leopard wrasse difficulty?

[Hemmdog]

Maybe just bad luck on my part. All of mine came in the mail, if i see one at LFS I’ll give it another try.

Oh gotcha. Yea anything I’ve gotten in the mail is usually much more challenging, takes them awhile to bounce back.

 

[Triggreef]

There used to be a HUGE thread on here about leopard wrasses. Well I guess there still is I haven't seen it in a while. But lots of experience in there if you read past all the "My leopard wrasse has been buried for 2 weeks" posts.

 

[ca1ore]

I think that thread you are remembering is over on RC. I don’t recall one here.

 

[Jesterrace]

There’s no grand conspiracy here ..... leopard wrasses are absolutely difficult fish to keep. They ship and acclimate poorly and often come with internal parasites. Once past the initial acclimation, it’s not difficult to get them eating, but absent treatment many will still gradually waste away. Pat yourself on the back after you’ve had one for a year. This is actually one genus that is well bought from LFS since they bear the acclimation losses. Just make sure that the fish does not have pinching behind the head - 99% of the time they’ll not survive. Some species are easier (meleagris, bipartitus, ornate), others trickier (negrosensis, moyers) and still others even trickier (Potteri and Choati). Drawing any kind of useful conclusion from a sample size of one is ..... well self evident I’d think.

Couldn't agree more. I personally believe it's best to select one that has been at the LFS for a couple of weeks and is active and eating. My Blue Star Leopard (Bipartitus) was from a batch of 6 leopards that were ordered by my LFS. 2 didn't last the first week, 2 sold and I have no idea what happened to them and then after a couple of weeks they just had a larger male leopard and a juvie bipartitus left. The Juvie was colorful and very active and eating well. The male was lethargic and not moving much. Bought the juvie and came back a week later and it was still active and eating well. The larger male appeared to be lying on the sand on it's deathbed. More than 6 months later and it's eating reef frenzy twice a day and even munch on some dry seaweed. I agree that it still needs a few more months before I can say long term success for sure, but it does look fairly fat for a small wrasse.

 

[billamwelli]

I think they’re pretty shy. This comes from observation in the lfs.

From what I’ve seen fish are usually more shy at the lfs especially wrasses, but leopard wrasses should start to come out of their shells when they start to associate you with food.

 

[Cell]

It seems I may have just gotten lucky too but my blue star leopard wrasse from Petco of all places (one of the good ones) was no trouble at all. It did not require any treatment and loves Reef Frenzy. It's an awesome little fish.

 

[EakTheFreak]

It seems I may have just gotten lucky too but my blue star leopard wrasse from Petco of all places (one of the good ones) was no trouble at all. It did not require any treatment and loves Reef Frenzy. It's an awesome little fish.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/quarantine-experience-with-blue-star-leopard-wrasses.743958/
I had mine ship in from LiveAquaria and did QT with Prazipro & food soaked GC. They are the stars of my reef tank #DadJoke

 

[Terry Le]

I got 3 female Leopard Wrasse from LA 4 years ago. Qt and in to DT with in a week one of them change to male. They have no problem eating pellets. Soon after the smallest of the 3 got single out I found in the sump and return to the DT and that was the last I saw this one. The male and female are fat and healthy eat everything I put in the tank

 

[EakTheFreak]

I got 3 female Leopard Wrasse from LA 4 years ago. Qt and in to DT with in a week one of them change to male. They have no problem eating pellets. Soon after the smallest of the 3 got single out I found in the sump and return to the DT and that was the last I saw this one. The male and female are fat and healthy eat everything I put in the tank

That’s awesome, any photos to share!?

 

[OrionN]

All fishes are easy if you can provide the care and food that they needed.
The common Leopard Wrasse, M. meleagris (and most of the Leopards) needs are:
Good clean stable water
Fine sand bed of at least 1 inch or so or deeper
No other fish that bother them so they can feel comfortable
They are delicate shipper so healthy reasonable fat fish is needed
QT in natural setting, preferable in a reef tank with plenty of Fauna and Flora so they can pick on and eat while you can get them to get use to captivity food.
Perhaps a dither fish, that are non aggressive and feeding well, in the QT tank that get them excited and eating.

