Fairy Wrasse ID help…

[belly14]

Hi All,

Just picked up a fairy wrasse and can’t find online the specific type?

Can anyone ID this one for me?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[belly14]

So it’s a leopard wrasse! Not a fairy wrasse as sold

 

[JoJosReef]

Macropharyngodon bipartitis, blue star leopard wrasse. Congrats! It's an amazing fish. But you'll need a sand bed of at least 1.5-2 inches as they sleep in the sand.

 

[JoJosReef]

On closer look, the lower jaw looks a bit short. Did you see this fish eating at the lfs? Can you see if the jaw is opening and closing normally or hanging open?

On of the major difficulties with leopards is their tendency to dart down into the sand when startled, which without sand can result in them banging their heads and breaking their jaws.

 

[belly14]

Macropharyngodon bipartitis, blue star leopard wrasse. Congrats! It's an amazing fish. But you'll need a sand bed of at least 1.5-2 inches as they sleep in the sand.

Yeah just been reading up on the leopard wrasse. Sandbed is probably around 1.5” mostly apart from round the edge so hopefully should be OK.

 

[belly14]

On closer look, the lower jaw looks a bit short. Did you see this fish eating at the lfs? Can you see if the jaw is opening and closing normally or hanging open?

On of the major difficulties with leopards is their tendency to dart down into the sand when startled, which without sand can result in them banging their heads and breaking their jaws.

Yeah they fed some mysis and ate OK. He was swimming around OK but has gone into hiding so soon as I can see him I’ll try and take a better pic or video and load on here. Hopefully no issues

 

[belly14]

On closer look, the lower jaw looks a bit short. Did you see this fish eating at the lfs? Can you see if the jaw is opening and closing normally or hanging open?

On of the major difficulties with leopards is their tendency to dart down into the sand when startled, which without sand can result in them banging their heads and breaking their jaws.

Managed to get some pics. What do you think?

 

[belly14]

Managed to get some pics. What do you think?

Just fed some mysis and he’s eating OK.

 

[JoJosReef]

Just fed some mysis and he’s eating OK.

Lower jaw still looks a bit off, but maybe yours just has an overbite ;-) most important is that she is eating!

 

[belly14]

Lower jaw still looks a bit off, but maybe yours just has an overbite ;-) most important is that she is eating!

Looking closely it does not look like there is any damage / trauma and was like this in the bag from the LFS so hopefully that’s just how it is. I’ll keep a close eye on it over the next few weeks!