Leopard wrass getting harassed

[Jsieger89]

Added leopard to display 11 days ago. Leopard is 1.5/2 in long. melanurus wrasse Is about 3 in and bullying him a little. Mostly just charging him but occasional bumping/nipping at him. Leopard is spending a lot of time in the sand but when I see him I feed cobalts ce mysis and he normally gets 1 or 2 pieces about every other day. I'm just looking for any advice or any ideas to make my situation better/ get more food in the leopard and also minimize aggression from the other wrass.

 

[4FordFamily]

It's always best to add more than one wrasse at once. My guess is that things will subside. Keep them well fed and monitor. Not much you can do at this point.

A social acclimation box would have been helpful as well. Good luck!

 

[Kershaw]

My malanarus wrasse chases all new fish for a few days then subsides. Never dose any damage. Make sure you see the wrasse eating. Allot of times they will eat and spit it out. If she is eating it should be fine. And the malanarus will leave it alone. Mine was first fish in. After a year I added a lepored and about 6 months after that i added a checkerboard wrasse. They get chased for a week then they are fine. Just keep watching it

 

[Cment]

you really need to get an acclimation box of some sort to separate the leopard. Unfortunately this should have happened from the beginning bc now you'll need to trap her creating more stress if you use one. This will allow other tank mates to get used to her and stop some of the initial harassment. You also have the ability for her to eat without competition. You already made it through the first hurdle by getting her to eat frozen. I would soak the mysis in some selcon to help. There is a possibility the melanurus stops but thats always hard to tell. Increasing feeding temporarily should help as well. For long term health of the leopard you really need to do 2 rounds of prazi....

 

[Kershaw]

It's always best to add more than one wrasse at once. My guess is that things will subside. Keep them well fed and monitor. Not much you can do at this point.

A social acclimation box would have been helpful as well. Good luck!

Make sure you add sand to box for sand burrowing wrasses.

 

[Kershaw]

I personally wouldn't try and catch this fish. Only about 1 out of 6 live from time of capture to home aquarium. Numbers are from a lfs owner. Move some rock around and feed a little more. Try and watch from a distance. I had a tang that would only pick on fish when it seen me walk up to tank.

 

[Jsieger89]

I am feeding more, and I didn't do an acclimation box because this is a finicky fish and didn't don't want to add stress. The bullying is mild but I do feel it is leading to more time in the sand witch leads to it eating less.

To anyone who actually has a leopard. any creative ideas to feed it that it really went crazy for. Like previously stated I'm feeding the cobalt brand of mysis and it already has silicon boost and blended in with the food

 

[MattL22]

If it's coming out to eat that's a good sign any wrasse I add to my tank usally gets chased for a few days a acclimation box is a great tool I get lazy sometimes and don't use it end up regretting it had a few fish that went in and never saw again with acclimation box not only get used to new fish but can also feed the new fish for few days with out it being bothered which is huge for sensitive fish

 

[Cment]

I've got 2 leopards and 2 tamarins in my tank...they all have gone crazy for live black worms. I also feed a mix of frozen with smaller things like cyclops and cyclopeeze bc these fish have small mouths which can create a problem with in take of larger food like PE mysis. You can even try Nutramar which just became available again....

 

[eatbreakfast]

An acclimation box will help alleviate any curious aggression. In most cases this type of aggression subsides quickly, but the leopard staying buried for extended periods is bothersome.

At this small size the leopard needs to eat a lot, so be sure to feed extra when it is out. Also, extra feedings can alleviate some of the aggression.

... Only about 1 out of 6 live from time of capture to home aquarium. Numbers are from a lfs owner.

As someone very familiar with the the supply chain, this number isn't close to accurate.

 

[4FordFamily]

I've got 2 leopards and 2 tamarins in my tank...they all have gone crazy for live black worms. I also feed a mix of frozen with smaller things like cyclops and cyclopeeze bc these fish have small mouths which can create a problem with in take of larger food like PE mysis. You can even try Nutramar which just became available again....

Yes live black worms are crack to these guys

 

[JasonT]

Try putting up a mirror to the tank for a few days or weeks of needed the agressor will normally spend all day strutting in front of the mirror and it will let the new fish acclimate. I do this for all my new additions and my kole tang and 6 line wrasse fall for it every time.

 

[salty150]

Can you separate the aggressor fish from the new fish/rest of the fish?

With a tank divider or a cut to size piece of clear egg crate or anything?

Remember the idea is to separate the one making the aggression - NOT the new one.

The new one should be allowed to roam the tank while the aggressor is the one that is separated.

 

[Salty1962]

Try putting up a mirror to the tank for a few days or weeks of needed the agressor will normally spend all day strutting in front of the mirror and it will let the new fish acclimate. I do this for all my new additions and my kole tang and 6 line wrasse fall for it every time.

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