White banded Possum Wrasse - Feeding question

Taxus812 · May 29, 2019

Hope you can help me out. I brought home a White banded Possum Wrasse from my LFS. After giving me a heart attack laying on her side during acclimation she is now free in the DT and happily taking up refuge in all the holes I have in my live rock (LFS quarantines and treats with copper). Now I didn't do this right and she was a semi-impulse buy. I just like her and did an abbreviated research on her genus to make sure she was good for my tank (oh yeah she is the only wrasse I plan on having so I figured it would be a she). I have very peaceful fish and a mixed reef .

I was so focused on her tank mates (clowns, Mollys, PJ Cardinals, Cleaner Shrimp and CUC). I didn't catch that she needs food three times a day (per the article https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/all-about-reef-safe-wrasses-in-aquaria.28/). Not a biggie I work at home. However to date have always ghost fed at 5pm. This will obviously force a change in my routine. (I needed to bump my nutrients anyway. )

Should I target feed her or should I just split up what I fed already into three parts ? I have a 45g tank (covered) and typically feed 1 cube of various frozen foods in the evening. Should I now split the frozen in two and drop it in once in the AM and once in the PM (with pinch of pellet a noon)?

Thanks for the help.

Paul B · May 29, 2019

If you have one of these, they are very shy and may never venture out in the open. I have this guy a few years and I do nothing special to feed him. He just eats what floats by.
But all meaty food.

Taxus812 · May 29, 2019

Yup that's the one. I don't have an updated pic since I never see her lol

JayKim · May 29, 2019

I have possum wrasse (yellow banded). It seems to like pods, mine hunts them all day long. It also eats frozen mysis and brine when I feed the tank. When it was in my 24 gallon, I only fed it once a day since it ate pods throughout the day. Now it's in 150 gallons and I feed the tank at least 3x a day. I think it's better to split and feed 2x to 3x a day.

minus9 · May 29, 2019

All three wetmorella species are pod eaters and will eat prepared foods (mysis is a good starter for them). Once they get comfortable, they start to come out more, but usually lurk in and out of the rock work looking for food. They are fun to watch and mine comes out all the time and I have a crazy line-spot flasher that zips all over the tank, but my Tanaka doesn't really care.
Also, I've seen a lot of Tanaka's labeled as white-banded (that's how I got mine). The white-banded has stripes that radiate from the eye, most of which are visible as they pass through the eye and the Tanaka's don't, their stripe through the eye is very faint. I love these little guys!

Taxus812 · May 29, 2019

I think your right that it’s a Tanaka. The funny part is I loaded it in Aquarimate as a Tanaka's Pygmy Wrasse accidentally.

Taxus812 · May 29, 2019

Justfebreezeit · May 29, 2019

I have a yellow banded and typically feed twice a day, but like others have said it picks at pods all day long.

Mine is actually pretty curious and brave, always comes to meet me if im checking the tank out.

PhilT · Jan 15, 2020

I read in some forum that they may not be safe for smaller inverts. Would a 1” cleaner shrimp be ok? Snails?

minus9 · Jan 15, 2020

PhilT said:
I read in some forum that they may not be safe for smaller inverts. Would a 1” cleaner shrimp be ok? Snails?

Possibly baby snails, but more likely common pods are the only ones at risk of being consumed. Ornamental shrimps are safe with all wetmorella's.

vetteguy53081 · Jan 15, 2020

They are bashful and hide often and easily intimidated by tank mates making delivery of food to them challenging. They in the wild graze for food. Brine shrimp and mysis shrimp should entice them to eat