Strange Pencil Wrasse Behavior

[LikeRichMahogany]

I have recently added three new wrasses to my aquarium, a Formosa wrasse, a melanarus wrasse and a Royal Pencil wrasse. All is good and they are strong eaters and have been very active, the but the Pencil wrasse seems to have some weird swimming behavior. He swims up near the top of the water, with his back actually sticking out, and if he gets spooked he actually jumps out of the water. At lights out, it looked like he was sleeping vertically, his body positioned straight up and down like a bobber, but at some point he retreated into my 4” or so sandbed, where he emerged from this morning. He’s still swimming near the top, and if I open the lid and look at him, he spits water at me! Has anyone seen this behavior before? He comes down and swims totally normal to eat, and has eaten frozen mysis and brine shrimp, and is eating my hikari pellets. Any thoughts?

Here is a YouTube link to a video:

 

[stE25wy14]

I have recently added three new wrasses to my aquarium, a Formosa wrasse, a melanarus wrasse and a Royal Pencil wrasse. All is good and they are strong eaters and have been very active, the but the Pencil wrasse seems to have some weird swimming behavior. He swims up near the top of the water, with his back actually sticking out, and if he gets spooked he actually jumps out of the water. At lights out, it looked like he was sleeping vertically, his body positioned straight up and down like a bobber, but at some point he retreated into my 4” or so sandbed, where he emerged from this morning. He’s still swimming near the top, and if I open the lid and look at him, he spits water at me! Has anyone seen this behavior before? He comes down and swims totally normal to eat, and has eaten frozen mysis and brine shrimp, and is eating my hikari pellets. Any thoughts?

could u link the video as a YouTube video please, r2r media player doesn't work for most people

 

[JoJosReef]

I have recently added three new wrasses to my aquarium, a Formosa wrasse, a melanarus wrasse and a Royal Pencil wrasse. All is good and they are strong eaters and have been very active, the but the Pencil wrasse seems to have some weird swimming behavior. He swims up near the top of the water, with his back actually sticking out, and if he gets spooked he actually jumps out of the water. At lights out, it looked like he was sleeping vertically, his body positioned straight up and down like a bobber, but at some point he retreated into my 4” or so sandbed, where he emerged from this morning. He’s still swimming near the top, and if I open the lid and look at him, he spits water at me! Has anyone seen this behavior before? He comes down and swims totally normal to eat, and has eaten frozen mysis and brine shrimp, and is eating my hikari pellets. Any thoughts?

They do spit. Mine used to spit at me constantly when I'd walk in. Was excited to eat. Until he freaked out and jumped out of the tank while I had the lid off. I scooped him up and put him back in, but he's never been the same and usually tries to jump out of the tank (hitting the lid) or dives into the sand bed when I come in, now.

I don't know about the vertical swimming or staying near the surface, but you may want to monitor for any territorial spats keeping him away from the lower parts of the tank.

 

[LikeRichMahogany]

Done, edited into original post

 

[LikeRichMahogany]

Anyone else have any ideas? Behavior is still persisting

 

[JoJosReef]

@Slocke @Crabby48 @i cant think @Tcook any ideas on this behavior? Behaviour, Aaron?

 

[Slocke]

Don’t know about the behavior. Could be a behavior it picked up. Could be a swim bladder issue. More importantly…

You bought a Formosa wrasse?!

 

[Uncle99]

Something he learned before you got him.
Looks like he’s waiting for something like food to drop?

New fish right?

 

[Tcook]

Haven’t had a pencil wrasse but my take is that they are on the mild end of the aggression spectrum. Two that are not he sees below him. I’ll wait for @i cant think as he has bunch of Ticonderogas in his tank.

 

[i cant think]

I have recently added three new wrasses to my aquarium, a Formosa wrasse, a melanarus wrasse and a Royal Pencil wrasse. All is good and they are strong eaters and have been very active, the but the Pencil wrasse seems to have some weird swimming behavior. He swims up near the top of the water, with his back actually sticking out, and if he gets spooked he actually jumps out of the water. At lights out, it looked like he was sleeping vertically, his body positioned straight up and down like a bobber, but at some point he retreated into my 4” or so sandbed, where he emerged from this morning. He’s still swimming near the top, and if I open the lid and look at him, he spits water at me! Has anyone seen this behavior before? He comes down and swims totally normal to eat, and has eaten frozen mysis and brine shrimp, and is eating my hikari pellets. Any thoughts?

