Wrasse Compatability

[izzyzs_]

I currently have a 75 gal mixed reef , In the close future I will have a second 75 gal.
I had wanted to purchase a Radiant Wrasse for my new 75 gal, However we don’t have a QT tank , but mainly I was worried about the compatibility with my Naoko Fairy Wrasse , in the past he has been aggressive with flasher wrasses of totally different color’s I’m curious if they could be compatible until my next tank is set up?

 

[lapin]

However we don’t have a QT tank

That’s a bit scary

 

[JoJosReef]

I currently have a 75 gal mixed reef , In the close future I will have a second 75 gal.
I had wanted to purchase a Radiant Wrasse for my new 75 gal, However we don’t have a QT tank , but mainly I was worried about the compatibility with my Naoko Fairy Wrasse , in the past he has been aggressive with flasher wrasses of totally different color’s I’m curious if they could be compatible until my next tank is set up?

Halichoeres shouldn't have a problem with your fairies unless they are aggressive against everything. A bit of flashing behavior isn't a problem--they just do that and it's a nice show. Bite marks are another thing. But I find my fairies pay more attention to each other and flashers than Halichoeres, leopards (Macropharyngodon) or pencils (Pseudojuloides).

I would get a pre-QT'd specimen locally or shipped from somewhere like Dr. Reef.

 

[i cant think]

I currently have a 75 gal mixed reef , In the close future I will have a second 75 gal.
I had wanted to purchase a Radiant Wrasse for my new 75 gal, However we don’t have a QT tank , but mainly I was worried about the compatibility with my Naoko Fairy Wrasse , in the past he has been aggressive with flasher wrasses of totally different color’s I’m curious if they could be compatible until my next tank is set up?

QT isnt all that necessary… ich will get in no matter what you do to your fish. I’m on the side of QT is useless, especially when it comes to defending against disease that will get in through other means - Brooklynella I have found QT to be ineffective against infected fish, it’s something im currently battling against for a customer’s tank and it’s looking like a losing battle even with QT. Ive had more success with a simple observation than I ever have had with chemicals and a harsh QT. But that’s an opinion I find only you can make through trying QT and seeing if it will succeed for you.

As for the actual question - Wrasse compatibility, I have done this exact mixture three times now. Theres a bit of aggression at the start - as with everything, wrasses have to set out a hierarchy. It starts out with a simple bit of displaying from both sides, and then often settles down with the occasional burst of dominance as they grow - the naoko generally stays smaller than the iridis so I have found that it starts out with Naoko being dominant over the Iridis but then it swaps once they grow. My most recent attempt at this mix in my 5 foot system has unfortunately failed but not due to the Iridis more to do with my dominant aquamarinus and the growing dominance between my Laboutei and Lineatus Fairies - these three fairies mixed with a Naoko can be a struggle due to them all being species that struggle to submit to dominance and that’s the key to it - for wrasses to mix successfully you need species that are willing to submit rather than species which are always intending to be at the top of the hierarchy.

 

[littlefoxx]

Oh wrasses strange but interesting fish

 

[JoJosReef]

ich will get in no matter what you do.

I would encourage you to please edit this factually incorrect statement, especially since you carry a Reef Squad and other important person badges.

Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) is a an organism, specifically, a protist. A fish parasite. Block the organism from entering your tank, and it will never exist in your tank. It does not appear spontaneously. It is not a byproduct of some biological function such as "stress".

There are multiple effective ways to kill the parasite and prevent transmission from an infected fish to uninfected fish, i.e., quarantine and therapeutic treatment (copper, drugs) or halting the parasite life cycle, which has interruptible stages (TTM). There is the possibility of "resistant" or aberrant parasite strains surviving therapeutic treatment/TTM, but it seems that the likelihood of that happening for the hobbyist is very small--maybe @Jay Hemdal has actual numbers?

The parasite may also hitch a ride on hard substrates such as coral skeletons. This happens during a specific stage of the parasite life cycle. While possible to get ich into your tank this way, it is not an absolute eventuality at the hobbyist level, and people can also quarantine coral. You can also buy quarantined coral, e.g. SPS Tank (@Dooly 's operation).

There are cautious reefers in my area that have the opposite experience and have effectively prevented ich and other parasites from entering their systems for years. I am aiming for an ich-free reefing journey. Ultimately, that statement is false and can lead a hobbyist that otherwise might decide to take a cautious approach to taking a riskier approach. It's the same as saying "Syphilis will get into you no matter what you do". So why bother giving penicillin to people with syphilis or wearing silly things like condoms?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I currently have a 75 gal mixed reef , In the close future I will have a second 75 gal.
I had wanted to purchase a Radiant Wrasse for my new 75 gal, However we don’t have a QT tank , but mainly I was worried about the compatibility with my Naoko Fairy Wrasse , in the past he has been aggressive with flasher wrasses of totally different color’s I’m curious if they could be compatible until my next tank is set up?

