GSM_OFS
New Member
This is dedicated to anyone considering a six line wrasse… or current owners without much problems… or anyone who understands my pain, loss and hope for the future.
Let me begin with saying hi to everyone on R2R. This may be my first post on this platform, but it certainly isn’t my first post in reef related forums or an reflection of my experience in the hobby. I have been an active reef tank keeper for well over a decade. This is simply a quick thread to have an open discussion about a fish I have a love/hate relationship with the gloriously troublesome and beautiful six line wrasse. The intention of this thread isn’t to shed despair on individuals keeping this fish, but a manual on how to spot the warning signs of trouble before there is no going back. There are many threads dedicated to this fish, and while I am only a small drop in the pool, I hope to help new members of the reefing community learn from the mistakes of a veteran reef hobbyist.
*** I apologize for a long intro, but context is needed in these types of claims. If you would like to read my conclusion only its at the end of the post***
STORY TIME
In the spring of 2012, I embarked on the construction of a 350 gallon custom AGE low iron reef system. My client was a friend upgrading his existing 90gal, as he felt the time had come to expand the possibilities of a new system. After the tank was delivered and setup, we waiting patiently for the first round of cycling to subside before adding the residence of his existing aquaria into their new penthouse suite. Two months after the 90 transfer the new arrivals began. We had the basics, some chromis, firefish, a trio of yellow tangs, and a desjardini to pair with his existing tang. Things were going well. Over the next few months corals began to grow, taking over the rockwork with a lattice of color, but then he arrived. I showed up for my service and noticed a new round of bags floating atop the water. Inside one bag floating in the top corner was one of three new fish additions. Immediately I knew a challenging addition to the tank was about to make his grand debut.
We had talked about adding additional wrasses to the aquarium with the caveat to be extra careful in our selections. You see folks, we already had two wrasse residence inside the 350. Both of which had been previous residence of my own systems, a shy but active mystery wrasse (1yo) and the bold (2yo) potters leopard wrasse. The two rarely had conflicts, and if one did seem to arise, the mystery was fast to avoid further dispute. I turned to my friend and relayed my concern, but we ultimately felt that the size of the new fish wouldn’t hinder the two tank alums without displaying signs first. As I looked into the bucket where he lay, a smile crept across my face. I dipped the net into the bucket and scooped up the first two fish. An exquisite pair of sunburst anthias descended into the tank with little more than a swift scatter of the other fish. And then it was his turn… I hesitated, but dipped the net in once again, scooped up, and admired the small barley ¾” watermelon that lay in the soft mesh. The net hit the water and within a blink of an eye he vanished in the rock.
2015. My services were barely an inconvenience for the fish, but today was different. It was the day that I would be acquiring the 350gal I had helped build from scratch. My friend was in the process of selling his house, and although he loved the aquarium dearly, it was time to tear down. I however could not let go of such an incredible system. Over the last few years, there were losses and new additions, but thankfully none at the hands of Greg. Yes, that little six line had adopted a name, courtesy of my clients niece, and I wanted to make sure that the fish would continue to live incredible lives inside this incredible system. We tore down the aquarium and moved it to my residence with not even a loss of coral. Flawless. For the next year, everything ran as it did with my client, but the biggest challenge was about be faced by me, and my fish.
2016-2020. I am going to condense this section because this story is about one particular fish, I may in the future detail the events that led up to the current system but lets stay focused. Up to the time of this thread, the 350 gallon aquarium moved from two states totaling 1000miles, and two residences. There was loss, sorrow, and at times hopelessness for the aquarium, but it persevered. At the final location I still had my original mystery wrasse, potters wrasse, and six line. So, without being overly dramatic things were looking good. But… There’s always a but… I was foolish, and began overlooking signs of trouble. That’s also when I overestimated a small, and terrifically terrible little fish.
