The Wrasse Lover's Thread!

[i cant think]

Hi . I’m new to the forum and have been out of the hobby for about 15 years. I’m in the planning stages for a 90ish gallon 24”H x 36”L x 24”D display tank. Started working on a fish list, and have become interested in a variety of reef safe wrasses. I’ve noticed that many require a sandbed, but I was intending on running bare bottom this time around for reduced maintenance. Could anyone provide a list of which wrasses are compatible with bare bottom tanks? There will be a fuge on the setup to support pod population if that’s relevant to the question.

You may find running a sandbed with sand sleepers will be the same maintenance as a Bare Bottom. In a BB you still have to siphon out detritus from the bottom, in a Sandbed tank with Wrasses you will have the job of stirring up the sand removed :)

I rarely ever touch my sand and when the wrasses dive into it it doesn’t wind up in a huge cloud of sand. It just moves the detritus around and eventually it will surface and wind up in the sump.

If you definitely don’t want to run BB then you’re generally limited to Cirrhilabrus as Paracheilinus need 4’ long tanks as a minimum, Pseudocheilinops and Wetmorella are shy and need lower activity tanks to be on show and not stress out and die (in a 3’ you probably won’t want that and with the rarity in these genera, you probably won’t find one until you’re higher on the stocking list).

 

[nallured]

You may find running a sandbed with sand sleepers will be the same maintenance as a Bare Bottom. In a BB you still have to siphon out detritus from the bottom, in a Sandbed tank with Wrasses you will have the job of stirring up the sand removed :)

I rarely ever touch my sand and when the wrasses dive into it it doesn’t wind up in a huge cloud of sand. It just moves the detritus around and eventually it will surface and wind up in the sump.

If you definitely don’t want to run BB then you’re generally limited to Cirrhilabrus as Paracheilinus need 4’ long tanks as a minimum, Pseudocheilinops and Wetmorella are shy and need lower activity tanks to be on show and not stress out and die (in a 3’ you probably won’t want that and with the rarity in these genera, you probably won’t find one until you’re higher on the stocking list).

Thank you for the feedback! If there were a sandbed in the tank, how deep would it need to be, and which other genus would then work given the 36” tank limitation?

 

[Crabby48]

Oink 2.0? ;)

You got it

 

[homer1475]

Saw my negrosensis this morning! She came out like she was shot out of a cannon. Seemed to angrily do a few laps, grabbed a few pellets, dove back into the sand.

She is definitely turning into a HE.

 

[i cant think]

Thank you for the feedback! If there were a sandbed in the tank, how deep would it need to be, and which other genus would then work given the 36” tank limitation?

I personally have a sandbed depend on the heught of the tank. My 4’ has a 3-4 inch sandbed however my 3’ nano has a 1.5-2 inch sandbed.

The general rule with sand sleeping wrasses is;
Do enough sand to it covers the whole fish.

 

[i cant think]

You got it

You’re lucky you can see them poking their head out of the sand and all that, mine just appear out of nowhere, I will look everywhere in the tanks, not see any of the sand sleepers, turn my back and there they are, just hanging around as if they’ve been out all day and night!

 

[homer1475]

You’re lucky you can see them poking their head out of the sand and all that, mine just appear out of nowhere, I will look everywhere in the tanks, not see any of the sand sleepers, turn my back and there they are, just hanging around as if they’ve been out all day and night!

Same here. I have no idea where they sleep, but have never seen them, until they are all of a sudden out an about.

 

[Crabby48]

You’re lucky you can see them poking their head out of the sand and all that, mine just appear out of nowhere, I will look everywhere in the tanks, not see any of the sand sleepers, turn my back and there they are, just hanging around as if they’ve been out all day and night!

Same here. I have no idea where they sleep, but have never seen them, until they are all of a sudden out an about.

Same with me. Oink I haven’t seen out but yesterday she keeps showing her head. Now if she comes out to eat it will be all good.

 

[Pankney72]

There are some reefers like me, the smaller the better rather than the other way around. I think there is a niche for LFS and wholesaler who cater to consumer like us.

I agree, growing things and watching them become adults and go through their life cycle is one of my favorite parts of the hobby. It's especially true with wrasse. My melagris leopard is transitioning to male right now and it's a blast watching him/her? grow.

 

[homer1475]

She is becoming a He. Most wrasses are born female, and transition to male.

 

[Crabby48]

Meet tiny. She is a little thing with attitude. Don’t let size fool you. She can make your heart weak and shake her tail like no other. In 3 weeks HE will be a stid

Send some luck she sees a shadow or fish she bounces off the glass and top. I taped around the HOB because she was eying it up. Just too small to mix with others

 

[Crabby48]

I saw the head a few times but took 6.5 days to emerge from the sand.

 

[Crabby48]

Ok so rhomboid was tiny and I made poor decision. I put him in with gem tang earmuff and Oink. What I didn’t think is it would ping pong ball of the glass lid and everything between a full speed. Tiny wrasse are bullets. Whelp I removed her lifeless body. Hate small qt tanks. High chance of death and injury from fish that aren’t comfy.
We try again

 

[Crabby48]

I forgot

 

[Petcrazyson]

Yk @Crabby48 you could’ve just told me to look in here instead of searching google :squinting-face-with-tongue:

 

[Petcrazyson]

Lol convince me fish aren’t cute! Look at that face!

 

[Crabby48]

Yk @Crabby48 you could’ve just told me to look in here instead of searching google :squinting-face-with-tongue:

Nope I’m a jerk lol

Lol convince me fish aren’t cute! Look at that face!

I like the earls and it’s cute but passed so many times. Just never grabbed me. I don’t like many fairys but rhomboid. I got Earl because the list of fish just wouldn’t work out. He is adorable and now is one of my favorite fairys. Different body and remind me of a mandarins face.

 

[Petcrazyson]

I don’t like many fairys

We got to convince you other wise ;)

 

[Crabby48]

We got to convince you other wise ;)

Nope they are like millennials. Act all tough the pout on the sand bed when someone bumps them lol. Na I had a lot of fairies and now only a few grab me. Flashers same way. Hemi, nirsalm, red tail, bells, yellow fin Diamond tails are cool. Flame and rhomboid are cool even though I hate red and yellow then mix them and it’s Ronald McDonald.

Why a rhomboid this little dude was under 2”. Good color on a young male I think

 

[Tcook]

Saw this in my lfs today. Negrosensis?