Female Black/Brown Bird Wrasse Compatibility

Liz HI · Apr 14, 2020

I was wondering if I can keep this fish in my 90 gallon FOWLR tank which has invertebrates and a few small fish. Specifically, I wanted to know if anyone kept a female bird wrasse with a small and medium sized cleaner shrimp, hermit crabs, a large cushion starfish, pencil urchin or feather duster worms. I also have green chromis and a firefish and I wanted to know how aggressive the female bird wrasse will get.

I have a sump with live rock and some sand in my display tank, but there is a lot of space for the fish to swim around. I don't have a lot of medium/large fish in my tank at the moment. But I plan to add a few more fish in the future.

Any advice or stories that you have about this fish is welcomed. I am still pretty new to the saltwater hobby and Im trying to do research before stocking my tank.

evolved · Apr 15, 2020

When full grown, they're nearly a foot in length and pretty aggressive - can eat small fish.
Not a good fit for you.

Liz HI · Apr 15, 2020

evolved said:
When full grown, they're nearly a foot in length and pretty aggressive - can eat small fish.
Not a good fit for you.

It was my belief that the females only grow to a max of 6 inches. The males grow over 11 inches. I’ve read this on multiple sources online and I was planning on getting a female. Are you sure the females grow that big and become aggressive?

I don’t mean to question your experience, but I was just wondering if you had personal experience with this fish or if you heard from people who have kept a single female and no males in a tank.

Aari007 · Jun 30, 2020

Liz HI said:
It was my belief that the females only grow to a max of 6 inches. The males grow over 11 inches. I’ve read this on multiple sources online and I was planning on getting a female. Are you sure the females grow that big and become aggressive?

I don’t mean to question your experience, but I was just wondering if you had personal experience with this fish or if you heard from people who have kept a single female and no males in a tank.

The bird wrasse changes gender as it matures from juvenile to female to male. As @evolved said they grow to nearly a foot long and can be harsh to small fish. They will viciously eat and attack snails, hermits, and shrimps so, they won't be safe with your inverts.