stress and a really good acclimation.
She has been up since 9 am today picking pods off rock. She ate half of a live blackworm this morning and a couple nibbles of frozen mysis. She's not shy, not stressed...at noon my Algae Barn delivery of Ecopods and nano brine came so I gave her something to nibble on -- she was crazy about it. So I sprinkled in frozen brine to see if she's stimulated for frozen, and she was - took a handful of brine floaters.
Thanks again for all your input and interest. I'll keep updates and some pictures sporadically coming.
 
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2nd night update: took frozen brine, frz bloodworms & reef frenzy tonight after a day of snacking on copepods and nano brine. Ate a reasonable amount; seemed excited with food in the water.

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Cassian

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2nd night update: took frozen brine, frz bloodworms & reef frenzy tonight after a day of snacking on copepods and nano brine. Ate a reasonable amount; seemed excited with food in the water.

20191212_115304.jpg
Glad to hear she is doing well!
 
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stklaw

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2nd night update: took frozen brine, frz bloodworms & reef frenzy tonight after a day of snacking on copepods and nano brine. Ate a reasonable amount; seemed excited with food in the water.

20191212_115304.jpg
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Tamberav

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Thanks for the updates! My LFS has another one of these in stock. Maybe this batch of fish came through in better health.
 

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Stopped by the LFS...the new one they have is a biggy!

MVIMG_20191212_160029.jpg
 
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stklaw

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Stopped by the LFS...the new one they have is a biggy!

MVIMG_20191212_160029.jpg
She does look big. Mine is tiny; barely 2". I find she's currently enjoying frozen bloodworms the most so far. Then mysis. But she likes some things in the reef frenzy too. I noticed that LA just lowered their price on female Kuiters to $99 during a wrasse sale.
Anyway, let us know what you did. Thanks
 

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She does look big. Mine is tiny; barely 2". I find she's currently enjoying frozen bloodworms the most so far. Then mysis. But she likes some things in the reef frenzy too. I noticed that LA just lowered their price on female Kuiters to $99 during a wrasse sale.
Anyway, let us know what you did. Thanks

$99 is a great price. Ya the one at the LFS is huge and appeared in good health....the one I got is about medium size? Idk she's bigger than my other wrasses though.

Mine likes ova and PE calanus the best.
 

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I noticed that LA just lowered their price on female Kuiters to $99 during a wrasse sale.

When was that? Today .... Friday?
 
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stklaw

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When was that? Today .... Friday?
I noticed it yesterday. They had other wrasses in a discount group about a week ago but the Kuiters wasn't originally discounted. Is now, and I got a good one so maybe now is the time for others...
 

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I noticed it yesterday. They had other wrasses in a discount group about a week ago but the Kuiters wasn't originally discounted. Is now, and I got a good one so maybe now is the time for others...
Glad to hear the little guy is doing well!!! So tell me what salinity he was shipped in and how you and your buddy acclimated him? Just thought I would ask in case in the future I wanted to order one online. My Wrasse LFS never gets these guys in!
 
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stklaw

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Glad to hear the little guy is doing well!!! So tell me what salinity he was shipped in and how you and your buddy acclimated him? Just thought I would ask in case in the future I wanted to order one online. My Wrasse LFS never gets these guys in!
Yeah I suppose this is a good time to share how we did it. LiveAquaria said their shipping salinity was 1.019. So in preparation I lowered my reef tank from 1.023 to 1.022 over the 3 days prior to their arrival. On the morning of arrival I filled up a large plastic bag with water from my DT, a little NutriSea ocean water and enough fresh RO water to bring the salinity to 1.020. Then I floated the bag in the sump to temp acclimate while I drove to the UPS customer center for a 9am pickup when they opened. This saved the fish 3 extra hours of being jostled around by UPS and in a cold truck. My buddy met me at home at 930, and we floated the wrasse bags and inspected them for life...they both looked well. They temp acclimated for 30-40 minutes. Then using a clean double-sided bucket, we poured the big bag of water that I'd adjusted for initial salinity acclimation (1.020) into both sides of the double sided bucket, filling it about 4-5". We added one drop of Seachem Amguard. In each side we used a 7x4x4" acclimation box w/cover. And we were ready. My friend held the bag, I cut the knot, and he gently poured off 3/4 of the bag water. Then he gently poured her into the acclimation box floating in one side of the bucket with the 1.020 initial acclimation water. I had the acclimation box slightly tilted so that her entry was smooth so she didnt slam into the bottom/side. Put the lid on the acclimation box and then over the course of the next 15-20 minutes slowly and steadily added DT water bringing the salinity up from 1.020 to about 1.022. We carefully inspected both fish and they looked well and not too stressed. The transfer was gentle from bucket to the DT in acclimation box, and my Kuiter's casually exited the box, gained her bearings and swam to a lower quadrant. She inspected things for a couple minutes and then wriggled herself into the sand for a couple hours. After 2 hours she came out and explored, got friendly with the Golden Rhomboidalis, and started picking pods all day. I think that was important that she had pods to graze, just for easing stress of a new strange environment and building up an appetite. And the feeding later that evening she took some frozen bits. Now she likes frozen bloodworms most, followed by reef frenzy.
She's currently sporting a nice little belly and isnt shy at all. In fact she loves to flirt like a kitten right in front of your face when you stand at the tank.
So that's my successful acclimation for going right in to the DT. I'm giving the Kuiter's all the credit for coming to me with what seemed low stress. I understand many others choose to quarantine and some feel very strongly about that in every situation. But for those who want to put their Leopard Wrasse directly into their DT, this is one example of where I'm currently finding that it was a success. And hopefully good tidings of future joy!
Happy Holidays!
[pic] Kuiter's scoping out my daughter

