Wrasse in bare-bottom tank

[ryboy707]

I’m thinking of sneaking in a tiny juvenile tang and trade him in when he gets too big

 

[nereefpat]

Blue star leopard?

C'mon man... needs sand

 

[ryboy707]

C'mon man... needs sand

I’m putting a Tupperware bowl of sand

 

[Kyl]

A couple things;

Is a "cup 'o sand" really a valid long term solution for a fish requiring substrate? I've observed behavior of burying wrasse in QT with the pyrex bowl of sand, and while they find it quickly most nights, there are some that I have spent an hour plus watching the fish desperately race around against the bottom glass trying to find the sand to dive into, for whatever reason they couldn't locate, and they don't look very calm while attempting to do so either.

You can avoid every major pest a SPS person will run into with care and attention to your new additions, unless the wild west is being thrown in there (mariculated / wild collected colonies). The 170 is essentially a nano tank, shoe-horning fish that don't belong in it doesn't seem like a great long term plan for success. Hobby is full of trade-offs, going smaller is much harder than larger in regards to "workhorse" livestock. You've had all the best solutions proposed already, and it's basically one at this point - pinkstreaked p. ataenia.

 

[Jesterrace]

Blue star leopard?

Definitely not, they need sand to sleep in, don't do much in the way of pest removal and can be very tough to keep alive unless you know what to look for in selecting one.

 

[ryboy707]

Looks like I’m gonna need a bigger tank. Maybe I’ll use the reefer 170 for a quarantine tank for corals. Would a reefer 425XL be big enough for these wrasses?

 

[nereefpat]

Looks like I’m gonna need a bigger tank. Maybe I’ll use the reefer 170 for a quarantine tank for corals. Would a reefer 425XL be big enough for these wrasses?

Most wrasses will be just fine in 425 xl (looks like it has similar dimensions to a standard 90).
Some wrasses that wouldn't fit would be most Coris genus, some of the biggest Halichoeres genus, tusks, parrotfish, and maybe some others.

 

[Jesterrace]

I’m thinking of sneaking in a tiny juvenile tang and trade him in when he gets too big

Really bad plan. Rarely works out as planned for the owner or the fish.

 

[ryboy707]

XXL 625 might be better