Opinions on best wrasse for pest control ?

ying yang

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Hi all hope all is well.

I've done quite some research on this but would like your opinions on best all round fish for pest control ,preferably a wrasse

Tank been up and running 10 months and parameters stable ,nitrates a little high but as just started adding corals.im hoping they help reduce nitrates and upped my weekly wc from 10% to just under 20% roughly which is 50 litres in a 300 litre roughly total volume water system

Current fish.......and main reason I got them.
Tail spot blennie= algae control
2x clownfish.= daughter wanted
Coral beauty= good active fish
Blue streaked cleaner wrasse=clean fish possibly
Silver belly wrasse= all round pest eater
Copperband butterfly= aiptasia control
Ywg+ pistol = just cos cool
Bi colour blennie= algae control

Want 10 maybe 11 fish in my 80 g system so fish I'm asking opinions on be last fish or second to last fish depending if get a foxface but undecided.

Fwiw I not actually got a pest problem that I know off.except I bought a gsp months ago and had some woodlice looking bugs and seen black tiny bugs in system and they now near my green slimer sps frag but seem to be on frag plug eating algae and not the coral but just incase would like a wrasse that eats acro black bugs if that's what it is but don't think so.

My thoughts are Leopard wrasse or mscoskers wrasse or possibly some kind of flasher wrasse.or maybe even a red scooter dragonet .or six line wrasse.

So any opinions on all round pest control fish be appreciated so can help me make up my mind incase I'm missing something thanks .

Just to add,would prefer if fish you mention didnt or aren't known to eat cleaner shrimp or cuc members if possible.
Like example I seen few say sixline eats urchins but also seen many others say it didn't .so just personality of some fish different than others of same species just like us hey ^_^
 
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Tamberav

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Flashers and fairys do not eat pests so you can write those off your list. Any Halichoeres or Leopard will eat pests or pods.

The woodlice sounds like pods and they are beneficial and eat algae and such. Obviously when you get a wrasse to eat pests they also eat the good guys. They all tasty.
 
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ying yang

ying yang

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Flashers and fairys do not eat pests so you can write those off your list. Any Halichoeres or Leopard will eat pests or pods.

The woodlice sounds like pods and they are beneficial and eat algae and such. Obviously when you get a wrasse to eat pests they also eat the good guys. They all tasty.
Yeah understand wrasses can't distinguish between what we think are pests and what are beneficial to us as to the fish there just tasty snacks ha ha .
Thanks for suggestions will look up some other halichoreos wrasses.
And here the little black bugs I speak off.phone shaken and not super detail as cant zoom no more I didn't see any on frag when bought it last Saturday or when dipped but I think I already had these bugs in tank and may even be same kind as in second video


Here is second video on woodlice bugs I gotvon the gsp months ago ,I started a thread asking what they are and only got they possibly some kind isopod
 

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Leopard wrasse and a Melunurus wrasse in2 different tanks and they do really well. Although i think the Leopard wrasse is better overall as i always see him staring at the rockwork and picking at thinks constantly.
 
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ying yang

ying yang

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Leopard wrasse and a Melunurus wrasse in2 different tanks and they do really well. Although i think the Leopard wrasse is better overall as i always see him staring at the rockwork and picking at thinks constantly.
Yeah at moment I'm more inclined have leopard rather than melanarus wrasse
So leopard wrasses get labelled " EXPERT ONLY "
Is this because feeding or they shy fish or what reason I can't remember now.need re- look reason why they say expert lol
 

MEPAWN35

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Yeah at moment I'm more inclined have leopard rather than melanarus wrasse
So leopard wrasses get labelled " EXPERT ONLY "
Is this because feeding or they shy fish or what reason I can't remember now.need re- look reason why they say expert lol
They say "expert only" because they are hard to get eating and are generally shy fish at first.
Before i picked mine up i asked to see it eat and even then it took him 3 days for me to physically see him eat.
Now after 3 months he is out and about with the tangs eating when i feed and not nearly as shy as he used to be.
 
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ying yang

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Ummm just read live aquaria description but can't work out why they say expert only.i have read threads why they say expert but forget pffft

The females are white and imo are best looking rather than males..so as juveniles they start off female then if have more than one or as it ages it turns into a male maybe ?
 

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Yeah at moment I'm more inclined have leopard rather than melanarus wrasse
So leopard wrasses get labelled " EXPERT ONLY "
Is this because feeding or they shy fish or what reason I can't remember now.need re- look reason why they say expert lol

Poor shippers, prone to internal parasites and flukes, can be finicky to get feeding at first. If you can pick one up local that is eating at the store and does not have a pinched head or belly then it's generally not too hard. The shipping is the biggest hurdle.

If you need something to eat pests at night then the wrasses won't be helpful. Those would fall on nocturnal gobies. I have a hasslets goby which is a pretty awesome nightime hunter. I am guessing other cave gobies are similar.
 

MEPAWN35

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Ummm just read live aquaria description but can't work out why they say expert only.i have read threads why they say expert but forget pffft

The females are white and imo are best looking rather than males..so as juveniles they start off female then if have more than one or as it ages it turns into a male maybe ?
From my understanding they start as female and will transition to male with no others present over time.
 

