Is this actually a possum wrasse?

[Fishfreak2009]

Was browsing Divers Den today and noticed this little guy being sold as a Tanakas possum wrasse. To me though, the white bars look much thicker than what I'm used to seeing, and seem slightly different on the face, as well as the coloring being much less red then I'm used to seeing. Is this actually actually a tanakas possum? Or is it a different possum, or even a small juvenile Cheilinus or Epibulus wrasse?

 

[lion king]

What's rhe size on that, I think it's a juvi

 

[Fishfreak2009]

What's rhe size on that, I think it's a juvi

It's over 1" in size, which is about the same as all the other possum wrasses I've seen for sale at my LFSs

 

[i cant think]

Was browsing Divers Den today and noticed this little guy being sold as a Tanakas possum wrasse. To me though, the white bars look much thicker than what I'm used to seeing, and seem slightly different on the face, as well as the coloring being much less red then I'm used to seeing. Is this actually actually a tanakas possum? Or is it a different possum, or even a small juvenile Cheilinus or Epibulus wrasse?

Yes it is a possum however it doesn’t look to be tanakas, I would say it’s actually the white banded which tend to be confused for the tanakas more than people think.
Also, just because it’s a juvie, I still don’t recommend buying it - DD have been selling fish for an arm and a leg even though they aren’t actually worth that and they are slowly going down, I would recommend getting one from an LFS over DD. These are also fish that are known to be bad shippers, and if you do get one, don’t QT it because most of the time it ends in death. I have yet to see a possum make it through QT alive and not damaged or dead.

 

[John Neuzil]

Yes it is a possum however it doesn’t look to be tanakas, I would say it’s actually the white banded which tend to be confused for the tanakas more than people think.
Also, just because it’s a juvie, I still don’t recommend buying it - DD have been selling fish for an arm and a leg even though they aren’t actually worth that and they are slowly going down, I would recommend getting one from an LFS over DD. These are also fish that are known to be bad shippers, and if you do get one, don’t QT it because most of the time it ends in death. I have yet to see a possum make it through QT alive and not damaged or dead.

why would a fish be more likely to die in QT than in a display tank?

 

[i cant think]

why would a fish be more likely to die in QT than in a display tank?

Because of how sensitive these fish are, they would survive in a display - As I said above, I have yet to see one make it out of QT but yes there may be some however I still don’t recommend taking the risk of losing it.
Some Wrasse are harder to adapt to captivity and these guys are one of the few species of wrasses. And in a display tank there is more hiding spots, fauna ect.. for them to live on. I never QT my fish for this reason, I find that QT puts unneeded stress on them and in all 13 years of doing this I have only combated ich once and that still got beaten. Honestly, I would rather train a wrasse to eat in something like a true reef tank than a QT tank since they have more options on what to eat in the display, they know where they can hide if scared or stressed.
I tend to find possum wrasse to be more sensitive to copper ect.. over the wrasse like Cirrhilabrus, Halichoeres ect..

 

[John Neuzil]

Because of how sensitive these fish are, they would survive in a display - As I said above, I have yet to see one make it out of QT but yes there may be some however I still don’t recommend taking the risk of losing it.
Some Wrasse are harder to adapt to captivity and these guys are one of the few species of wrasses. And in a display tank there is more hiding spots, fauna ect.. for them to live on. I never QT my fish for this reason, I find that QT puts unneeded stress on them and in all 13 years of doing this I have only combated ich once and that still got beaten. Honestly, I would rather train a wrasse to eat in something like a true reef tank than a QT tank since they have more options on what to eat in the display, they know where they can hide if scared or stressed.
I tend to find possum wrasse to be more sensitive to copper ect.. over the wrasse like Cirrhilabrus, Halichoeres ect..

Interesting. I must have been lucky then. Mine went through QT without issue.

 

[i cant think]

Interesting. I must have been lucky then. Mine went through QT without issue.

Yeah, you are lucky - I have seen 2 make it into the store, the others went throughQT and didn’t make it out, if they did then they died not long after

 

[DonTavo27]

I agree,
I can’t ever seem to get these little guys through QT. Now I’m stuck with a sixline wrassehole who’s taken out my 6 year old pair of clownfish.

 

[minus9]

Based on the stripes/bands positions, it does seem to be Tanaka, but I’ve never seen those large stripes on a juvenile before. It also could be a locale thing/trait? It’s definitely wetmorella.

 

[i cant think]

Honestly, I still wouldn’t buy it from how bad DD have been recently. I would wait for one to pop up in the LFS or get one from Blue zoo or somewhere else.

 

[Tamberav]

Interesting. I must have been lucky then. Mine went through QT without issue.

TSM QTs them and doesn’t seem to have issue since they are offered for sale after 30 days so definitely possible.

 

[Tamberav]

Oh and the juvies do have wide bars. The yellow striped possum even has them and loses them later.

 

[Tamberav]

My guess is it is a juvi

Here is a transitioning one.

Another juvi. Looks similar to the one you posted.

 

[i cant think]

My guess is it is a juvi

Here is a transitioning one.

Another juvi. Looks similar to the one you posted.

I would say it’s this (Wetmorella nigropinnata) I highly doubt it’s a tanakas from the markings.

TSM QTs them and doesn’t seem to have issue since they are offered for sale after 30 days. Shipping seems to be the biggest concern.

This is interesting - Over here very few make it through a full QT process.

 

[Tamberav]

I would say it’s this (Wetmorella nigropinnata) I highly doubt it’s a tanakas from the markings.

This is interesting - Over here very few make it through a full QT process.

Difficulty of fish vary greatly from region to region as well as even which wholesaler has them or who collected them. TSM are also very experienced.

I also think it is a yellow banded.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I'm not getting this little one anyways, just popped my curiosity. My 75 gallon isn't finished being set up yet, and my 13.5 gallon Fluval evo is fully stocked (royal gramma, yasha goby with pistol shrimp, bluestripe pipefish pair, and cleaner shrimp). I'm headed home from school over Christmas break and getting the 75 gallon running. Maybe I'll pick up a possum at that point to quarantine while the main tank is getting cycling.

 

[i cant think]

I'm not getting this little one anyways, just popped my curiosity. My 75 gallon isn't finished being set up yet, and my 13.5 gallon Fluval evo is fully stocked (royal gramma, yasha goby with pistol shrimp, bluestripe pipefish pair, and cleaner shrimp). I'm headed home from school over Christmas break and getting the 75 gallon running. Maybe I'll pick up a possum at that point to quarantine while the main tank is getting cycling.

In my honest opinion, I would only QT these fish to get them eating and not for infections, ich ect..
If you can get one through full QT I would love to hear about it. The only way I have QTed any of my fish is by having them in a reef tank and then managed to get them feeding - I would rather lose them to old age than QTing and you will always have Atleast 1 fish die to QT.

 

[minus9]

My guess is it is a juvi

Here is a transitioning one.

Another juvi. Looks similar to the one you posted.

Yup, that's the one. Yellows are the only ones with broader stripes, I just couldn't find a good pic of an actual juvenile and not a sub-adult. Btw, the 3 species of wemorellas are always misidentified by LFS and wholesalers. That's how I got my Tanaka for $35. He was labeled as a white-banded.