I was called in on this thread, but sorry, I've not mixed those two species before. Fish compatibility is a very tough call - if people don't have extensive experience with ALL species in the tank, they really can't make an accurate judgement call. Even if it worked for them, it might not work with your individual fish. Always have a "escape plan" - another tank, a tank divider, or if nothing else, a "time out" tank to hold the aggressor to see if things quiet down.

I've gotten radiant wrasses from East Africa that did very well - a lot like typical red coris wrasse IMO. However, I keep hearing of people having difficulty with this species, they are considered fairly delicate - so I'm not sure that the issue is.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I would encourage you to please edit this factually incorrect statement, especially since you carry a Reef Squad and other important person badges.

Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) is a an organism, specifically, a protist. A fish parasite. Block the organism from entering your tank, and it will never exist in your tank. It does not appear spontaneously. It is not a byproduct of some biological function such as "stress".

There are multiple effective ways to kill the parasite and prevent transmission from an infected fish to uninfected fish, i.e., quarantine and therapeutic treatment (copper, drugs) or halting the parasite life cycle, which has interruptible stages (TTM). There is the possibility of "resistant" or aberrant parasite strains surviving therapeutic treatment/TTM, but it seems that the likelihood of that happening for the hobbyist is very small--maybe @Jay Hemdal has actual numbers?

The parasite may also hitch a ride on hard substrates such as coral skeletons. This happens during a specific stage of the parasite life cycle. While possible to get ich into your tank this way, it is not an absolute eventuality at the hobbyist level, and people can also quarantine coral. You can also buy quarantined coral, e.g. SPS Tank (@Dooly 's operation).

There are cautious reefers in my area that have the opposite experience and have effectively prevented ich and other parasites from entering their systems for years. I am aiming for an ich-free reefing journey. Ultimately, that statement is false and can lead a hobbyist that otherwise might decide to take a cautious approach to taking a riskier approach. It's the same as saying "Syphilis will get into you no matter what you do". So why bother giving penicillin to people with syphilis or wearing silly things like condoms?

I agree - Cryptocaryon is NOT a done deal for getting into all aquariums.

The best case I can give is the public aquarium where I was the curator for; in 2015 we opened a new facility, with thousands of new fish. We quarantined them all exactly as I detail in our process here and NO ich was ever seen in the main central system, and then, earlier this year, eDNA testing proved that there was no ich in the system. With that many fish, handled in large groups, by different aquarists, there certainly was a greater chance of ich getting through than it would for a small home aquarium, but it never did. The only ich we saw through was in a single tank holding rare Caribbean deepwater fish that I didn't quarantine because they were not in the main system, and they arrived too soon before we opened. We managed that with coppersafe and never saw any aerosol transfer to our main system.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/

 

[i cant think]

I would encourage you to please edit this factually incorrect statement, especially since you carry a Reef Squad and other important person badges.

Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) is a an organism, specifically, a protist. A fish parasite. Block the organism from entering your tank, and it will never exist in your tank. It does not appear spontaneously. It is not a byproduct of some biological function such as "stress".

There are multiple effective ways to kill the parasite and prevent transmission from an infected fish to uninfected fish, i.e., quarantine and therapeutic treatment (copper, drugs) or halting the parasite life cycle, which has interruptible stages (TTM). There is the possibility of "resistant" or aberrant parasite strains surviving therapeutic treatment/TTM, but it seems that the likelihood of that happening for the hobbyist is very small--maybe @Jay Hemdal has actual numbers?

The parasite may also hitch a ride on hard substrates such as coral skeletons. This happens during a specific stage of the parasite life cycle. While possible to get ich into your tank this way, it is not an absolute eventuality at the hobbyist level, and people can also quarantine coral. You can also buy quarantined coral, e.g. SPS Tank (@Dooly 's operation).

There are cautious reefers in my area that have the opposite experience and have effectively prevented ich and other parasites from entering their systems for years. I am aiming for an ich-free reefing journey. Ultimately, that statement is false and can lead a hobbyist that otherwise might decide to take a cautious approach to taking a riskier approach. It's the same as saying "Syphilis will get into you no matter what you do". So why bother giving penicillin to people with syphilis or wearing silly things like condoms?

I should have developed that a bit more - i do apologise. I wasnt stating that ich spontaneously appears, instead in the ways it enters our systems. It gets in through coral, rock, sand, hard-shelled inverts and fish. I have witnessed several times where QT has failed due to a bypass in on coral and inverts. It’s why we always say to do a fallow after an ich outbreak is due to this trophont stage.
But as i said, this isnt a QT thread it is predominantly a wrasse compatibility thread so I didn’t see much need to go hugely in depth on why ich eventually gets into most if not all systems.