Fairy wrasse

[Bruce17]

Hello,

I was wondering if it’s possible to put several different kinds of fairy wrasses and leopard wrasses in a 205 gallon display tank with some angels and anthias? I’m just planning all the fish that I want first, so that I make sure that the tank will be set up properly to give them and me the best chance at success. There will be no live rock or corals in this tank.

Thanks

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Yes!

Some great reading on the subject:

Cirrhilabrus Complexes: Inferiority Need Not Apply (1st Revision)

Cirrhilabrus, the “Fairy Wrasses”, are one of the most elegant, active, and colorful reef fish. Their appeal in a reef tank is common to many, but not all have a well-rounded understanding of the compatibility amongst them. Enter the notion of “complexes”: groupings of very closely related...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[pcon]

The posts that detail this are stickies on this forum.

Cirrhilabrus Complexes: Inferiority Need Not Apply (1st Revision)

Cirrhilabrus, the “Fairy Wrasses”, are one of the most elegant, active, and colorful reef fish. Their appeal in a reef tank is common to many, but not all have a well-rounded understanding of the compatibility amongst them. Enter the notion of “complexes”: groupings of very closely related...

www.reef2reef.com

All About Reef Safe Wrasses in Aquaria

Introduction My name is Hunter and I am a wrasse addict. Admitting such is the first step to buying another wrasse, I think. Wrasses are not only my passion, but my niche in this hobby since 2010. My tank is full of them, and unfortunately “regular” species are no longer exciting enough for...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Bruce17]

Yes!

Some great reading on the subject:

Cirrhilabrus Complexes: Inferiority Need Not Apply (1st Revision)

Cirrhilabrus, the “Fairy Wrasses”, are one of the most elegant, active, and colorful reef fish. Their appeal in a reef tank is common to many, but not all have a well-rounded understanding of the compatibility amongst them. Enter the notion of “complexes”: groupings of very closely related...

www.reef2reef.com

Thank you very much for the response. I’ll definitely read the article that you sent me.

 

[nereefpat]

Good links above. The short version is: Yes, you can keep multiple leopard wrasses. You can also keep multiple fairy wrasses, provided they are different species and not too closely related.

Make a list of wrasses you want, and post it here. Then folks can give you specific feedback.

 

[Bruce17]

Good links above. The short version is: Yes, you can keep multiple leopard wrasses. You can also keep multiple fairy wrasses, provided they are different species and not too closely related.

Make a list of wrasses you want, and post it here. Then folks can give you specific feedback.

Ok. Thank you very much. I read the article and looked at the link however it was overwhelming. I have brain damage from my army career and things like that link that use to be simple to understand has now become overwhelming. This is the list that I’m looking to choose from. I understand that they all can’t go in there however if I could 6-10 in there with my other fish, that would be great.

Carpenter Flasher Wrasse
Blue star leopard wrasse ( male and female )
Xmas Wrasse
Scott’s fairy wrasse
Redline wrasse
Magma wrasse
Red leopard wrasse
Yellow coris wrasse
Red velvet wrasse
Flame fairy wrasse ( male and female )
Golden fairy wrasse
Banana wrasse
Hooded fairy wrasse
Rosy scale fairy wrasse
Potter’s wrasse

 

[Bruce17]

Oh and a Melanarus wrasse

 

[Bruce17]

Ok. Thank you very much. I read the article and looked at the link however it was overwhelming. I have brain damage from my army career and things like that link that use to be simple to understand has now become overwhelming. This is the list that I’m looking to choose from. I understand that they all can’t go in there however if I could 6-10 in there with my other fish, that would be great.

Carpenter Flasher Wrasse
Blue star leopard wrasse ( male and female )
Xmas Wrasse
Scott’s fairy wrasse
Redline wrasse
Magma wrasse
Red leopard wrasse
Yellow coris wrasse
Red velvet wrasse
Flame fairy wrasse ( male and female )
Golden fairy wrasse
Banana wrasse
Hooded fairy wrasse
Rosy scale fairy wrasse
Potter’s wrasse

Ok. Thank you very much. I read the article and looked at the link however it was overwhelming. I have brain damage from my army career and things like that link that use to be simple to understand has now become overwhelming. This is the list that I’m looking to choose from. I understand that they all can’t go in there however if I could 6-10 in there with my other fish, that would be great.

