Are sixline wrasse that bad?

[Sabra616]

I have a 20 gallon waterbox with 2 clowns 1 watchman goby and a aptasia eating file fish. (that actually ate the aptasia and hopefully wont turn but I am watching) My family love wrasses and I know in a tank this size I have limited options. I am leaning towards a pink streak but they seem to be impossible to find. I am not comfortable ordering from divers den I have seen one pop up there before. So to my question are sixline that bad it will be the last fish added to the tank. How much of a risk is it to my other fish that my family is attached too. As in if they get murdered by another fish not a happy household. Thank you for the insight!

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

In my experience they were great as small /juvenile fish. As they grew and matured they became bullies.

 

[Stain]

My two clowns killed my sixline, while he was sleeping. Those clowns live in my sump now, and the new sixline has the display to himself.

 

[rblackmon89]

I recently had a jumper and as bad as it sounds, I wasn’t totally upset… mine was a stone cold killer

 

[Cool tangs]

I had one in my nano and he was a model citizen for over 4 years. Got one in my current tank and he was okay, didnt like other wrasses(he was big and fat) but i added a Acanthurus tang and that thing killed it along with killing almost every other fish! (Never again will i buy that species of tang). Bought a replacement (small as thats all they had) he is super friendly! Id say try get a small one and add them last for best chances, they actually grow pretty slow from my experience

 

[jeffp1]

Yes!!!

 

[reefingaz]

YEEEEEEEEEES! Avoid them like the plague! Took me days to catch mine from a 250gal. He terrorized every fish no matter the size. My Achilles even stayed away from it. Moved it to my sump 2 years ago never to bother anyone again.
never again along with damsels and purple dotty backs in any of my tanks

 

[LuizW13]

I heard 4 line wrasses aren't as aggressive. I have a Pink Streaked, and he's awesome, just quite shy.

 

[MikesMach1]

I have a six line with 2 clowns ,1 firefish, 1 lawnmower blenie, 1 neon dottie back, and 2 cleaner shrimp, and I have no problems, everyone gets along

 

[Theulli]

I have a 20 gallon waterbox with 2 clowns 1 watchman goby and a aptasia eating file fish. (that actually ate the aptasia and hopefully wont turn but I am watching) My family love wrasses and I know in a tank this size I have limited options. I am leaning towards a pink streak but they seem to be impossible to find. I am not comfortable ordering from divers den I have seen one pop up there before. So to my question are sixline that bad it will be the last fish added to the tank. How much of a risk is it to my other fish that my family is attached too. As in if they get murdered by another fish not a happy household. Thank you for the insight!

Pink streaks aren’t impossible. In the past year I have seen them more than a few times on divers den and got one for myself off regular live aquaria.

just keep in mind that temperamentally they are very different from six lines - they do not spend their days zooming around the tank.

I myself had a six line that I stupidly put into the tank first, and so it decided the tank belonged to it. They are a big aggression risk, and on top of that they are a huge pain in the butt to get out of the tank if you need to rehome them

 

[rblackmon89]

what about another member of the Pseudocheilinus family? Ive always wanted a mystery wrasse (minus the price, im on a budget) but i've heard similar stories about the entire family...

side note... i think its pretty incredible there are such a wide range of experiences with these wrasse. I've even kept them in past tanks with no issues. But will never again based on my more recent experiences.

 

[Jbell370]

I have had my six line for about 3 years now, was in a 32 bio cube, then a 120g and now a 240g. He is great, every new coral that enters the tank, he inspects fully. Does not bother anyone and is always on the move.

 

[hllb]

I have one, that I had intended as a 'last add'. It is small and there were zero issues. Then, I had to rehome a fish. I decided to add two fish in - a flame angel and a midas blenny. The six line didn't care at all (had been in the tank about 7 months at that point) and has continued being a good citizen. My clown on the other hand (first fish in the tank, so in there about 2 yrs) was a jerk so I put him in time out for a couple of days. Everyone seems fine now, about a month and a half later.

All that to say, it is a known risk. They have a bad reputation. What about a possum wrasse? Also a good option, if you can find one.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

its not a very fair question in this case, cause you already have 4 fish in a small 20 gallon tank, whatever you put in there is likely going to lead to territory disputes.

 

[fish farmer]

In that size tank you are done adding fish IMO. I think a sixline would be a bad idea.

I have a 29 gallon tank with two 14 year old perc clowns and a sixline. The clowns seem to do fine with the sixline, they were the first fish. Both sixlines were fine that I had over the years.....until I added a small aip eating filefish about a month ago. The sixline did not like him....more than likely saw him as a competitor for food. Normally my sixline will spook around me and the clowns keep him in line. He was keeping the filefish from exploring the rocks for about two weeks. Finally it seems like the wrasse tolerates him, but still pushes the file fish around a bit. The wrasse is constantly on the move, while the filefish is more sloth like in his eating.

I took the risk and hopefully they get along and the filefish will settle in and eat aips.

 

[Sabra616]

I have one, that I had intended as a 'last add'. It is small and there were zero issues. Then, I had to rehome a fish. I decided to add two fish in - a flame angel and a midas blenny. The six line didn't care at all (had been in the tank about 7 months at that point) and has continued being a good citizen. My clown on the other hand (first fish in the tank, so in there about 2 yrs) was a jerk so I put him in time out for a couple of days. Everyone seems fine now, about a month and a half later.

All that to say, it is a known risk. They have a bad reputation. What about a possum wrasse? Also a good option, if you can find one.

Family nixed the possum wrasse unfortunately.

 

[Hypnotoad]

I have a pink streaked wrasse that I love dearly.

Totally peaceful, good looking fish.

 

[Dkmoo]

I love my 6line.

Bought a monti frag that I didn't realize had monti eating nudy eggs. One day I noticed one crawling on glass and freaked out. As I was about to suck it out the 6line swooped in and ate it. I then proceeded to check all my montis, saw 1 more that I removed. I also removed the original frag that had the egg.

That was 1 month ago. Right now my tank still show no sign of the nudy. I have to imagine that the 6line was a big part of that.

Key is getting them small and have plenty of space and rockwork to avoid conflict.

In fact, my 30g is very overstocked and I added both a chromis and 6line. Neither displayed any hostility and swims side by side and interact piecefully with the rest of my tank mates: 2 clown, 1 orange spot goby, 1 black cap basslet.