The Wrasse Lover's Thread!

i cant think · Jan 17, 2026

maxthisout said:
My general rules are add multiple Wrasses at one time and stick to females whenever possible.

This is a rule I agree 100% with, even if it’s your first wrasse aim for a female, the lifespan is amazing compared to a fully transitioned male.

maxthisout · Jan 17, 2026

i cant think said:
This is a rule I agree 100% with, even if it’s your first wrasse aim for a female, the lifespan is amazing compared to a fully transitioned male.

I was talking to a guy recently and he was telling me he couldn't keep Wrasses for more than a year, it was because he kept paying big money for terminal males.

Fishfreak2009 · Jan 17, 2026

Tried and failed to get decent pics of the 4 in the 240 gallon. Cirrhilabrus isosceles, Cirrhilabrus aurantidorsalis, Paracheilinus carpenteri, and Paracheilinus mccoskeri

ataller · Jan 18, 2026

I was hoping for some guidance on keeping two new fairy wrasses.

I have a new blue throat and an exquisite. The exquisite is larger than the blue throat.

I foolishly tried to add the blue throat to the display first, put the exquisite in an acclimation box for 3 days, and after releasing it the blue throat was very aggressive.

I do see the blue throat is red on the wrasseguy flow chart, so I guess no surprise there.

The blue throat can also be aggressive to his other tank makes, fire fish, gramma, chalk bass, but only in passing, he really has a passion for the exquisite. I suspect if there is a spectrum of behavior within a fish species my guy may be a bit of an butt?

Since the blue throat is such an aggressive feeder I caught him in 20 seconds using the nyos floating trap and swapped him into the acclimation box.

The two fish (blue throat/exquisite) are fairly far apart on the flow chart and figured I might have success, but its not looking good.

Do I leave the blue throat in the acclimation box for 3-5 days while the exquisite gets settled and try again or should I just bail and sell the blue throat?

Thanks,

Adam

i cant think · Jan 20, 2026

I feel like this is overdue… An FTS of the wrasse tank! Spot the newest ones - even better if you can try count how many are visible

i cant think · Jan 20, 2026

So close to a 2 in one shot…

Yes, I have a 2nd female pencil wrasse, meaning I have 3 pencils in total now.

Anyone got any ideas on the species? Torn between Severnsi, Splendens or something else…

i cant think · Jan 20, 2026

Oh! And if you’re wondering about the pinkies… well, they’re doing their usual.

Yep, still spawning - although, I’m intrigued at my female as she is always looking fat, I feed quite a bit into the system (both live and frozen) but even compared to my female, she is still fatter. Anyone got any ideas? As I’m 90% sure they’re broadcast spawners rather than laying eggs on substrate.

TheNative192 · Jan 22, 2026

So I’m still a ways off from adding any wrasses since I just ordered the tank and plan to let it fully cycle and really load up on pods first. But I know some types of wrasses require a deep sand bed and can be tricky together. That said, I definitely want to add some wrasses in my new tank (ideally ones that get along) to my 80-gallon, 4-foot tank (Innovative Marine SR Pro 2).

I’ll be moving some fish over from my other systems (not required, but initial plans), including a Royal Gramma, two clowns, a Diamond Goby, a Longnose Hawkfish, and possibly a Six-Line Wrasse. All of these fish currently get along in a much smaller tank, so I’m not too concerned about aggression there with that group, but definitely with other wrasses. I also only plan to add a smaller tang—most likely a Kole or Tomini.

My question is more about wrasses down the road. After letting the tank mature and build pods for 6 months to a year, are there some “cool” wrasse options that would work well in this setup? I really like Leopard Wrasses, but I know they can be tricky. I already culture Tisbe pods for my Mandarin and phyto, so I’d be willing to put the work in to keep a good pod population up and I likely will be waiting months before I add any fish to the tank to let populations explode for pods.

Do you think a Six-Line and a Leopard Wrasse would end up fighting? Are there other wrasses that would be better choices, or even combinations that could work together? I do have another tank available if I need to move the Six-Line to it so I can have better combinations in this tank.

Any ideas or experiences are appreciated.

JoJosReef · Jan 22, 2026

TheNative192 said:
So I’m still a ways off from adding any wrasses since I just ordered the tank and plan to let it fully cycle and really load up on pods first. But I know some types of wrasses require a deep sand bed and can be tricky together. That said, I definitely want to add some wrasses in my new tank (ideally ones that get along) to my 80-gallon, 4-foot tank (Innovative Marine SR Pro 2).

I’ll be moving some fish over from my other systems (not required, but initial plans), including a Royal Gramma, two clowns, a Diamond Goby, a Longnose Hawkfish, and possibly a Six-Line Wrasse. All of these fish currently get along in a much smaller tank, so I’m not too concerned about aggression there with that group, but definitely with other wrasses. I also only plan to add a smaller tang—most likely a Kole or Tomini.

My question is more about wrasses down the road. After letting the tank mature and build pods for 6 months to a year, are there some “cool” wrasse options that would work well in this setup? I really like Leopard Wrasses, but I know they can be tricky. I already culture Tisbe pods for my Mandarin and phyto, so I’d be willing to put the work in to keep a good pod population up and I likely will be waiting months before I add any fish to the tank to let populations explode for pods.

Do you think a Six-Line and a Leopard Wrasse would end up fighting? Are there other wrasses that would be better choices, or even combinations that could work together? I do have another tank available if I need to move the Six-Line to it so I can have better combinations in this tank.

Any ideas or experiences are appreciated.