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ying yang

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They say "expert only" because they are hard to get eating and are generally shy fish at first.
Before i picked mine up i asked to see it eat and even then it took him 3 days for me to physically see him eat.
Now after 3 months he is out and about with the tangs eating when i feed and not nearly as shy as he used to be.
Ok great ,yeah thought was about them eating and can be shy fish .
I only have 2 wrasses. A cleaner and a silver belly and they was OK nearly straight away .
Silver belly went straight under the sand but came out next morning no problem and cleaner was OK also .

Maybe I should buy an aclimination box for the leopard wrasse or think this may stress him out putting him in a box as put in dt or think put straight in dt then let him do what he wants to feel safe ?
 

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Ok great ,yeah thought was about them eating and can be shy fish .
I only have 2 wrasses. A cleaner and a silver belly and they was OK nearly straight away .
Silver belly went straight under the sand but came out next morning no problem and cleaner was OK also .

Maybe I should buy an aclimination box for the leopard wrasse or think this may stress him out putting him in a box as put in dt or think put straight in dt then let him do what he wants to feel safe ?
i put my straight into DT, but made sure he was absolutely perfect in store. Wrasses i will never put in a box since it highly stresses them and they cant hide in sand. I think just letting them out helps them ease better with less stress.
 
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Poor shippers, prone to internal parasites and flukes, can be finicky to get feeding at first. If you can pick one up local that is eating at the store and does not have a pinched head or belly then it's generally not too hard. The shipping is the biggest hurdle.

If you need something to eat pests at night then the wrasses won't be helpful. Those would fall on nocturnal gobies. I have a hasslets goby which is a pretty awesome nightime hunter. I am guessing other cave gobies are similar.
Will only buy from local lfs as like to see what fish I'm getting and like you said watch it eat and see how it behaves etc ( got 4 lfs within 30 minutes drive ) plus dont like idea if fish in such a small bag in the post getting possibly thrown around or delayed etc

And thanks for suggestions on hasslets goby.i will look it up and put in my build thread to look back on.and a night time pest eater does sound good as that's when most the pests come out to play as safer for them when fish are resting ^_^
 

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Yellow coris wrasse
6 line wrasse
lunare wrasse
Melanurus (which is the largest)
 
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ying yang

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i put my straight into DT, but made sure he was absolutely perfect in store. Wrasses i will never put in a box since it highly stresses them and they cant hide in sand. I think just letting them out helps them ease better with less stress.
Yeah my thoughts exactly
 
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ying yang

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Yellow coris wrasse
6 line wrasse
lunare wrasse
Melanurus (which is the largest)
Aw yes the lunare wrasse,I think I looked at this one when " I can't think" mentioned it in a thread, thanks for reminder.
And what about a red scooter dragonet ? I'm sure I've read somewhere that they eat flatworms or some kind pest?
I'm just little concerned as my rockwork not typical nsa but half nsa and half normalish as like a tree with little touching the actual glass and raises up into water column with caves and over hangs etc ,ive got a few other pieces of rocks on the sand but I read that scooter dragonets or mandarins mainly hunt on rock work low Down so this is a concern that not enough rockwork low down on the sandbed etc
 

vetteguy53081

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Aw yes the lunare wrasse,I think I looked at this one when " I can't think" mentioned it in a thread, thanks for reminder.
And what about a red scooter dragonet ? I'm sure I've read somewhere that they eat flatworms or some kind pest?
I'm just little concerned as my rockwork not typical nsa but half nsa and half normalish as like a tree with little touching the actual glass and raises up into water column with caves and over hangs etc ,ive got a few other pieces of rocks on the sand but I read that scooter dragonets or mandarins mainly hunt on rock work low Down so this is a concern that not enough rockwork low down on the sandbed etc
Dragonette. . . hit or miss on flatworms
 

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Flashers and fairys do not eat pests so you can write those off your list. Any Halichoeres or Leopard will eat pests or pods.

The woodlice sounds like pods and they are beneficial and eat algae and such. Obviously when you get a wrasse to eat pests they also eat the good guys. They all tasty.
Leopards only eat pods, they are not natural “pest” eaters - I have and still do own a Macropharyngodon bipartitus and can admit this guy is bad for pest control against a jade and radiant wrasse. Halichoeres are natural “pest” eaters though. My personal favourite team for pests is:
- Halichoeres iridis for the colour and “rarity”
- Halichoeres chrysus for the nudi/more bug eating ability,
- Halichoeres leucoxanthus for the male colours and goes after a mix of both flatties and the bugs (almost like the bridge way between Chrysus and Iridis).
I would only pick 1 of these guys though for a 300l tank and that would be H. leucoxanthus for the male colours and the mixed appetite.
Here’s a photo of a male:
C38345B5-B9B0-4920-A6E1-35DD60C10A41.jpeg
 

Tamberav

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Will only buy from local lfs as like to see what fish I'm getting and like you said watch it eat and see how it behaves etc ( got 4 lfs within 30 minutes drive ) plus dont like idea if fish in such a small bag in the post getting possibly thrown around or delayed etc

And thanks for suggestions on hasslets goby.i will look it up and put in my build thread to look back on.and a night time pest eater does sound good as that's when most the pests come out to play as safer for them when fish are resting ^_^

They even like worms... yum yum! A bit rare to find so takes awhile but when they come in they are not expensive. They are super hardy can can survive in very low oxygen and temps as high as 100 degrees. This is so they can survive in shallow water.

They are cryptic and in my 80g I can only find it at night moving around looking for things to eat.

CallogobHasseltKlausStiefel.jpg
 

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