I've been on the precipice of finally adding my last fish to my 65 gallon, another wrasse to go along with my Blue Star Leopard Wrasse. After two didn't fit the bill (a labouti because apparently they look meh under blue lighting, and a Madagascar flasher because I learned tank is too small), I'm poking around for my next candidate.
I paged through my ol' faithful, Scott W Michaels' "Reef Aquarium Fishes" encyclopedia, and I see the most amazingly colored flasher wrasses. I look at the scientific name and I see they are McCosker's and Carpenter's, of all things. I've seen these guys a million times at LFS and they look nothing like these pictures. I've continued to run into the same situation the more I dive into flasher wrasses in particular (and fairy wrasses to a lesser degree)- some are drop dead gorgeous, while others are bland and even almost unrecognizable at times.
I'm aware of the fact that any specimen that isn't a mature male will be more muted, if not look different altogether, but I'm pretty familiar with most of these differences. But the sheer extent of the differences in some of these fish is giving me a really hard time making a choice. Is it a matter of the location they're originating from? I really can't tell. Here's what I mean:
The above are all listed as Carpenter's flasher wrasse males, yet they could all be totally different fish from what I can tell! I have basically only ever seen any that look like #3
Same here for McCosker's- all labeled males, but I've only ever seen individuals that look like the last picture! This seems to be the case with other species too.
Basically, I want the pretty ones lol. I wonder if it's a matter of having a female to bring out these colors, but which bright color version do you "get?" Maybe in that case a fairy wrasse might be the better choice (the tank is pretty stocked right now)? I love the Linneatus but heard they can be hard to get settled in and can also fade without a female though. Any thoughts from the Wrasse Masters here? Any other recommendations if the intense colored specimens aren't really realistic? Thanks all!
I paged through my ol' faithful, Scott W Michaels' "Reef Aquarium Fishes" encyclopedia, and I see the most amazingly colored flasher wrasses. I look at the scientific name and I see they are McCosker's and Carpenter's, of all things. I've seen these guys a million times at LFS and they look nothing like these pictures. I've continued to run into the same situation the more I dive into flasher wrasses in particular (and fairy wrasses to a lesser degree)- some are drop dead gorgeous, while others are bland and even almost unrecognizable at times.
I'm aware of the fact that any specimen that isn't a mature male will be more muted, if not look different altogether, but I'm pretty familiar with most of these differences. But the sheer extent of the differences in some of these fish is giving me a really hard time making a choice. Is it a matter of the location they're originating from? I really can't tell. Here's what I mean:
The above are all listed as Carpenter's flasher wrasse males, yet they could all be totally different fish from what I can tell! I have basically only ever seen any that look like #3
Same here for McCosker's- all labeled males, but I've only ever seen individuals that look like the last picture! This seems to be the case with other species too.
Basically, I want the pretty ones lol. I wonder if it's a matter of having a female to bring out these colors, but which bright color version do you "get?" Maybe in that case a fairy wrasse might be the better choice (the tank is pretty stocked right now)? I love the Linneatus but heard they can be hard to get settled in and can also fade without a female though. Any thoughts from the Wrasse Masters here? Any other recommendations if the intense colored specimens aren't really realistic? Thanks all!