leopard wrasse

[seascape]

havent seen my leopard wrasse in days,hasnt jumped as far as i know i can only see so much behind the back of the cabinet,its not in the overflows i have covers on them,i rescently put a sand bed i was told that they like to bury themselves is this true,hate to have lost the guy he was a very nice fish.

 

[Sikryd]

They do hide under the sand, so it is possible he is still chillin' and buried. They are a little harder to keep too, so it is possible it kicked the bucket. Only time will tell with these guys. I had one too that stayed buried in my QT tank. I had to run my tongs through the sand bed until she wriggled out and started swimming around. After I put her in the display, her was cool for about 2 weeks till my mystery chased it to death. She also stayed buried for ~a day until she felt comfortable.

 

[youngtimothy]

they do bury themselves. mine does this right after lights out and comes out right after lights come on. they are hard fish to keep, I lost my first one a day after I got him, my second I've had for a couple of months. good luck hope all is well.

 

[seascape]

thx im hoping he comes out soon if he is buried he was a nice fish to watch.

 

[gflat65]

How long have you had it? If not very long, it could be in the sand for a while. My male bipartitus didn't come out for nearly a month, then only for a few hours one day, then gone for two weeks, then repeat. He finally started coming out full time about two months after getting him. I tried adjusting my light cycle for him to give him some light to hunt when he did come out. If it hasn't been in captivity long, it may still be trying to adjust to the completely different lighting cycle. IMO, tat's it largely what kills them. They sleep while we're awake (when they are in their natural environment-Africa, Vietnam, etc.). If they wake up with lights off because their internal clocks are different than ours, they can't hunt, so they go back to sleep, allowing themselves to slowly starve. Once adjusted, they seem to be relatively hardy. The first three or four weeks of constant activity usually tells the tale.

 

[ficklefins]

Agree with what has been said above, but I do have some additional questions:

Was it eating, and easily hunting around the tank before you got the fish?
How long have you had the wrasse?
How many days has the wrasse been buried?

From my experience getting one that clearly eats and is active is the key to this wrasse. They can hide the first few days, but after 3 days I would be a bit worried. If things turn out well, I would watch my tank right after the lights go off so you can memorize where the fish likes to bury themselves at night.

OOPS, I guess others have had longer dormant periods! I guess there is still hope after 3 days.

 

[seascape]

well ive had the wrasse for about 3 weeks was eating well when i got it was eating when i put it into the main a couple days later i decided after long debate, i put a sand bed in tubed it,it was bare bottom for a very long time decided it was time for a change.The next day after doing the bed i saw the wrasse once then havent seen it since its been about 3 days now.i also have 3 tangs yellow,sailfin,kole,have a fairy wrasse also,clarke,true perc,royal gramma,scissor tail goby,blue spot goby,3 green chromis's,and 2 about 8"engineer gobies.they are all doing fine.also plent of inverts oh and a large BTA im wondering if by chance it got ahold of the wrasse.ooh and micheal phelps>>>spotted hawkfish