Stocking a reefer 250 - advice?

[nereefpat]

thank you both. at this moment I'm now leaning away from a mandarin in favor of opening up some flexibility for different wrasses.

in addition to the ones you mentioned I'm reading more about melanurus, leopard, redhead solon, and the exquisite fairy. I'm still very taken by the mystery wrasse as well.

Mystery won't tolerate those wrasses either. What's limiting isn't the mandarin, but the mystery or six line.

 

[i cant think]

6. Mystery wrasse
7. Scott’s fairy wrasse

Scott’s wrasses get big and aggressive apparently - I have yet to believe the aggressive bit with my male 3” Scott’s from Australia, I have added a 1” male Lubbock whilst he was in the tank and he just ignored it with no chasing at all from either of my wrassses. I can however, believe the full bit - Mine has only tints of red in its anal and dorsal fin.
Although yes they are starting to chase eachother, it’s because the Jade wrasse is growing fast and big (I don’t recommend jades unless you’re alright with a few rocks falling over, aggressive Halichoeres and a large wrasse) and she is now bigger than the Scott’s so the pecking order is changing.
Alternatives to the Scott’s are:
- Cirrhilabrus lubbocki (These loose minimal amounts of colour if they don’t have a reason to flash)
- Cirrhilabrus naokoae (These only loose the deep black in their fins if they have no reason to flash)
- Cirrhilabrus isosceles (These loose their main dorsal stripe when they don’t have a reason to display/flash)
And there are more - Just go for the wrasses that stay 4” or less, and that aren’t flashers.
My recommendation for a leopard wrasse is:
- Macropharyngodon nigrosensis
- Macropharyngodon bipartitus
- Macropharyngodon Kutieri (This might be on the large size - Mostly because of the body shape, but I’m unsure if it truly needs to swim unlike the Nigrosensis and Bipartitus)