Wrasse flashing at other fish aggression?

jadedog · Oct 22, 2025

I have a sailfin blue chin fairy wrasse and ive been noticing he likes to swim by my other fish and flash his fins. Hes in a 60gal with a pair of clowns, bangai cardinal and a goby firefish. Strangely hes not the boss of the tank my bangai cardinal is. I will say my other fish dont really seem to mine him but im worried this might turn into more aggression. I really like the fairy wrasse but I probably shouldn't have gotten him for my tank its probably to small. Idk if im just being paranoid but does anyone have experience with this fish? Ive had him for a little over a month never noticed bites to my other fish but definitely a increase in flashing.

jadedog · Oct 22, 2025

The only biting incident I did have was to my bicolor blenny but he was definitely the aggressor and I moved him to a different tank.

Pat's Reef · Oct 22, 2025

jadedog said:
I have a sailfin blue chin fairy wrasse and ive been noticing he likes to swim by my other fish and flash his fins. Hes in a 60gal with a pair of clowns, bangai cardinal and a goby firefish. Strangely hes not the boss of the tank my bangai cardinal is. I will say my other fish dont really seem to mine him but im worried this might turn into more aggression. I really like the fairy wrasse but I probably shouldn't have gotten him for my tank its probably to small. Idk if im just being paranoid but does anyone have experience with this fish? Ive had him for a little over a month never noticed bites to my other fish but definitely a increase in flashing.

Fairy and flasher wrasse do this. It’s a threat/display, but they usually aren’t any more aggressive with other species. Males will chase females and will fight with other male similar wrasses, but usually just flash other species.

JoJosReef · Oct 22, 2025

What Pat said. Enjoy the show. You want to be careful mostly when mixing fairy wrasses, and some fairies are a bit on the aggressive side (e.g., Scottorum complex). Cyanogularis (yours) is also on the aggressive side. Keep that in mind if adding more fairy or flasher wrasses.