Providing the above I rarely have problem with getting my Leopard to eat. Once they are eating well, they are relatively easy and problem free to keep. I never have treat any of my Leopards for any disease or parasites.
Below are pictures of my Male Meleagris Leopard (nuptial coloration and normal coloration), female, and video of my two recent acquisition, two tiny Meleagris Leopard that are 1.25 and 1.5 inches in lenght. I got both eating pellets with gusto, getting fat and growing fast.
Also several pictures of my Black Leopard male, normal coloration and nuptial coloration, and my female Black Leopard

Both of my Black and Meleagris Leopard males I had for 3+ years, and both started out as 1.5 inches or so juveniles in my DT. Both grew and change to terminal males in my tank.

Meleagris male nuptial coloration

Meleagris male Normal coloration

Meleagris Leopard Females

Video of my baby Meleagris Leopards


Black Leopard male, normal coloration

Nuptial coloration

Getting excited

Female Black Leopard

 

[EakTheFreak]

All fishes are easy if you can provide the care and food that they needed.
The common Leopard Wrasse, M. meleagris (and most of the Leopards) needs are:
Good clean stable water
Fine sand bed of at least 1 inch or so or deeper
No other fish that bother them so they can feel comfortable
They are delicate shipper so healthy reasonable fat fish is needed
QT in natural setting, preferable in a reef tank with plenty of Fauna and Flora so they can pick on and eat while you can get them to get use to captivity food.
Perhaps a dither fish, that are non aggressive and feeding well, in the QT tank that get them excited and eating.

Providing the above I rarely have problem with getting my Leopard to eat. Once they are eating well, they are relatively easy and problem free to keep. I never have treat any of my Leopards for any disease or parasites.
Below are pictures of my Male Meleagris Leopard (nuptial coloration and normal coloration), female, and video of my two recent acquisition, two tiny Meleagris Leopard that are 1.25 and 1.5 inches in lenght. I got both eating pellets with gusto, getting fat and growing fast.
Also several pictures of my Black Leopard male, normal coloration and nuptial coloration, and my female Black Leopard

Both of my Black and Meleagris Leopard males I had for 3+ years, and both started out as 1.5 inches or so juveniles in my DT. Both grew and change to terminal males in my tank.

Meleagris male nuptial coloration

Meleagris male Normal coloration

Meleagris Leopard Females

Video of my baby Meleagris Leopards


Black Leopard male, normal coloration

Nuptial coloration

Getting excited

Female Black Leopard

Great looking Wrasse’s!!!

 

[zebarizoo]

I have a beautiful leopard wrasse, had it for 5 months. What should I treat it for parasites? I never knew this was a thing?

 

[EakTheFreak]

I have a beautiful leopard wrasse, had it for 5 months. What should I treat it for parasites? I never knew this was a thing?

this is what I did:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/quarantine-experience-with-blue-star-leopard-wrasses.743958/

 

[Tchung23]

How are

Blue Star Leopard Wrasse when it comes to small shrimps?? Sexy and pistol??​

 

[OSFF]

How are

Blue Star Leopard Wrasse when it comes to small shrimps?? Sexy and pistol??​

I have a large male blue star and he didn’t bother my small shrimp. He loves to dive bomb the sand bed for pods though.

 

[EakTheFreak]

How are

Blue Star Leopard Wrasse when it comes to small shrimps?? Sexy and pistol??​

Never had any of my blue star wrasses mess with a single shrimp, crab or snail. They are model citizens but will crush your pods!!

 

[Cthulukelele]

Leopard wrasse are a weird dichotomy in reefkeeping. A vast majority die in shipping, never eat, or waste away in the first few weeks.

The ones that eat readily and are active tend to be a breeze to keep and are almost always model citizens AND good pest control.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

In regards to the various leopards are there any of the species that handle shipping and acclimation to the tank better than others?

 

[Slocke]

In regards to the various leopards are there any of the species that handle shipping and acclimation to the tank better than others?

It’s not the species it’s where they are collected from. I always avoid Indonesian fish due to use of cyanide. So the Choati, bipartitus, and marisrubri are all more likely to do well. But the best thing is to find a healthy one at a LFS that is eating and swallowing food.

 

[EakTheFreak]

In regards to the various leopards are there any of the species that handle shipping and acclimation to the tank better than others?

I’ve only ordered my wrasses from Live Aquaria. Again, I did a ton a prework and matched the QT salinity to Live aquaria’s so I could put them in quick and stocked my tank full of pods & bowls of sand in case I needed to medicate but still giving them a place to sleep.

All 3 blue star leopards I ordered came in great shape!