First, sorry to bump a somewhat older thread. I've been lurking and watching this thread for awhile as I've been looking at getting either a flasher or fairy wrasse for awhile now. I decided on a lineatus, and while keeping an eye out for a good deal on a healthy one, I found a Pylei Fairy Wrasse, or Cirrhilabrus pylei. I haven't seen any yet in this thread and from what little info I can find, he's one of the less common color morphs. He's beautiful, fat, and very healthy. Here's a couple pictures. I haven't been able to get a good pic of him displaying sans flash, unfortunately. There is a somewhat blurry one included.
This is after the main light on the tank is off for the day. I was playing with shots in pure actinic and got this cool one of the wrasse. He's silly, the other fish he lives with go to bed when the MH goes out but he swims around the tank and displays for the next hour while the actinics are still on, it's like they're an attractive female or a threatening male to him. Pretty funny to watch, but I do worry that it might be a bit stressful.
revaltion that pylei is very nice one of the better looking ones i seen in sometime..also great pictures..i would try to find a couple females for him they fade very bad but i love thier long fins
It's a consideration, but the tank is only really big enough for him. I want to do a bigger tank designed around the bluestar leopard wrasse, but as I may be moving within a year, it's not worth the investment other than saving and planning. If I do a bigger tank he's definitly going in it with at least one female. I actually hadn't seen another pylei until I saw this guy. They seem to be readily available, but just nobody has them or nobody posts their pics.
detguy123 thanks again for the compliments. I did some extra reading, and ended up having to email WWM. You are correct that C. pylei definitly needs multiple females. Unfortunately, my lid was not heavy enough and he jumped despite it. However, I was able to get a 65 gallon used at a great price locally, so I will try to find another with his outstanding color and two females for him after the tank is ready. Here's my favorite pic of the guy.
According to pics on fishbase.org, he's out of Venuatu. I'm not going to be picky about his ladies, but I will take my time trying to find another male that matches this one. I went to Phishy Business a couple of weeks ago and they had a male, but he was a lot more yellow than this one. The main thing is that I want to keep the vibrant purples and the iridescent band on the tail.
I am sad to say that i am moving to texas and have sold almost all my fish..i guess it could be a good thing though as i have wanted for years to tear down and start over and now i know just what i want...so i will still check in here and can't wait to start posting pics of the new tank in texas...i am going to only put fairys and flashers from Vanuatu so it should be pretty cool