Convince this beginner I shouldn't get a pair of Leopard Wrasse

Tamberav · Jan 29, 2021

I find them hardy as long as they are eating at the store and treated for flukes. They just ship poorly.

I put them in a 25g that has tons of microfauna for a few weeks to months before treating them or moving them to the DT.

I decided to go ich free for my next upgrade and put my 4 leopards through TTM (with fresh sand every time) and even though I screwed up on one of the transfers, they all came through fine.

>>klong<< · Jun 14, 2021

Here's an update on this in case anyone else was having the same dilemma . . .

After reading the responses to this thread and consulting with they guys at TSM where I wanted to buy them, I took the plunge. I live local to TSM, so all the warnings about shipping and getting the wrasses to eat frozen didn't apply to me. TSM took care of the acclimation and getting the fish to eat.

I've had them in the tank for about 4 months now and they're doing really well. One of them eats pellets, but the other just watches them float by. They're picking at the rock and sand most of the day, then eat well at feeding times 2x a day. The larger of the two (Wrasse1) gets very aggressive toward the smaller (Wrasse2) about the time the lights got down. Wrasse1 chases Wrasse2 for about 5 minutes, then Wrasse2 goes to bed in the sand. (Those are the names they got because we didn't name them for a while and those stuck)

This may not apply to everyone, but because I was fortunate enough to have a great retailer like TSM nearby, the fish have been very easy to keep.

They're too quick for my phone and this is the best photo I could get just now:

JCM · Jun 15, 2021

Tamberav said:
I find them hardy as long as they are eating at the store and treated for flukes. They just ship poorly.

I put them in a 25g that has tons of microfauna for a few weeks to months before treating them or moving them to the DT.

I decided to go ich free for my next upgrade and put my 4 leopards through TTM (with fresh sand every time) and even though I screwed up on one of the transfers, they all came through fine.

This has been my experience. I've kept 2 M. Meleagris. The first I had for just shy of 10 years. She never transitioned to male and ate until the day she died. The second I bought recently, it immediately started pecking at the rockwork and fighting my other fish for frozen food.

They don't ship well and take time to get eating frozen/dry food. If you're buying local and it's eating at the store, I think "expert only" is a stretch. Make sure you have a decent sand bed for them to sleep in.