Carpenter Flasher Wrasse
Blue star leopard wrasse ( male and female )
Xmas Wrasse
Scott’s fairy wrasse
Redline wrasse
Magma wrasse
Red leopard wrasse
Yellow coris wrasse
Red velvet wrasse
Flame fairy wrasse ( male and female )
Golden fairy wrasse
Banana wrasse
Hooded fairy wrasse
Rosy scale fairy wrasse
Potter’s wrasse

@evolved

 

[nereefpat]

I omitted a few because of aggression or interactions. You should be able to do something like:

Carpenter flasher
2 blue star leopards
Red lined or melanurus - choose one
Flame or magma fairy - choose one - no pairs
Yellow "coris"
Hooded
Golden (Rhomboid, I think)
Potter's - I believe these are pretty difficult

 

[Bruce17]

I omitted a few because of aggression or interactions. You should be able to do something like:

Carpenter flasher
2 blue star leopards
Red lined or melanurus - choose one
Flame or magma fairy - choose one - no pairs
Yellow "coris"
Hooded
Golden (Rhomboid, I think)
Potter's - I believe these are pretty difficult

Ok great. Thank you very much. That helps me a lot. Would an equisite wrasse work with the ones that you mentioned?

 

[nereefpat]

Would an equisite wrasse work with the ones that you mentioned?

I believe so, although it's a little close to the Rhomboid on the chart. Let's see what the guy you tagged says about that one. Hunter can look for errors in my list while he's at it ;)

 

[Jesterrace]

Ok. Thank you very much. I read the article and looked at the link however it was overwhelming. I have brain damage from my army career and things like that link that use to be simple to understand has now become overwhelming. This is the list that I’m looking to choose from. I understand that they all can’t go in there however if I could 6-10 in there with my other fish, that would be great.

Carpenter Flasher Wrasse
Blue star leopard wrasse ( male and female )
Xmas Wrasse
Scott’s fairy wrasse
Redline wrasse
Magma wrasse
Red leopard wrasse
Yellow coris wrasse
Red velvet wrasse
Flame fairy wrasse ( male and female )
Golden fairy wrasse
Banana wrasse
Hooded fairy wrasse
Rosy scale fairy wrasse
Potter’s wrasse

For the most part the list looks pretty good that said, the thing to understand about wrasses is that they don't pair. In the wild they form harems with a male and a group of females, if the male becomes injured, weak, or killed the largest female mimics male behavior and eventually transitions to male. In captivity most Wrasses transition to male and as such pairs often end up with 2 males that attempt to kill each other. Hence you see mixing wrasse of different species but no real long term multiples of the same wrasse. Also be aware that the Scott's can be fairly aggressive. The rest of the list looks pretty good, just stick to one on each wrasse and it should work well.

 

[Bruce17]

For the most part the list looks pretty good that said, the thing to understand about wrasses is that they don't pair. In the wild they form harems with a male and a group of females, if the male becomes injured, weak, or killed the largest female mimics male behavior and eventually transitions to male. In captivity most Wrasses transition to male and as such pairs often end up with 2 males that attempt to kill each other. Hence you see mixing wrasse of different species but no real long term multiples of the same wrasse. Also be aware that the Scott's can be fairly aggressive. The rest of the list looks pretty good, just stick to one on each wrasse and it should work well.

Ok great. Thank you very much. So it work with several different types of leopard wrasses?

 

[Bruce17]

I believe so, although it's a little close to the Rhomboid on the chart. Let's see what the guy you tagged says about that one. Hunter can look for errors in my list while he's at it ;)

Ok great. Thank you very much. Besides a soft sand bed of atleast 2 inches, is there something else that you would recommend to give myself and the fish the best chance of survival? I’m thinking of putting them in a 40 gallon qt tank for a couple weeks. Then moving them to a 55 gallon qt tank for another 2-4 weeks, before putting them in the display tank. I’ll have a tupaware containers with sand on them in the qt tanks as well. The reason for the bigger qt tanks is two fold. First for better water quality and secondly is that I eventually will be adding small tangs and angels and they need a bigger qt tank.

 

[evolved]

There will be no live rock or corals in this tank.

