Not Coris wrasse! This is becoming my biggest pet peeve...

[Slocke]

This is Halichoeres chrysus. A small, reef safe, and very peaceful wrasse known for being beautiful, eating pests, and as a good community member.

Credit @JoJosReef

This is Halichoeres chloropterus. A larger and more aggressive wrasse but still fairly reef safe and good for bigger tanks and for some pest management.

Credit @i cant think
These are not Coris wrasse they are Halichoeres wrasse!


Coris wrasse are big, they are not reef safe, and they are not appropriate to most tanks. They will eat your inverts, bully/kill your other fish, and toss your corals around. Here are some of these beasts:
The 16" Coris gaimard is perhaps the most reasonable Coris wrasse.

The 24" Coris formosa is one of the more common species in the trade:

Finally the Coris aygula sure is cute as a juvenile but not so much as a 47" adult!

So please stop calling Halichoeres chrysus the yellow "coris" wrasse, call it the yellow wrasse.
And stop calling Halichoeres chloropterus the green "coris" wrasse, call it the jade wrasse instead.
But you can call Coris gaimard the red "coris" wrasse because that is what it is. Here is my juvenile who i bought knowing what it would become:

So next time someone tells you to get a "Coris" wrasse to solve your pest issue. Hopefully you know not to get a true coris. Get yourself a nice Halichoeres instead. I am talking to you Ryan at BRSTV:

 

[blaxsun]

This is Halichoeres chloropterus. A larger and more aggressive wrasse but still fairly reef safe and good for bigger tanks and for some pest management.

Have a female. Inherently lazy - sleeps to about noon, eats, swims around for a few hours, eats and then it's off to bed. Probably sleeps 18 hours in any given day, lol.

I think by "coris" wrasses they mean the yellow coris ones, which as you pointed out aren't exactly coris wrasses...

 

[Slocke]

I think by "coris" wrasses they mean the yellow coris ones, which as you pointed out aren't exactly coris wrasses...

Yeah I know what they mean. But how would it be if suddenly people started calling a powder blue tang the blue “bristletooth” tang? Would you not have accidents with people buying the far less reasonable powder because they were told a bristletooth was a good fish for them?

 

[OrchidMiss]

Beautiful timing for a writeup!
Grant says thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

Yeah I know what they mean. But how would it be if suddenly people started calling a powder blue tang the blue “bristletooth” tang? Would you not have accidents with people buying the far less reasonable powder because they were told a bristletooth was a good fish for them?

I always do my own research, although it would probably still grate on my nerves...

 

[Slocke]

Beautiful timing for a writeup!
Grant says thanks!

Yours is so beautiful!
Someday mine will earn its stars!

 

[OrchidMiss]

Stop this silliness right now.....
My LFS has one that looks like the juvenile, and probably close to 8". Based on the size alone. I assumed it was a mature adult!

 

[MIKE NY]

Thank you! …..big difference between a H. Chrysus and a T. Lutescens.. I have seen both labled banana and coris wrasses.

 

[blaxsun]

 

[Slocke]

I always do my own research, although it would probably still grate on my nerves...

I mean I know this is the nerdiest of rants and no one is really walking into an LFS saying “________ on the internet told me to get a coris wrasse” and then going home with a twin spot coris.

Stop this silliness right now.....
My LFS has one that looks like the juvenile, and probably close to 8". Based on the size alone. I assumed it was a mature adult!

Yep….
It is so pretty as a juvenile though

 

[Slocke]

Thank you! …..big difference between a H. Chrysus and a T. Lutescens.. I have seen both labled banana and coris wrasses.

Yes! That is another one.

Not to mention the two people on this forum alone who ordered H melanarus and got the vicious T lunare instead. I know that cost one person some fish.

 

[blaxsun]

I mean I know this is the nerdiest of rants and no one is really walking into an LFS saying “________ on the internet told me to get a coris wrasse” and then going home with a twin spot coris.

It's less common that people going home with a hippo tang for their 25 gallon, lol.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Have a female. Inherently lazy - sleeps to about noon, eats, swims around for a few hours, eats and then it's off to bed. Probably sleeps 18 hours in any given day, lol.

I think by "coris" wrasses they mean the yellow coris ones, which as you pointed out aren't exactly coris wrasses...

My yellow wrasse same thing sleeps till noon swims for 3 hours eats 1x and back to sleep. Been this way for over a year

 

[JoJosReef]

Hear, hear!

Stop calling it the yellow "coris" wrasse. Instead call it the yellow "pig" wrasse.

Etymology: Halichoeres: Greek, als, alis = salt + Greek, choiros = pig
ref: Romero, P., 2002. An etymological dictionary of taxonomy. Madrid, unpublished (dictionary resides in a database).

Ergo, Halichoeres are "salt pigs". They certainly act like it!

 

[Lavey29]

Have a female. Inherently lazy - sleeps to about noon, eats, swims around for a few hours, eats and then it's off to bed. Probably sleeps 18 hours in any given day, lol.

I think by "coris" wrasses they mean the yellow coris ones, which as you pointed out aren't exactly coris wrasses...

You just described my wife

 

[JoJosReef]

You just described my wife

 

[tbrown]

This is Halichoeres chrysus. A small, reef safe, and very peaceful wrasse known for being beautiful, eating pests, and as a good community member.

Credit @JoJosReef

This is Halichoeres chloropterus. A larger and more aggressive wrasse but still fairly reef safe and good for bigger tanks and for some pest management.

Credit @i cant think
These are not Coris wrasse they are Halichoeres wrasse!


Coris wrasse are big, they are not reef safe, and they are not appropriate to most tanks. They will eat your inverts, bully/kill your other fish, and toss your corals around. Here are some of these beasts:
The 16" Coris gaimard is perhaps the most reasonable Coris wrasse.

The 24" Coris formosa is one of the more common species in the trade:

Finally the Coris aygula sure is cute as a juvenile but not so much as a 47" adult!

So please stop calling Halichoeres chrysus the yellow "coris" wrasse, call it the yellow wrasse.
And stop calling Halichoeres chloropterus the green "coris" wrasse, call it the jade wrasse instead.
But you can call Coris gaimard the red "coris" wrasse because that is what it is. Here is my juvenile who i bought knowing what it would become:

So next time someone tells you to get a "Coris" wrasse to solve your pest issue. Hopefully you know not to get a true coris. Get yourself a nice Halichoeres instead. I am talking to you Ryan at BRSTV:

So wait... which Coris should I get???

 

[JoJosReef]

So wait... which Coris should I get???

This one

Humphead Coris Wrasse

It is actually not from the Coris genus (Cheilinus undulatus), but since we're OK with mixing names. DO IT!

 

[tbrown]

This one

Humphead Coris Wrasse

It is actually not from the Coris genus (Cheilinus undulatus), but since we're OK with mixing names. DO IT!

It works. I already have a Yellow Coris.

 

[tbrown]

Yeah I know what they mean. But how would it be if suddenly people started calling a powder blue tang the blue “bristletooth” tang? Would you not have accidents with people buying the far less reasonable powder because they were told a bristletooth was a good fish for them?

Wait... My Powder Brown is a bristletooth?