2021- I began to notice that when feeding was taking place, all my fish were eagerly gorging themselves, that is expect for the mystery wrasse. I attributed it to his age, at over 9 years old, he was getting up there in age. He had seen some stuff in his days, and maybe just maybe the times were getting to him. He was still as colorful as he had always been, but he just looked tired. Over the next couple weeks I began to notice small tears on the back of his fin. Maybe a bacterial infection had gotten the better of him? Maybe he was scraping himself? I shrugged it off as something that time needed to heal, because as you see, he was still eating and active. A few more weeks passed and the problem began to get worse. I noticed that all but a small portion of his back fin was missing and I began to suspect that someone in the aquarium was nipping. His color began fading and one morning I woke up for my daily feeding and noticed there was no mystery wrasse to be found... at approximately 6pm that night, I noticed a smell. IF you have been in the hobby long enough, you begin to recognize certain odors. A healthy system should smell like the ocean, a dirty system more like light skimmate, and of course the smell of putrid fish signaled death. I began to recognize the latter. I knew as I was feeding, somewhere in the bowels of the aquarium, I had lost my mystery wrasse. I never recovered a body or noticed any signs of his death(thanks probably to my nassarius), But I knew he was lost. I was still grieving his loss a few weeks later when something caught my attention. My Hawaiian potters wrasse, the jewel of my collection of magnificent fish, had a small tear in his back fin.
My fears were realized. Someone in my tank had turned murderous. I had like previously mentioned two suspects. A Midas blenny that had resided in the tank for only a couple years, and Greg. Sweet Greg, the model poster child for what a six line wrasse could be if given enough space, couldn’t possibly be culprit. The next couple weeks displayed the same trend that afflicted my mystery wrasse. More and more physical damage to my potters and lethargy became a normal sight. Greg however was untouched. I observed both the Midas and Greg to see if there were any displays of aggression but none surfaced in my presence. I continued observation and the only thing that brought any sort of confirmation was the consistent circling of both my potters and Greg in the same area. The weeks continued and the decline of my potters continued. I up’d my feedings to three small meals throughout the day to simply give enough nutrition to my declining fish, just enough to keep him going until I could formulate a plan of attack.
It was decided a month or so ago from writing this post, that Greg had to be eliminated before the potters decimation. I narrowed it down to Greg, simply on past experience. He had shown small signs of aggression towards the other wrasses before, but seemed to settle down. This time however, he wanted the aquarium to himself. I have never been successful in capturing Greg before without an entire tank teardown, and unfortunately that wasn’t an option due to the poor health of my other fish. I am a professional potter(ironic right), that is in clay, and decided making a cave would be the best bet. So after construction of the porcelain( hopefully prison cell) cave, I played the waiting game. Like previously mentioned, I had tried to use every trick in the book to get Greg out before. None, for his permanent removal, but to add him to a display refugium, or take tear down, or a different system(when I operated multiple tanks). He just knew… These are very… very… very very very intelligent fish. So I thought, maybe because he liked to hide in caves, something that is small and removable, fairly natural looking, could be a good option. Well the days passed, to the point where coralline started growing on the cave, and he never batted an eye at it. At this point all I could do was wait for him to find a rock and pull the whole thing out. More days passed and I finally got into a routine of pestering Greg with a snake hook until he dipped into a rock. It became some constant, I was able to predict where he would go once the hook entered the water. And as of this morning, our routine proved fruitful. He dipped into the rock, and without hesitation I moved the surrounding rock formation, disrupted corals, my shrimp and other fish, but lifted him and the rock out of the system. Hopefully, I can now begin the process of rehabilitating my other wrasse.
Conclusion
I want to point out that I love the Six line wrasse. I think under the right circumstances they can be an incredible fish addition. They have a personality that is intoxicating to watch. The intelligence these little fish have, to this day astounds me, and their utilitarian attributes make them indispensable in the hobby. With that being said, if you read my story, you can understand that even the best of us fall victim to the promise of success with these in a mixed reef situation. I can now sum up that owning a six line wrasse is like rolling a 12 sided die every day. Only one side has terror, but the risk of hitting it should outweigh the decision to acquire one in all but the largest of tanks. Because if you roll that dice, and it lands on terror, you will be in one heck of a fight. I could have let nature play its part as both fish have every right to occupy my tank. I don’t look at my fish as “pets” but as specimens in a living vivarium. Do to the political climate in Hawaii and the commercial fishing laws going into place, the Potters Leopard Wrasse (Macropharyngodon geoffroyi) is no longer a legal acquisition for reef hobbyists, and my specimen is already an outlier for the genre. At over 9 years old, he is one in a million, and I don’t want to see him fall at an armature mistake made on my part. With that being said, Greg is also one in a million. So for now, he will occupy my sump, clearing small worms and pests from the rockwork. Hopefully he thrives downstairs from the main tank until I can find him a suitable kingdom he can call his own.