It's not so clear to me; what is the plan for this tank?

And here comes the point where Latin names are important; I am also not certain what is intended with some of these common names.
(note - common names are not universal - they are very regional and the same name can mean something very different depending on who/where you're asking)
My comments in blue below:

Carpenter Flasher Wrasse - pretty safe & easy
Blue star leopard wrasse ( male and female ) - leopards are not the easiest starter wrasse. Fundamentally this can be done though.
Xmas Wrasse - could mean 5+ different species - they are not all the same
Scott’s fairy wrasse - avoid
Redline wrasse - middle of the road for Halichoeres aggression, but okay
Magma wrasse - relatively safe/easy
Red leopard wrasse - not at all sure what species this is intended to be
Yellow coris wrasse - relatively safe/easy
Red velvet wrasse - can be risky sometimes
Flame fairy wrasse ( male and female ) - do NOT buy a pair, but a single is safe/easy
Golden fairy wrasse - what species is this?
Banana wrasse - what species is this? If it's a Thalassoma, hard pass
Hooded fairy wrasse - relatively safe/easy
Rosy scale fairy wrasse - typically this is the same species as the red velvet - do you mean something different?
Potter’s wrasse - one of the most difficult leopards - not one to start with if you don't have experience with leopards
Melanurus wrasse - a bit of a coin toss on risk, but a bit on the aggressive side for Halichoeres

 

[Bruce17]

It's not so clear to me; what is the plan for this tank?

And here comes the point where Latin names are important; I am also not certain what is intended with some of these common names.
(note - common names are not universal - they are very regional and the same name can mean something very different depending on who/where you're asking)
My comments in blue below:

Thank you very much for taking the time to give me a detailed response.
Potter has been removed from my list as well as the melanurus wrasse
Red leopard wrasse is Macropharyngodon Chaoti
Golden wrasse is the Golden Rhomboidalis wrasse
The rosy scale is the red velvet. My bad.

 

[Bruce17]

Thank you very much for taking the time to give me a detailed response.
Potter has been removed from my list as well as the melanurus wrasse
Red leopard wrasse is Macropharyngodon Chaoti
Golden wrasse is the Golden Rhomboidalis wrasse
The rosy scale is the red velvet. My bad.

Was there something else that I confused you with? I’m going to have fake rocks and corals in the tank. I just want to focus on a fish only tank right now.

 

[evolved]

Thank you very much for taking the time to give me a detailed response.
Potter has been removed from my list as well as the melanurus wrasse
Red leopard wrasse is Macropharyngodon Chaoti
Golden wrasse is the Golden Rhomboidalis wrasse
The rosy scale is the red velvet. My bad.

My pleasure!
M. choati is THE most difficult leopard; another to skip without undue experience.
Rhomboidalis is also pretty mild and safe.

Was there something else that I confused you with? I’m going to have fake rocks and corals in the tank. I just want to focus on a fish only tank right now.

No, that's better. I presume you have a solid filtration plan?

 

[Bruce17]

My pleasure!
M. choati is THE most difficult leopard; another to skip without undue experience.
Rhomboidalis is also pretty mild and safe.

No, that's better. I presume you have a solid filtration plan?

Oh ok. The Choats will also be removed from my list then.
As for the filtration system, I have a Bashsea 48” signature series sump, an octopus skimmer that’s good up to 400 gallons, a dual GFO/ carbon reactor, a fuge, 57 watt UV sterilizer and biomedia blocks. I’m also going to put miracle mud underneath the chaeto in the fuge. I want to heavily stock the fuge with copepods and ampipods.
Do you feel that the filtration is efficient or is there something that i’m Missing that you recommend?

 

[evolved]

As for the filtration system, I have a Bashsea 48” signature series sump, an octopus skimmer that’s good up to 400 gallons, a dual GFO/ carbon reactor, a fuge, 57 watt UV sterilizer and biomedia blocks. I’m also going to put miracle mud underneath the chaeto in the fuge. I want to heavily stock the fuge with copepods and ampipods.
Do you feel that the filtration is efficient or is there something that i’m Missing that you recommend?

In terms of porous media for bacterial colonization, you are relying very heavily on those biomedia blocks. Which can be fine - just something to be aware of.