Making waves and turning heads: Do you have a favorite type of wrasse?

[Slocke]

10. Labroides (cleaner wrasses)
I'd be stressed out about their health all of the time.

Get a captive bred one. They are the best!

11. Cheilinus undulatus
Still looking for a good one. I'm sure I'll find one soon.

My friend QT'd one recently and you can now go see it (for a price)!

 

[shakacuz]

i have lots of "favorite" wrasses!

juvenile dragon wrasse
blue flasher wrasse
yellow wrasse
pink-streaked wrasse
mystery wrasse
"yellow-tail" tamarin wrasse
blue star leopard wrasse
naoko wrasse

i don't have all of their requirements met, but if i ever did i would have such a difficult time from having a "wrasse" tank, haha. based on my current build, i would only be able to have the yellow wrasse, pink-streaked, naoko, or the blue flasher/leopard.

looking through posts, i see @Slocke has a bunch of what i like/want!

 

[Kathy Floyd]

There is an entire thread on this.

The Wrasse Lover's Thread!

I love me some wrasse's, so I want to see everyone's wrasse pictures! Please share! I've been practicing my fish taking.. Snapped a decent one of my Naoko Wrasse, still need to polish up on my skills though! Edit: Forgot my earmuff! Colors since this picture have really improved!

www.reef2reef.com

 

[JoJosReef]

Get a captive bred one. They are the best!

My friend QT'd one recently and you can now go see it (for a price)!

Hard to beat a well fed Anampses meleagrides

 

[Dburr1014]

Fine fine. A real answer.

Favorite type of wrasse. Well I have 11 genera and 16 wrasse which is a lot of wrasse and I guess 11 different types.
Alphabetically:

Anampses (tamarin) wrasse are definitely among the most beautiful wrasse but unfortunately are too difficult for the average reefer. Here’s my Gemma who is like a gem tang but more vibrant, doesn’t have that ugly face, and is peaceful. So just better then a gem tang:

Bodianus (hogfish) are a great fish for a bigger tank. Though they are often overlooked for their close cousin the harlequin tusk fish they offer far more variety. Here is my lyretail, B anthioides:

Cirrhilabrus (fairy) are another awesome genus since there are so many and are generally a lot easier and have great personalities. Here’s my favorite C Rubeus!

Coris wrasse are too big but they are probably my favorite in terms of looks. They have the most incredible patterns! Mine is still quite young though.

Halichoeres or salt pig wrasse are probably the best starting wrasse. Generally tough but also usually peaceful. They also have a ton of variety. Here are two of my four. H iridis and H marginatus

Labroides are cleaner wrasse and are not a great fish unless you get them captive bred. They are probably the smartest fish in the world and have awesome personalities. Mine is a tiny baby!

Macropharyngodon! Though leopard wrasse are difficult they are also the cutest and most sparkly!

Paracheilinus aka flasher wrasse are one of those fish that start off bland but can become the prettiest! Here’s my little P cyaneus.

Psuedocheilinops. What is Pseudochilinus didn’t like to kill other fish? Good thing there’s this little not-monster!

Novaculilichthys. Dragon wrasse are evil. But they are like Heath Ledger joker evil. Really really fun to watch!!

Thalassoma. What are you crazy?! They kill everything even urchins and starfish. Only a fool would get a Thalassoma. Here’s mine, T lunare…

Not all hog fish are reef friendly, can you list the reef safe ones?

 

[Slocke]

Hard to beat a well fed Anampses meleagrides

You mean a steamrollered one? I guess the face isn’t quite as ugly as a yellow or purple tang but the meleagrides is clearly more vibrant at least in the tail.

 

[Slocke]

Not all hog fish are reef friendly, can you list the reef safe ones?

B bibamulatus
B izuensis
B pulchellus?
B sepiacaudus

It’s pretty simple with wrasse. Look at their max length. If they get in the 6-10” range they will probably eat shrimp and crabs. Bigger they eat everything.

Except Thalassoma. They eat everything no matter how small they are

 

[Bob Weigant]

By far my favorite type of fish. Cant say I have an absolute favorite

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I love my pintail fairy wrasse

 

[reef tank 2.0]

i've only ever had one wrasse, it was the yellow coris wrasse.
Never had a problem with him at all.

most entertaining thing to watch with him, was right before lights out, like when it starts to slowly dim down. He would start swimming around rather quickly looking for the best area to sleep. One he found that, I'd see him take a real hard dive into the sand bed, never to be seen again, till morning. Then when lights came back on, he'd pop out and be a drifter throughout the day.

His daily routine.

 

[SomeHappyFish]

My new sixline died after 3 days, can anyone take a look at my thread for inputs

 

[bureau13]

My favorite type of wrasse is the red-head fairy wrasse because it's the one that's still alive . He's grown a bit, eats well, etc. However I've tried twice to add a yellow coris wrasse, they seemed to be doing great, were out front and center, until they just weren't. Never saw them again. Also tried to add a Naoko fairy wrasse, and he just hid in the rocks, coming out every now and then to eat, but then he stopped coming out and I'm assuming now he's in wrasse heaven with the yellow dudes. All very annoying.

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[Sump Crab]

Melanarus

 

[Joe.D]

I have a solar wrasse and would like to add another wrasse.

I have a 75gallon display with: Solar Wrasse, whitetail Bristletooth tang, one spot Foxface, 2 clowns, 2 Bangaii. Any suggestions? Thinking it’ll be the last fish for that size tank.

 

[Slocke]

I have a solar wrasse and would like to add another wrasse.

I have a 75gallon display with: Solar Wrasse, whitetail Bristletooth tang, one spot Foxface, 2 clowns, 2 Bangaii. Any suggestions? Thinking it’ll be the last fish for that size tank.

Halichoeres wrasse.
I suggest radiant, dusky margined, yellow, red headed, earmuff but any will do except the big ones.

 

[Joekovar]

Hovans wrasse.

I swear the one I have is invincible, and I think that's because it cleans itself in the sand at night when it burries itself and sleeps.

It's fun stirring the sand bed up with a turkey baster. The wrasse follows me around like a puppy and eats the little critters I stir up.

 

[MIKE NY]

Currently have over a dozen, not all in the same tank, but here are a few of my favorites that I have had….

 

[fishface NJ]

Love all leopards but Lennardi is my favorite

​

 

[Joe.D]

Halichoeres wrasse.
I suggest radiant, dusky margined, yellow, red headed, earmuff but any will do except the big ones.

Thanks! Will research those! Live Aquaria has radiant as expert and dusky as difficult - what puts them in those categories?

I like the colors of melanarus, but the owner of my LFS always wrinkles her nose and says, “nah, there are others.“