All About Reef Safe Wrasses in Aquaria

[Wael Binali]

Thanks guys (or gals). I do have a red sea nano with just a pair of frostbite clowns in there and some inverts. Maybe I can put the little six line in there with them as I will not be putting much else in there except for maybe a bottom dweller. I don't like keeping too many fish in one tank.

 

[evolved]

Oh, not at all! Sorry about that bud I have the up most respect for both you.

I was completely joking; no worries!

I'm mad at Hunter anyway. He got me hooked on wrasse and now I can't stop! #addictedwrasseaholic

#spreadingtheaddiction
#spendingotherpeoplesmoney

 

[Robink]

Thank you for a great article. Love wrasses and currently have 2 in qt doing well. Looking forward to more!

 

[Wael Binali]

So my beautiful wrasse and fish gurus. I couple more questions. My good friend who owns California Aquariums took the little six line and I decided against him going in the red sea nano with my clowns as they really are the prettiest but most grumpy clowns I know. It's better if they are alone and I'm gonna find a suitable bottom dweller to go in there that they won't feel like they want to compete in the space. In the large tank, I now have the purple tang, cleaner wrasse, pair of clowns that are much calmer and I did get the two leopards, I wanna say bipartisan, but I know that's wrong, lol, the more common red spotted with black stomachs, and a ruby red dragonette. I do have a refugium but it is fairly new so I keep copepods in the fridge and a few times a day I dose the rocks with a pipette to make sure there is stuff for them to hunt and eat, and I put a bunch in the refugium. They didn't hide ever, as soon as I put them in they just started swimming and foraging for food and were happy, which I am so relieved. If they had gone into the sand, I would have stayed there for a few days staring till they came out. So, I want them to go to normal food, I hear LSF Reef Frenzy is a good choice to go with to try and start switching them over? Thoughts. Also how do you get a copepod population going quickly as I know the ruby red dragonette will probably only eat those. Until there is a good self sustaining population going, I have no problems dosing a few times a day for them to always have some. I'm good with corals and fish in general, newer to the hobby but been doing it for 4 years, however this is my first time with pod eaters and I'm the type of person that sees my fish like any other pet, I always want to make sure they are well taken care of! Like I don't understand people who keep harlequin shrimp because there is no way I could cut up a live starfish or put one in there for it, not that there is anything wrong with that, some people can others can't I'm fine with copepods though.... lol

 

[eatbreakfast]

So my beautiful wrasse and fish gurus. I couple more questions. My good friend who owns California Aquariums took the little six line and I decided against him going in the red sea nano with my clowns as they really are the prettiest but bitchiest clowns I know. It's better if they are alone and I'm gonna find a suitable bottom dweller to go in there that they won't feel like they want to compete in the space. In the large tank, I now have the purple tang, cleaner wrasse, pair of clowns that are much calmer and I did get the two leopards, I wanna say bipartisan, but I know that's wrong, lol, the more common red spotted with black stomachs, and a ruby red dragonette. I do have a refugium but it is fairly new so I keep copepods in the fridge and a few times a day I dose the rocks with a pipette to make sure there is stuff for them to hunt and eat, and I put a bunch in the refugium. They didn't hide ever, as soon as I put them in they just started swimming and foraging for food and were happy, which I am so relieved. If they had gone into the sand, I would have stayed there for a few days staring till they came out. So, I want them to go to normal food, I hear LSF Reef Frenzy is a good choice to go with to try and start switching them over? Thoughts. Also how do you get a copepod population going quickly as I know the ruby red dragonette will probably only eat those. Until there is a good self sustaining population going, I have no problems dosing a few times a day for them to always have some. I'm good with corals and fish in general, newer to the hobby but been doing it for 4 years, however this is my first time with pod eaters and I'm the type of person that sees my fish like any other pet, I always want to make sure they are well taken care of! Like I don't understand people who keep harlequin shrimp because there is no way I could cut up a live starfish or put one in there for it, not that there is anything wrong with that, some people can others can't I'm fine with copepods though.... lol

Given time, a copepod population will build itself up.

 

[evolved]

I wanna say bipartisan, but I know that's wrong

bipartitus

So, I want them to go to normal food, I hear LSF Reef Frenzy is a good choice to go with to try and start switching them over?

Anything meaty really - Rods, LRS, or mysis (Hikari is smaller than PE and sometimes can work better in an instance like this).

 

[Wael Binali]

bipartitus

LOL, yeah, I just thought with the current state of the US right now that Bipartisan sounded appropriate heh

As for the food, I'll try a bunch. They both went for the LRS today although there was quite a bit of tasting and spitting out but they ate some and one of them goes for the seaweed as well which is nice. They seem happy which makes me happy.

I'm not sure why the size of the text changed. It did it on it's own

 

[Wael Binali]

Given time, a copepod population will build itself up.

Yeah, I just tend to worry that there isn't enough!

 

[Valkyrie]

Finally got around to reading this article. Saved it to my OneNote like I do all worthy R2R articles. When I first got into the hobby I didn't get the draw to wrasses at all. For me it was clowns, angels, and tangs. I still love the clowns, even my gnarly, foul-tempered maroons & clarkiis. I don't have any percula or ocellaris clowns, just the grumpy clowns. Anyway, I scoffed at wrasses, foxfaces, AND any predator type fishes. Then one day I brought home a melanarus and named him Sarge. I gave him a sandbox in the QT to sleep in and I found that to be so intriguing. His personality is beyond what I would ever expect from a fish that wasn't a clown or one of my outdoor koi. Sarge gets so excited when it's feeding time, like a dog! LOL I also have a foxface that I never thought I'd have and I'm contemplating a predator tank. My how we evolve and find the fish that make us tick. Aside from the Wrasses, I'm crazy about Blennies and Gobies. Yea, it only took me a little less than 2 years to end up with 1/2 dozen aquariums, much to my husband's chagrin.