Let me begin with saying hi to everyone on R2R. This may be my first post on this platform, but it certainly isn’t my first post in reef related forums or an reflection of my experience in the hobby. I have been an active reef tank keeper for well over a decade. This is simply a quick thread to have an open discussion about a fish I have a love/hate relationship with the gloriously troublesome and beautiful six line wrasse. The intention of this thread isn’t to shed despair on individuals keeping this fish, but a manual on how to spot the warning signs of trouble before there is no going back. There are many threads dedicated to this fish, and while I am only a small drop in the pool, I hope to help new members of the reefing community learn from the mistakes of a veteran reef hobbyist.
*** I apologize for a long intro, but context is needed in these types of claims. If you would like to read my conclusion only its at the end of the post***
STORY TIME
In the spring of 2012, I embarked on the construction of a 350 gallon custom AGE low iron reef system. My client was a friend upgrading his existing 90gal, as he felt the time had come to expand the possibilities of a new system. After the tank was delivered and setup, we waiting patiently for the first round of cycling to subside before adding the residence of his existing aquaria into their new penthouse suite. Two months after the 90 transfer the new arrivals began. We had the basics, some chromis, firefish, a trio of yellow tangs, and a desjardini to pair with his existing tang. Things were going well. Over the next few months corals began to grow, taking over the rockwork with a lattice of color, but then he arrived. I showed up for my service and noticed a new round of bags floating atop the water. Inside one bag floating in the top corner was one of three new fish additions. Immediately I knew a challenging addition to the tank was about to make his grand debut.
We had talked about adding additional wrasses to the aquarium with the caveat to be extra careful in our selections. You see folks, we already had two wrasse residence inside the 350. Both of which had been previous residence of my own systems, a shy but active mystery wrasse (1yo) and the bold (2yo) potters leopard wrasse. The two rarely had conflicts, and if one did seem to arise, the mystery was fast to avoid further dispute. I turned to my friend and relayed my concern, but we ultimately felt that the size of the new fish wouldn’t hinder the two tank alums without displaying signs first. As I looked into the bucket where he lay, a smile crept across my face. I dipped the net into the bucket and scooped up the first two fish. An exquisite pair of sunburst anthias descended into the tank with little more than a swift scatter of the other fish. And then it was his turn… I hesitated, but dipped the net in once again, scooped up, and admired the small barley ¾” watermelon that lay in the soft mesh. The net hit the water and within a blink of an eye he vanished in the rock.
2015. My services were barely an inconvenience for the fish, but today was different. It was the day that I would be acquiring the 350gal I had helped build from scratch. My friend was in the process of selling his house, and although he loved the aquarium dearly, it was time to tear down. I however could not let go of such an incredible system. Over the last few years, there were losses and new additions, but thankfully none at the hands of Greg. Yes, that little six line had adopted a name, courtesy of my clients niece, and I wanted to make sure that the fish would continue to live incredible lives inside this incredible system. We tore down the aquarium and moved it to my residence with not even a loss of coral. Flawless. For the next year, everything ran as it did with my client, but the biggest challenge was about be faced by me, and my fish.
2016-2020. I am going to condense this section because this story is about one particular fish, I may in the future detail the events that led up to the current system but lets stay focused. Up to the time of this thread, the 350 gallon aquarium moved from two states totaling 1000miles, and two residences. There was loss, sorrow, and at times hopelessness for the aquarium, but it persevered. At the final location I still had my original mystery wrasse, potters wrasse, and six line. So, without being overly dramatic things were looking good. But… There’s always a but… I was foolish, and began overlooking signs of trouble. That’s also when I overestimated a small, and terrifically terrible little fish.
