Show me how you navigate sand dwelling wrasse in bare bottom (BB) displays

[Smite]

I hope everyone's reefs are thriving tonight!

I'm going to be transferring systems soon. I'm a sps addict that loves wrasse. I really want to give BB and shot this go around but don't want to sacrifice the well being of my sand dwelling wrasse. I know there are others out there that have successfully navigated this issue. I've been looking for a "wrasse den" of some kind but haven't lucked out with a natural looking one. This got my mind going about building a sand trough on my back wall out of acrylic, or possibly making my own natural bowl out of live rock and cement.

I'd love to see some BB tanks that are successfully keeping sand dwelling wrasses. So, please share some input on how you are able to achieve this. Pictures are always a bonus.

Old pictures, but whats a thread without them?
DSC_0644 by matthew schueneman, on Flickr
DSC_0643 by matthew schueneman, on Flickr

 

[Flux Capacitor]

I just started my tank over and went bare bottom. Right in the middle of the tank behind the rock scape I put a glass dish with about 2 inches of sand in it. My melanurus wrasse just jumps right in. It did take him a day or two to figure it out though. He would just sleep on the bottom glass until it finally clicked.

I will say he does make a little bit of a mess with the sand, but it just collects where the detritus does, so cleaning it up will be a cinch. I plan to refresh his sand every 6 months or so. I’ll post some pictures tomorrow.

 

[Zionas]

By not having one unless I have a 2-3” sand bed. A sand bed looks so much more natural than a bucket of sand. It’s not like any of my fish can build a sand castle and redefine what it means to “be territorial”

It’s a matter of personal choice but the fads of bare bottom and topless tanks I don’t agree with.

 

[Smite]

I just started my tank over and went bare bottom. Right in the middle of the tank behind the rock scape I put a glass dish with about 2 inches of sand in it. My melanurus wrasse just jumps right in. It did take him a day or two to figure it out though. He would just sleep on the bottom glass until it finally clicked.

I will say he does make a little bit of a mess with the sand, but it just collects where the detritus does, so cleaning it up will be a cinch. I plan to refresh his sand every 6 months or so. I’ll post some pictures tomorrow.

I saw that as being a possibility but changing some sand isnt all that bad.

By not having one unless I have a 2-3” sand bed. A sand bed looks so much more natural than a bucket of sand. It’s not like any of my fish can build a sand castle and redefine what it means to “be territorial”

It’s a matter of personal choice but the fads of bare bottom and topless tanks I don’t agree with.

To each his own. I agree bb doesnt look as natural but the ability to really crank the flow up and ease of maintenance draws me to it.

My wrasse are aggression free in my minimal sand currently. I'd say 1/3 of my 6x2' has sand left in it.

They can't build sand castles, but I can

 

[mattzang]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/melanurus-sand-box.744801/

that was a recent thread on this topic

that one in the AIO looked pretty cool

 

[Smite]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/melanurus-sand-box.744801/

that was a recent thread on this topic

that one in the AIO looked pretty cool

Now that's what I'm talking about! Thanks for the link

 

[jimk60]

By not having one unless I have a 2-3” sand bed. A sand bed looks so much more natural than a bucket of sand. It’s not like any of my fish can build a sand castle and redefine what it means to “be territorial”

It’s a matter of personal choice but the fads of bare bottom and topless tanks I don’t agree with.

I don't see a bare bottom tank as a fad anymore!

 

[footgal]

A Tupperware of sand (I’d make it deep, like 3-4 inches and at least the length of the fish +2 inches and pretty wide) hidden under a live rock cave constructed by breaking apart live rock into rubble then expecting/cementing/supergluing the pieces together would be cool! You could even stick rubble to the part of the Tupperware that shows so you don’t see the plastic. BB is much better for sps imo because you can have nice flow but I couldn’t abandon my fish for it! You could place the cave in the back and even mount frags on top of the (removeable) cave space you don’t waste real estate. Here’s a artist’s rendition

 

[Smite]

A Tupperware of sand (I’d make it deep, like 3-4 inches and at least the length of the fish +2 inches and pretty wide) hidden under a live rock cave constructed by breaking apart live rock into rubble then expecting/cementing/supergluing the pieces together would be cool! You could even stick rubble to the part of the Tupperware that shows so you don’t see the plastic. BB is much better for sps imo because you can have nice flow but I couldn’t abandon my fish for it! You could place the cave in the back and even mount frags on top of the (removeable) cave space you don’t waste real estate. Here’s a artist’s rendition

I like the way you think! I'm leaning towards this, but longer agains the overflow wall of my peninsula. I may build it from acrylic then place rocks along it, like a wrasse trough 3" deep x 12-14" wide. I'm thinking I could place a little trim lip on the top to catch some of the sand they kick around. Wide enough to get my sand vac in there.

 

[Lasse]

You need a rather thick layer of sand in the box. In the end of this short video - you will see how fast and furious a wrasse go to bed!



Sincerely Lasse

 

[Smite]

You need a rather thick layer of sand in the box. In the end of this short video - you will see how fast and furious a wrasse go to bed!



Sincerely Lasse

Awesome video Lasse! So cool to see that pipe fish too.

Agreed, I dont want them to run into a spinal injury tucking themselves in for the night

 

[Flux Capacitor]

Here’s a picture of mine:

Don’t mind the little bit of a sand mess. Today for some reason the wrasse decided to make a heck of a mess.

 

[Tired]

Oh my goodness, I've never seen video of them burrowing. That's great. Wish my bed worked like that!