Ornate Leopard Wrasse

[jtmoney528]

I have had my eye on two leopard wrasse at two different LFS for 2-3 weeks now, took the chance of someone else buying them to make sure they were ok and both have been great. I had them feed the same frozen I feed and both ate! Can someone help me to tell if these are males or females?

Sorry for the pictures, so hard to get their true colors.

I wanted to add a blue dot or a yellow wrasse

at some point, would that be an issue?

 

[blaxsun]

@i cant think could probably help you out.

 

[Euphyllia Addixt]

Following along also curious how to identify males versus females as I have two of them as well

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Not sure with ornates, pretty simple with meleagris and blue star but I have no idea.


Edit: not exactly positive, but a quick Google search says that female will have transparent caudal fins, also a black spot on the front of their dorsal fin. @i cant think can you help out/verify?

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Also they look very healthy. Great find!

 

[Someguyfromsc]

Both look like males . Females have a more leopard pattern

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Both look like males . Females have a more leopard pattern

I think you're thinking of meleagris leopard wrasse

 

[i cant think]

Both look like males . Females have a more leopard pattern

You’re thinking of Macropharyngodon meleagris - which this species can look very similar to as males.

This is a species I struggle to explain how it differs as a male however here’s a photo of I believe a mature male;

They’re more green overall whilst females are more on the red side and the mention of the caudal fin being clear in females is along the right lines, females have red tinted caudal fins and males (as you can see) have the two lines and more green in the caudal fins. You have two females, however one of those is almost certainly going to transition
Here’s two females for comparison to the male above - As I said, I struggle with this species and explaining how the males look compared to females so this is a good visual representation. Also, the top female appears to be more mature than the bottom (I believe the lower female is a juvenile - still female, just juvenile).

 

[jtmoney528]

Thank you so much for that post, perfect! I know they are mainly carnivores but the larger one is constantly going at the nori in the clip.

 

[Slocke]

Thank you so much for that post, perfect! I know they are mainly carnivores but the larger one is constantly going at the nori in the clip.

Carnivorous and herbivorous are never strict in nature. Everything need variety to be healthy.

 

[jtmoney528]

Yeah, sorry should of specified that I knew nothing was wrong with it, just neat.

 

[OrionN]

Why not get both? I love keeping harem of Leopard Wrasse. Ornate is one of the species I have not keep successful. I bought a small juvenile once, but he did not eat and did not live very long.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Why not get both? I love keeping harem of Leopard Wrasse. Ornate is one of the species I have not keep successful. I bought a small juvenile once, but he did not eat and did not live very long.

I'm planning on keeping a harem of 4 meleagris in my 120!

 

[OrionN]

I'm planning on keeping a harem of 4 meleagris in my 120!

 

[AcanSamDC]

I’ve been wanting to keep these, but my sand bed is hardly 2” deep in the back and in the front it has been depleted to much less than that from water changes over the years. Is 3” a strict rule for sand bed and these guys? I have 110 gallon tank that is loaded with pods, and thanks to velvet is currently fallow. Thinking my set up would be perfect for them if not for the shallow sand bed. Maybe I could just build it up in the back?

 

[i cant think]

I’ve been wanting to keep these, but my sand bed is hardly 2” deep in the back and in the front it has been depleted to much less than that from water changes over the years. Is 3” a strict rule for sand bed and these guys? I have 110 gallon tank that is loaded with pods, and thanks to velvet is currently fallow. Thinking my set up would be perfect for them if not for the shallow sand bed. Maybe I could just build it up in the back?

I’d personally aim for 2” deep all over however it can work having 3” depth then 1-2” depth in one area. My main system has it like that but it’s 3” deep over the majority of the tank.

 

[AcanSamDC]

I’d personally aim for 2” deep all over however it can work having 3” depth then 1-2” depth in one area. My main system has it like that but it’s 3” deep over the majority of the tank.

What about QT? I have a 40 gallon glass bottom tank I use for that. Does the method of adding a container with a sand bed work? I’ve had velvet twice in two years and would like to qt all my fish moving forward.

And for the display, do you think there are any concerns I should have about adding sand to an established tank? It’s loaded with corals. I’m thinking I need to rinse the new sand super well to avoid adding organic matter that could decay. It’s going to create quite a dust storm though. Corals can probably handle that one time, right?

 

[landlubber]

I’ve been wanting to keep these, but my sand bed is hardly 2” deep in the back and in the front it has been depleted to much less than that from water changes over the years. Is 3” a strict rule for sand bed and these guys? I have 110 gallon tank that is loaded with pods, and thanks to velvet is currently fallow. Thinking my set up would be perfect for them if not for the shallow sand bed. Maybe I could just build it up in the back?

i keep essentially small/medium coarse gravel that i'd guess is an average depth of 2" of substrate and deeper in other places and have had no issues with wrasses.
The only thing i notice with these guys is they are especially delicate in shipping and then docile and temperamental upon introduction. They will wither from basically any harassment from tankmates.

 

[i cant think]

What about QT? I have a 40 gallon glass bottom tank I use for that. Does the method of adding a container with a sand bed work? I’ve had velvet twice in two years and would like to qt all my fish moving forward.

And for the display, do you think there are any concerns I should have about adding sand to an established tank? It’s loaded with corals. I’m thinking I need to rinse the new sand super well to avoid adding organic matter that could decay. It’s going to create quite a dust storm though. Corals can probably handle that one time, right?

1. Never throw wrasse straight into QT, have a fairly established tank that you can use to watch the fish and get it feeding and established in your care. Then, once it’s feeding vigorously you can QT it - avoid Copper. I personally don’t trust even the most safe Copper personally as at the end of the day, it’s still Copper.

2. I’ve ‘reset’ my systems with new sand and not once rinsed it or such. I’ve never had an issue. I tend to replace it in small amounts though instead of all at once - similarly when adding sand, I add small amounts over the coarse of a month instead of throwing it all in at once.

 

[Cthulukelele]

1. Never throw wrasse straight into QT, have a fairly established tank that you can use to watch the fish and get it feeding and established in your care. Then, once it’s feeding vigorously you can QT it - avoid Copper. I personally don’t trust even the most safe Copper personally as at the end of the day, it’s still Copper.

2. I’ve ‘reset’ my systems with new sand and not once rinsed it or such. I’ve never had an issue. I tend to replace it in small amounts though instead of all at once - similarly when adding sand, I add small amounts over the coarse of a month instead of throwing it all in at once.

I second the first point. Particularly leopard wrasse IME leopard wrasse, possum wrasse, and fairy/flasher wrasse do pretty terrible in barebones qt tanks ESPECIALLY medicated ones