What won't a leopard wrasse eat???

[Mattie H.]

I've have a male leopard wrasse in my 75 gal for 8+ months now. He's not very big, maybe 2.5 inches. He is quite healthy and happy... eats everything in sight, unfortunately within a few weeks of introducing him I lost my entire hermit population and my two peppermints. Around that time frame I also lost my snapping shrimp, which I purchased at the same time as the wrasse... honestly not sure if he was a wrasse casualty or if he died on his own tho. These days, wrasse dines on my pod population, and also flake, pellet, frozen mysis, and whatever other chum I thaw out and throw in.

My question... I really want to add some crustaceans to my tank, but I'm afraid that they'll just end up being an expensive snack for this eating machine. Does anyone know if leopards eat cleaner shrimp? Emerald crabs? What might he leave alone, if anything? Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[pugcrush]

I've have a male leopard wrasse in my 75 gal for 8+ months now. He's not very big, maybe 2.5 inches. He is quite healthy and happy... eats everything in sight, unfortunately within a few weeks of introducing him I lost my entire hermit population and my two peppermints. Around that time frame I also lost my snapping shrimp, which I purchased at the same time as the wrasse... honestly not sure if he was a wrasse casualty or if he died on his own tho. These days, wrasse dines on my pod population, and also flake, pellet, frozen mysis, and whatever other chum I thaw out and throw in.

My question... I really want to add some crustaceans to my tank, but I'm afraid that they'll just end up being an expensive snack for this eating machine. Does anyone know if leopards eat cleaner shrimp? Emerald crabs? What might he leave alone, if anything? Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

What kind of leopard? You sure it's a leopard? I've never kept one, but I'm pretty sure they're reef/invert safe. I know they hunt down pods.

 

[Mattie H.]

What kind of leopard? You sure it's a leopard? I've never kept one, but I'm pretty sure they're reef/invert safe. I know they hunt down pods.

Oh yes, a Leopard beyond a shadow of a doubt. Adult male coloring. And he for sure is the hermit eater. I didn't see him eat the two peppermints, but there's no other culprit. Crabs and shrimp never had a problem until the wrasse was introduced. At the time the only other non coral were two Green Chromis, two Yellowtail Blues and a Yasha Goby, plus a bunch of cerith, nassarius, asterina, and mini brittles.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Picture, never heard of a leopard wrasse eating inverts besides pods. They are actually known as finicky eaters...

 

[cmcoker]

Curious if you dumped his bag water in the tank? Maybe had copper in it? How are the corals doing? Never heard of a leopard doing this.. @evolved may have some insight

 

[lion king]

Leopard wrasses are quite the effective predator, I use to feed mine ghost shrimp from time to time to make him happy. An emerald crab might give him a fight and then he may leave him alone, I would try one. Any shrimp I'm afraid would likely eventually fall prey.

 

[Mattie H.]

Picture, never heard of a leopard wrasse eating inverts besides pods. They are actually known as finicky eaters...

There are plenty of other strings in the forums about them eating shrimp and crabs... Just not much about what they won't eat.

Here's a few pics I found... Not recent, not super clear (he's fast), but good enough for ID. Took these when I first got him. He's under the sand at the present, tank is off for the nite.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

There are plenty of other strings in the forums about them eating shrimp and crabs... Just not much about what they won't eat.

Here's a few pics I found... Not recent, not super clear (he's fast), but good enough for ID. Took these when I first got him. He's under the sand at the present, tank is off for the nite.

Guess I've been looking in all the wrong places... Everything I've read said leopard wrasse are hard to get eating. Seems they are in fact hard to get to stop eating...

 

[OREGONIC]

Mine eats pods and frozen food like a pig, havent seen him attack any crabs, snails or my shrimp, he is still pretty small tho.

 

[Mattie H.]

Curious if you dumped his bag water in the tank? Maybe had copper in it? How are the corals doing? Never heard of a leopard doing this.. @evolved may have some insight

Heck no! Never! [emoji53] Checking the log, params at the time were okay except for elevated PO4. Was back in December 16, 8+ months ago. Crab/shrimp elimination happened over maybe a 6 or 8 week period after wrasse was added. I did happen check for copper at the time, in fact, when trying to figure it out. Didn't know what it was at first; took a little while before I actually caught him in the act.

 

[Mattie H.]

Guess I've been looking in all the wrong places... Everything I've read said leopard wrasse are hard to get eating. Seems they are in fact hard to get to stop eating...

Gaah, mine is a total pig! I think they often get damaged jaws in shipping, which is what causes them to not eat. But my guy definitely made it to the lfs with no damage whatsoever.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

You sure he wasn't just scavenging on an already dead shrimp/crab. Fish are opportunistic eaters and will grab a snack where and whenever they can.

Have you checked your salinity, alkalinity lately?

 

[Mattie H.]

Leopard wrasses are quite the effective predator, I use to feed mine ghost shrimp from time to time to make him happy. An emerald crab might give him a fight and then he may leave him alone, I would try one. Any shrimp I'm afraid would likely eventually fall prey.

[emoji20] Was hoping for better news! Really want a skunk cleaner. But don't really want to br giving out $30 snacks. I don't even buy $30 snacks for myself...

 

[Mattie H.]

You sure he wasn't just scavenging on an already dead shrimp/crab. Fish are opportunistic eaters and will grab a snack where and whenever they can.

Have you checked your salinity, alkalinity lately?

A picture of your Wrasse will help to confirm it's a leopard and the exact species.

Certain. He ate my hermits without a doubt. Live, moving hermits. 95% sure about the peppermints as well, but didn't catch him in the act.

I check params usually every two or three weeks. Only two problems right now are that I lose Mg pretty quickly (have to dose it up from time to time), and water is maybe a bit too clean - zero everything, trace PO4. SG a consistent 1.023. Back when I got the wrasse I had a bit of a PO4 problem, that's it, but I run GFO now which solved it.

Posted a few pics in a previous post.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Salinity is boarderline low.
What do you use to check it?

What's your alk at?

 

[Mattie H.]

Salinity is boarderline low.
What do you use to check it?

I use a run of the mill refractometer.

Alk is at 7kh. Low side of normal.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

It needs to be higher. Min that they need is 8, otherwise you're going to continue to have issues with not only inverts but corals as well

 

[SashimiTurtle]

You don't need 8 alk. NSW is 7 and evidently corals grow out there or something...

 

[Mattie H.]

It needs to be higher. Min that they need is 8, otherwise you're going to continue to have issues with not only inverts but corals as well

I will, thanks for the advice. Also plan to jump up the SG a bip at next w/c. And will continue to dose Mg to keep it in the 13s. Corals seem fine, growing well for the most part (do wish growth was faster tho) except for some little frags of xenia and gsp, both of which aren't dying but don't seem to want to grow in this tank at all, I'm guessing because of no nitrates. But the crab disappearance wasn't the Alk - it was higher back then anyway - or any other param. I know the wrasse did 'em in.

 

[Mattie H.]

You don't need 8 alk. NSW is 7 and evidently corals grow out there or something...

+1. No discernable problems with 7 Alk in my tank, but I guess won't hurt to dose it up to 8. As long as it doesn't raise my PH in the process.