20191210_160003.jpg
 

cancun

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Yeah I suppose this is a good time to share how we did it. LiveAquaria said their shipping salinity was 1.019. So in preparation I lowered my reef tank from 1.023 to 1.022 over the 3 days prior to their arrival. On the morning of arrival I filled up a large plastic bag with water from my DT, a little NutriSea ocean water and enough fresh RO water to bring the salinity to 1.020. Then I floated the bag in the sump to temp acclimate while I drove to the UPS customer center for a 9am pickup when they opened. This saved the fish 3 extra hours of being jostled around by UPS and in a cold truck. My buddy met me at home at 930, and we floated the wrasse bags and inspected them for life...they both looked well. They temp acclimated for 30-40 minutes. Then using a clean double-sided bucket, we poured the big bag of water that I'd adjusted for initial salinity acclimation (1.020) into both sides of the double sided bucket, filling it about 4-5". We added one drop of Seachem Amguard. In each side we used a 7x4x4" acclimation box w/cover. And we were ready. My friend held the bag, I cut the knot, and he gently poured off 3/4 of the bag water. Then he gently poured her into the acclimation box floating in one side of the bucket with the 1.020 initial acclimation water. I had the acclimation box slightly tilted so that her entry was smooth so she didnt slam into the bottom/side. Put the lid on the acclimation box and then over the course of the next 15-20 minutes slowly and steadily added DT water bringing the salinity up from 1.020 to about 1.022. We carefully inspected both fish and they looked well and not too stressed. The transfer was gentle from bucket to the DT in acclimation box, and my Kuiter's casually exited the box, gained her bearings and swam to a lower quadrant. She inspected things for a couple minutes and then wriggled herself into the sand for a couple hours. After 2 hours she came out and explored, got friendly with the Golden Rhomboidalis, and started picking pods all day. I think that was important that she had pods to graze, just for easing stress of a new strange environment and building up an appetite. And the feeding later that evening she took some frozen bits. Now she likes frozen bloodworms most, followed by reef frenzy.
She's currently sporting a nice little belly and isnt shy at all. In fact she loves to flirt like a kitten right in front of your face when you stand at the tank.
So that's my successful acclimation for going right in to the DT. I'm giving the Kuiter's all the credit for coming to me with what seemed low stress. I understand many others choose to quarantine and some feel very strongly about that in every situation. But for those who want to put their Leopard Wrasse directly into their DT, this is one example of where I'm currently finding that it was a success. And hopefully good tidings of future joy!
Happy Holidays!
[pic] Kuiter's scoping out my daughter

20191210_160003.jpg
Great job! I love how you asked questions and planned it out. Everyone has there own opinions, and I respect that completely. I have never QT any of my Leopards. They are all thriving years later.

I am glad I could help out, and Reef Frenzy is a favorite in my tank along with Mysis. Enjoy your beautiful Wrasse. Please update this thread with his progress. I know others would be interested, especially ones who want to try a Leopard.
Merry Christmas!
 
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stklaw

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She's still happy. Eating like a hog. Prefers frozen bloodworms, then brine w/ spurlina, then reef frenzy. If any of you decided to get a Kuiter's Leopard after this let us know about it. Happy Holidays!

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