This new found love for wrasses led to purchasing a 6-line that I thought I was going to put in my 29g with a pair of marooons. Well darn, I didn't know about their jumping habit and when he went missing from the QT I thought maybe he was sleeping somewhere, until I found him as carpet jerky a day later. That put me in panic mode and I made sure that Sarge was secure in his 55g DT. Phew!

I'm going to be upgrading my 29g with the mated pair of maroons in it to a 60g, with a 20g sump. Do you think that getting a mystery wrasse now, to be in quarantine until it's time to move the clowns into the 60g will work? My hope is that if all 3 go in at the same there will be less argument over territory. The maroons have their anemone that will go with them, too. I mean, heck, it sounds like the 3 fish will be able to hold their own against each other, but will it be too stressful for them? There's also a blue spotted watchman goby with his buddy the tiger pistol shrimp already in with the maroons and they seem to leave each other alone. Even though they're in the same aquarium one pair lives on the left end the other pair lives on the right end. They don't seem to cross over. The only trouble maker seems to be the peppermint shrimp that's too big for his britches and he annoys me so much I wouldn't shed a tear if he gets eaten.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Finally got around to reading this article. Saved it to my OneNote like I do all worthy R2R articles. When I first got into the hobby I didn't get the draw to wrasses at all. For me it was clowns, angels, and tangs. I still love the clowns, even my gnarly, foul-tempered maroons & clarkiis. I don't have any percula or ocellaris clowns, just the grumpy clowns. Anyway, I scoffed at wrasses, foxfaces, AND any predator type fishes. Then one day I brought home a melanarus and named him Sarge. I gave him a sandbox in the QT to sleep in and I found that to be so intriguing. His personality is beyond what I would ever expect from a fish that wasn't a clown or one of my outdoor koi. Sarge gets so excited when it's feeding time, like a dog! LOL I also have a foxface that I never thought I'd have and I'm contemplating a predator tank. My how we evolve and find the fish that make us tick. Aside from the Wrasses, I'm crazy about Blennies and Gobies. Yea, it only took me a little less than 2 years to end up with 1/2 dozen aquariums, much to my husband's chagrin.

This new found love for wrasses led to purchasing a 6-line that I thought I was going to put in my 29g with a pair of marooons. Well darn, I didn't know about their jumping habit and when he went missing from the QT I thought maybe he was sleeping somewhere, until I found him as carpet jerky a day later. That put me in panic mode and I made sure that Sarge was secure in his 55g DT. Phew!

I'm going to be upgrading my 29g with the mated pair of maroons in it to a 60g, with a 20g sump. Do you think that getting a mystery wrasse now, to be in quarantine until it's time to move the clowns into the 60g will work? My hope is that if all 3 go in at the same there will be less argument over territory. The maroons have their anemone that will go with them, too. I mean, heck, it sounds like the 3 fish will be able to hold their own against each other, but will it be too stressful for them? There's also a blue spotted watchman goby with his buddy the tiger pistol shrimp already in with the maroons and they seem to leave each other alone. Even though they're in the same aquarium one pair lives on the left end the other pair lives on the right end. They don't seem to cross over. The only trouble maker seems to be the peppermint shrimp that's too big for his britches and he annoys me so much I wouldn't shed a tear if he gets eaten.

The combination of mystery wrasse with maroons and watchman/pistol will work.

 

[evolved]

The combination of mystery wrasse with maroons and watchman/pistol will work.

Agree; no issue there.

 

[biga1106]

Agree; no issue there.

I have a question ... I purchased a chissle tooth wrasse and I have him in QT now and he's eating great and active. He's only about an inch long. I've tried to find some info on them and I can't find much. Would you happen to know anything about them ?? Thank you #evolved !!

 

[eatbreakfast]

I have a question ... I purchased a chissle tooth wrasse and I have him in QT now and he's eating great and active. He's only about an inch long. I've tried to find some info on them and I can't find much. Would you happen to know anything about them ?? Thank you #evolved !!

Their pattern completely changes, they ultimately reach about 8", but are slow growers. As they get bigger they may eat motile inverts, but that hasn't been my experience.

 

[biga1106]

Their pattern completely changes, they ultimately reach about 8", but are slow growers. As they get bigger they may eat motile inverts, but that hasn't been my experience.

Ok good to hear thanks for the info !! Has he messed with your corals ? I've read they pick on acans some times. Have you had good experience with yours ?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Ok good to hear thanks for the info !! Has he messed with your corals ? I've read they pick on acans some times. Have you had good experience with yours ?

The one I had never messed with corals.

 

[biga1106]

The one I had never messed with corals.

Ok good to hear. I'll keep him well feed and hope for the best lol. What happened to yours ?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Ok good to hear. I'll keep him well feed and hope for the best lol. What happened to yours ?

I had to downgrade tanks about 5yrs ago from a 156g to a 54g, and he was too big. He lived for awhile in a coral tank at an LFS, but it was an open top and he eventually jumped.

 

[biga1106]

I had to downgrade tanks about 5yrs ago from a 156g to a 54g, and he was too big. He lived for awhile in a coral tank at an LFS, but it was an open top and he eventually jumped.

O what a shame ok.

 

[evolved]

Besides the risk to motile inverts, I do not know of any risk with them either. I've never heard of any coral being at risk.

 

[Lovetoclown]

I have a ruby head fairy wrasse and a McCosker's flasher wrasse in a 300g. Could I add a Exquisite Fairy Wrasse Maldives to the mix?