Leopard Wrasse hasn't found the sand

[DracoKat]

OK, odd question.

I've picked up a leopard wrasse 2 days ago. in a 10 gal QT with a large bowl of 2" deep sand (takes up almost half the tank).

She has not yet found this sand, and been hiding under the heater instead. She swims around the bowl, but she keeps her belly to the bottom of the tank, meaning she hasn't swim up to discover the sand. Should I be concerned that she hasn't found the sand yet?

also unrelated question:
What are the odds of her turning male?
Other tank mates (when she goes to the DT)
2 clowns
1 exquisite wrasse
1 red-headed Solon wrasse
1 Yellow Coris Wrasse
3 Zebra Barred goby/firefish (also in QT)

 

[eatbreakfast]

Don't worry, she will eventually find the sand as she gets more comfortable and explores the surroundings more.

Leopards are less guaranteed to transition than fairy and flasher wrasses. Odds are close to 50/50, maybe a little less.

 

[DracoKat]

Ok. I like the looks of the female better, so I am hoping she'd stay that way!

thank you for your responses!

 

[4FordFamily]

Don't worry, she will eventually find the sand as she gets more comfortable and explores the surroundings more.

Leopards are less guaranteed to transition than fairy and flasher wrasses. Odds are close to 50/50, maybe a little less.

I agree, again.

 

[jeremy.gosnell]

Leopard wrasses primarily forage their surroundings for food. This means that a tank with established live rock is necessary, along with an established refuge to re-populate the tank with copepods. Without natural fare to forage, it's a slim shot the wrasse will live past a few months. They will sometimes take prepared food and brine shrimp and rotifers are your best shots in the beginning. I am not sure I would recommend QT'ing this species in an un-established QT. I would advise a dip with safety stop (which is a mixture of a formalin and malachite blue bath) and placing the fish in the display tank, so that it has some natural fare to graze on.

 

[DracoKat]

I never thought about that @jeremy.gosnell

I do hear this species very rarely have external parasites either. I may just take your advice and move her

 

[eatbreakfast]

Much of the dietary issues with leopards is solved once they have been dewormed. There feeding method makes them susceptible to internal worms. Once dewormed they get more nutritional needs met from foods offered, and will usually do fine with multiple feedings and not through grazing.

If you still want to provide grazing opportunities, having a handful of craggy, fist sized rock in your dt that can be moved to qt.

O advise against skipping qt, even with leopards.

 

[jeremy.gosnell]

Much of the dietary issues with leopards is solved once they have been dewormed. There feeding method makes them susceptible to internal worms. Once dewormed they get more nutritional needs met from foods offered, and will usually do fine with multiple feedings and not through grazing.

If you still want to provide grazing opportunities, having a handful of craggy, fist sized rock in your dt that can be moved to qt.

O advise against skipping qt, even with leopards.

The rock idea is a good one, so is de-worming. You may want to treat the wrasse with Prazi-Pro before moving the rock, as it's quite possible prazi-pro would kill off beneficial organisms on the rock.

 

[eatbreakfast]

The rock idea is a good one, so is de-worming. You may want to treat the wrasse with Prazi-Pro before moving the rock, as it's quite possible prazi-pro would kill off beneficial organisms on the rock.

Copepods and amphipods are pretty safe with prazi, it's pretty worm specific.

 

[MIKE NY]

Karen most of my Leopards are 3-4 years + ....don't worrying about pod populations etc..mine even take pellets and flakes.... just takes time. Your Meleagris I find to be one of the easier Leopards and should take small pieces of PE mysis at first.... if not try live Arcti-pods. As mentioned one or two rounds of Prazi should be done because of worms. It just takes time for it to feel comfortable and acclimate and placing some LR in the QT can help. They all looked healthy at AV diving in the sand there. GL
Also when placing it in the the DT use an acclimation box and watch for aggression. No need for sand. Just place it in early in the morning and if all is good release in the evening.

 

[DracoKat]

Thanks everyone!

Mike- my leopard has been picking at the frozen mysis. I think she's a bit intimidated by the gobies in the same QT, but she did manage to get a few pieces that floated her way. I am not too worried about her starving

I've never had issues with any of the fish at AV. One of the employees (I really need to learn their names or ask them to wear name tags, lol) showed me how to do a FW dip since he was doing them anyway at the time. Seeing how they take care of the fish, I feel good that they are healthy. I am QTing as precaution anyway.

 

[Gpettit721]

I just put one in the Dt the other day and what I have noticed is that she will "attack" prepared food and then spit out. She will then spend the rest of the day picking at the rocks eating the food that has settled. I was worried about this but in the last week she has gone from average weight to showing signs of gaining weight. I agree deworming is key and they just take time to adjust. I have also found juvenile species to be a little easier to get to acclimate to tank life. May not be the case at all but just something I've noticed.

 

[DracoKat]

It's my understanding that wrasses spit food out to tear it up? I am not sure if it's all wrasses or not. one of mine will take, spit and take again. sometimes several times.

 

[Gpettit721]

I have three in my tank and they all eat differently. I watch them and just check for any individual changes before I worry. One may spit and one may eat whole chunks so I just watch and make sure the stay fat. I have been trying to raise nutrients in my tank cause I went through a spell of loosing Sps.... I started feeding keeping po4 in check and raising nitrates and Sps is recovering great while the added benefit of happy fat fish. Now I get the best food for coral. Poop

 

[MIKE NY]

No need for a FW bath because that's done primarily for external parasites , flukes etc... no need to stress it out. As far as the spitting some do and some don't. In my tank most learned not to because of all the competition, but what some do with larger pieces is bang it against rocks to make smaller pieces.

 

[Gpettit721]

That's a really good point. I don't thing my tank had a lot of competition cause of the amount I was feeding. It will be interesting to see how the fish react when I cut back a little.

 

[joro]

I've had a Blue Star Leopard harem (1 male, 2 female) in a 20G QT for almost a month now and they all definitely have different personalities (and styles of eating for that matter). I found the best way to get them to start eating was a mixture of ArticPods and Live Black Worms, after a few days of that they were all eating anything I threw in the tank - mysis, spirulina brine, reef frenzy, etc. I also will echo others comments to make sure to deworm them with PraziPro, I noticed a big change in appetite and overall activity following both rounds.

In terms of the Exquisite, I had one in the QT with them harem and the Male Blue Star harassed him constantly (chasing around the tank, keeping him near the top, etc). I ended up moving the Exquisite over to the another 29G QT last week because of it and, based on advice from some others, will introduce him first to the DT so hopefully he's got some time to establish a territory before the Blue Star Harem gets added. YMMV

 

[ReeferReefer]

I have had very good luck with LRS reef frenzy to get new leopards eating. From there my blue star starting taking flake, and more recently pellet. She does spit sometimes when the food is too large for her but as mentioned this is normal behavior.