Here is a YouTube link to a video:

I have 2 (and have had 4-5 at one point) all of them tend to swim closer to the top when you’re near the tank - as you walk away they’ll go down to the rocks and hunt there.
Spitting is normal too! Mine will always do that when it comes to feeding and hungry.

 

[Maritimer]

I've recently brought home one of these guys as well (I love how they look - like they were colored by a three-year-old) and like yours, he spends some of his out-of-the-sand time hovering in a corner near the surface. Based on observation and what I've read of the environment where they were originally collected (grass-bed in a quiet harbor, with scattered bits of ceramic jugs on the seafloor), I get the impression that they're a bit on the shy-and-flighty side. Mine also gets some harassment from the midas blenny - slim yellow fish with a forked tail, I suppose.

Other times, mine will drop down to the rockwork and hunt for 'pods, which is beautiful to see; I hope those moments increase.

~B.

 

[LikeRichMahogany]

I hope I didn’t mess up with the Formosa wrasse here but I’m not sure what the problem would be. He seems to be pretty docile and so is the melanarus. I know when coris wrasses get real big they start to pick on all the crabs and snails, like my red coris used to. I had an adult, 6” or so red Cori’s wrasse that killed pretty much all the crustaceans in my 220 gallon. I would regularly restock but essentially used fish for CUC, as I had at least a dozen tangs, a lawnmower blenny, a yellow wrasse, a copperband and a small school of black pyramid butterflies.

Is there something I missed here? I plan to add some other wrasses in the future as well, please feel free to advise:

Yellowtail Tamarin wrasse(if eating in captivity)
Pink streaked weasse
Possum Wrasse

 

[i cant think]

I hope I didn’t mess up with the Formosa wrasse here but I’m not sure what the problem would be. He seems to be pretty docile and so is the melanarus. I know when coris wrasses get real big they start to pick on all the crabs and snails, like my red coris used to. I had an adult, 6” or so red Cori’s wrasse that killed pretty much all the crustaceans in my 220 gallon. I would regularly restock but essentially used fish for CUC, as I had at least a dozen tangs, a lawnmower blenny, a yellow wrasse, a copperband and a small school of black pyramid butterflies.

Is there something I missed here? I plan to add some other wrasses in the future as well, please feel free to advise:

Yellowtail Tamarin wrasse(if eating in captivity)
Pink streaked weasse
Possum Wrasse

That Formosa will be an issue for the Pencil and those last 2 wrasses.
Possums & Pink Streaks really if you want to keep them with other wrasses should be added earlier and not kept with boisterous species like Melanurus and Coris Wrasses.

Pencil wrasses also under even just some stress from bullying (which that Formosa will eventually begin) tend to go into the sand and “vanish” if you don’t catch it early enough. I’ve lost 2 Pencils to bullying from a Cleaner Wrasse.

 

[LikeRichMahogany]

I set up a camera to see what happens when he first comes out of the sand and what do I see? My whitetail bristle tooth tang harassing him the moment he comes out of the sand. This fish has been giving the other two wrasses a hard time as well - perhaps this is the culprit?

YouTube Link to clip:

 

[i cant think]

I set up a camera to see what happens when he first comes out of the sand and what do I see? My whitetail bristle tooth tang harassing him the moment he comes out of the sand. This fish has been giving the other two wrasses a hard time as well - perhaps this is the culprit?

YouTube Link to clip:

Definitely the culprit - Ctenochaetus are peaceful but anything that enters their territory is given a battering. Be cautious - that could eventually result in a fish that is too stressed out.

 

[JoJosReef]

Definitely the culprit - Ctenochaetus are peaceful but anything that enters their territory is given a battering. Be cautious - that could eventually result in a fish that is too stressed out.

Do you think that Ctenochaetus are OK when added last, or will they eventually turn on some of the fish in the tank?

 

[LikeRichMahogany]

I’ve had a handful of bristle tooth tangs and this one was the most peaceful and scared I have ever had, he wouldn’t even come out when I was near the tank, but when I bumped him up to the 150 gallon he was the first and only fish in the tank and now he thinks he owns the joint