Sixline is the wildcard. You can go along and see how it does, or move it over and plan out your wrasse palace :-)

I loved my blue star leopard (Macropharyngodon bipartitis) and highly recommend. I also think the black leopard (M. negrosensis) is absolutely stunning. Pencil wrasses are great: Pseudojuloides splendens and Pseudojuloides severnsi are somewhat common--keep an eye out for a kaleidos. Of course there are multiple Halichoeres to choose, but my top recommendation is an iridis. I've also wanted a claudia, which I would get in place of a melanurus for that color variation. Then there are multiple combinations for flasher and fairy wrasses. My goal was a Royal flasher (Paracheilinus angulatus) and a P. cyaneus or P. lineopunctatus--had the latter but it jumped through a closed flap in the lid. For fairies, my favorites are Cirrhilabrus isosceles, C. rhomboidalis, C. exquisitus, and C. bathyphilus.

TheNative192 · Jan 22, 2026

JoJosReef said:
Sixline is the wildcard. You can go along and see how it does, or move it over and plan out your wrasse palace :-)

I loved my blue star leopard (Macropharyngodon bipartitis) and highly recommend. I also think the black leopard (M. negrosensis) is absolutely stunning. Pencil wrasses are great: Pseudojuloides splendens and Pseudojuloides severnsi are somewhat common--keep an eye out for a kaleidos. Of course there are multiple Halichoeres to choose, but my top recommendation is an iridis. I've also wanted a claudia, which I would get in place of a melanurus for that color variation. Then there are multiple combinations for flasher and fairy wrasses. My goal was a Royal flasher (Paracheilinus angulatus) and a P. cyaneus or P. lineopunctatus--had the latter but it jumped through a closed flap in the lid. For fairies, my favorites are Cirrhilabrus isosceles, C. rhomboidalis, C. exquisitus, and C. bathyphilus.

So lets say I don't plan on adding the six line and I move it to another tank and I got a Blue Star Leopard wrasse (I will make sure pod population is booming before I do as well). I like the Iridis too. A claudia wrasse. Would those work together. I don't like when the wrasses that backs look broken which I think are flasher/fairy wrasses?

Here would be my list for 80 gallon 4 feet long tank. Let me know if this is too many fish or if they work together etc.

Blue Star Leopard Wrasse (new)
Halichoeres iridis Wrasse (new)
Halichoeres claudia (new)
Royal Gramma, (Existing & peaceful)
Two clowns, (Existing & peaceful)
Diamond Goby, (Existing & peaceful)
Longnose Hawkfish, (Existing & peaceful)
Tomini Tang, (would be new but can be last)

JoJosReef · Jan 22, 2026

TheNative192 said:
So lets say I don't plan on adding the six line and I move it to another tank and I got a Blue Star Leopard wrasse (I will make sure pod population is booming before I do as well). I like the Iridis too. A claudia wrasse. Would those work together. I don't like when the wrasses that backs look broken which I think are flasher/fairy wrasses?

Here would be my list for 80 gallon 4 feet long tank. Let me know if this is too many fish or if they work together etc.

Blue Star Leopard Wrasse (new)
Halichoeres iridis Wrasse (new)
Halichoeres claudia (new)
Royal Gramma, (Existing & peaceful)
Two clowns, (Existing & peaceful)
Diamond Goby, (Existing & peaceful)
Longnose Hawkfish, (Existing & peaceful)
Tomini Tang, (would be new but can be last)

You will want an inch of sand in the tank for those sand sleepers. I would expect the claudia and the iridis to get along, but you can't be 100%. Can always get a bully wrasse. The ones you have listed aren't known bullies, though.

Good start! You'll be back for more, though. No one stops at just 3-4-5... wrasses!

NCsalt · Jan 22, 2026

i cant think said:
I feel like this is overdue… An FTS of the wrasse tank! Spot the newest ones - even better if you can try count how many are visible

My count is 12. And look at those angels!

i cant think · Jan 23, 2026

NCsalt said:
My count is 12. And look at those angels!

Im actually surprised that all the angels are visible - especially the blue face, whilst she’s become more visible and not as secretive, it’s rare I manage to get an FTS with her in it.

i cant think · Jan 26, 2026

Well, I went to the wholesaler today… The wrasse bug has bitten me again. I now have a Kuiteri back in the tank after seeing this stunning female.

So that’s my Macropharyngodon count up to 2 now, with the Vivienae and Kuiteri, but my “Leopard” count up to 3 if you include the Lapillus.

cba191 · Jan 26, 2026

i cant think said:
Well, I went to the wholesaler today… The wrasse bug has bitten me again. I now have a Kuiteri back in the tank after seeing this stunning female.

So that’s my Macropharyngodon count up to 2 now, with the Vivienae and Kuiteri, but my “Leopard” count up to 3 if you include the Lapillus.

A Vivien's is definitely on my "attainable" bucket list.

sdreef · Jan 28, 2026

A couple photos from this evening

P. attenuatus

H. iridis

Gumbies R Us · Jan 29, 2026

sdreef said:
A couple photos from this evening

P. attenuatus

H. iridis

Incredible photos!

Griev · Jan 30, 2026

It's so hard to get a good picture of my Leopard trio together, so accept this bad one.

victorcan · Feb 6, 2026

i cant think said:
That “Red Coris” is a Coris formosa (Queen Coris) and the only way ive found to get them out is by tearing apart the whole system.

Tore it down last Sat. Had to remove every rock & coral. But the Greenville wrasse massacre is finally over lol. Tank has never looked so clear and in one place.. I kinda feel bad as i had to throw him in a 15gal hospital tank, put him on a local FB page for a trade for anything but havent gotten any real interest which baffles me.. I didn't get any good pics of course but hes a beautiful fish? Either way was worth the tear down as i wanted to redo the rock scape anywhoo.. Of course has some losses including 2 other wrasses that were in my live rock that was taken out :( Lesson learned!