2021- I began to notice that when feeding was taking place, all my fish were eagerly gorging themselves, that is expect for the mystery wrasse. I attributed it to his age, at over 9 years old, he was getting up there in age. He had seen some stuff in his days, and maybe just maybe the times were getting to him. He was still as colorful as he had always been, but he just looked tired. Over the next couple weeks I began to notice small tears on the back of his fin. Maybe a bacterial infection had gotten the better of him? Maybe he was scraping himself? I shrugged it off as something that time needed to heal, because as you see, he was still eating and active. A few more weeks passed and the problem began to get worse. I noticed that all but a small portion of his back fin was missing and I began to suspect that someone in the aquarium was nipping. His color began fading and one morning I woke up for my daily feeding and noticed there was no mystery wrasse to be found... at approximately 6pm that night, I noticed a smell. IF you have been in the hobby long enough, you begin to recognize certain odors. A healthy system should smell like the ocean, a dirty system more like light skimmate, and of course the smell of putrid fish signaled death. I began to recognize the latter. I knew as I was feeding, somewhere in the bowels of the aquarium, I had lost my mystery wrasse. I never recovered a body or noticed any signs of his death(thanks probably to my nassarius), But I knew he was lost. I was still grieving his loss a few weeks later when something caught my attention. My Hawaiian potters wrasse, the jewel of my collection of magnificent fish, had a small tear in his back fin.
My fears were realized. Someone in my tank had turned murderous. I had like previously mentioned two suspects. A Midas blenny that had resided in the tank for only a couple years, and Greg. Sweet Greg, the model poster child for what a six line wrasse could be if given enough space, couldn’t possibly be culprit. The next couple weeks displayed the same trend that afflicted my mystery wrasse. More and more physical damage to my potters and lethargy became a normal sight. Greg however was untouched. I observed both the Midas and Greg to see if there were any displays of aggression but none surfaced in my presence. I continued observation and the only thing that brought any sort of confirmation was the consistent circling of both my potters and Greg in the same area. The weeks continued and the decline of my potters continued. I up’d my feedings to three small meals throughout the day to simply give enough nutrition to my declining fish, just enough to keep him going until I could formulate a plan of attack.
It was decided a month or so ago from writing this post, that Greg had to be eliminated before the potters decimation. I narrowed it down to Greg, simply on past experience. He had shown small signs of aggression towards the other wrasses before, but seemed to settle down. This time however, he wanted the aquarium to himself. I have never been successful in capturing Greg before without an entire tank teardown, and unfortunately that wasn’t an option due to the poor health of my other fish. I am a professional potter(ironic right), that is in clay, and decided making a cave would be the best bet. So after construction of the porcelain( hopefully prison cell) cave, I played the waiting game. Like previously mentioned, I had tried to use every trick in the book to get Greg out before. None, for his permanent removal, but to add him to a display refugium, or take tear down, or a different system(when I operated multiple tanks). He just knew… These are very… very… very very very intelligent fish. So I thought, maybe because he liked to hide in caves, something that is small and removable, fairly natural looking, could be a good option. Well the days passed, to the point where coralline started growing on the cave, and he never batted an eye at it. At this point all I could do was wait for him to find a rock and pull the whole thing out. More days passed and I finally got into a routine of pestering Greg with a snake hook until he dipped into a rock. It became some constant, I was able to predict where he would go once the hook entered the water. And as of this morning, our routine proved fruitful. He dipped into the rock, and without hesitation I moved the surrounding rock formation, disrupted corals, my shrimp and other fish, but lifted him and the rock out of the system. Hopefully, I can now begin the process of rehabilitating my other wrasse.
Conclusion
I want to point out that I love the Six line wrasse. I think under the right circumstances they can be an incredible fish addition. They have a personality that is intoxicating to watch. The intelligence these little fish have, to this day astounds me, and their utilitarian attributes make them indispensable in the hobby. With that being said, if you read my story, you can understand that even the best of us fall victim to the promise of success with these in a mixed reef situation. I can now sum up that owning a six line wrasse is like rolling a 12 sided die every day. Only one side has terror, but the risk of hitting it should outweigh the decision to acquire one in all but the largest of tanks. Because if you roll that dice, and it lands on terror, you will be in one heck of a fight. I could have let nature play its part as both fish have every right to occupy my tank. I don’t look at my fish as “pets” but as specimens in a living vivarium. Do to the political climate in Hawaii and the commercial fishing laws going into place, the Potters Leopard Wrasse (Macropharyngodon geoffroyi) is no longer a legal acquisition for reef hobbyists, and my specimen is already an outlier for the genre. At over 9 years old, he is one in a million, and I don’t want to see him fall at an armature mistake made on my part. With that being said, Greg is also one in a million. So for now, he will occupy my sump, clearing small worms and pests from the rockwork. Hopefully he thrives downstairs from the main tank until I can find him a suitable kingdom he can call his own.
