Wrasse stocking suggestions please! 250g

[Pankney72]

Hey guys and gals! Got a quick question I could use some creativity on.

I’m upgrading my mixed reef 125 to a 250 next week. I’m planning on adding a pair of melagris leopards after I get things going.

only problem is that I have a melanurus wrasse who can be a bit of a d*ckhead, so I want to add more than just these two to spread the pain around.

many suggestions on additional targets? He leaves flashers and fairies alone. No clams or decorative crustaceans/worms in my tank btw.

 

[JaimeAdams]

Radiant Wrasse or multiple Radiant Wrasses, Yellow Tail Tamarin Wrasses.

Could you just leave the Melanarus Wrasse in the sink or something until the Leopard Wrasses get established?

 

[MONTANTK]

I would maybe setup a simple QT and leave the melanaurus in it in the meantime. In a tank that big though you could definitely add a few flashers that would look really nice

 

[i cant think]

What species are you after in specific?
Anampses
Macropharyngodon
Cirrhilabrus
Paracheilinus
Pseudojuloides
Xenojulis

 

[Pankney72]

What species are you after in specific?
Anampses
Macropharyngodon
Cirrhilabrus
Paracheilinus
Pseudojuloides
Xenojulis

Right. So to answer the above comments first. If the multiple additions goes poorly I will be scooping the melanurus while he sleeps to isolate him for a bit.

to you “I can’t think” I don’t really have strict species/genus requirements other than I don’t want the coloring to be super similar to the melanurus, but I do want it to attract some aggression. Because I know it will go after macropharynodon from experience.

I also know it won’t go after cirrhilabrus and paracheilinus. (I do have plans for these fish because I love them but they aren’t relevant to this question.)

xenojulis pretty much means a nugget wrasse to me, which I’ll for sure get if I stumble across it, but it can be cost prohibitive…

so of the remainder I’m basically asking for everyone’s favorite colorful, interesting, wrasse.

 

[Pankney72]

Radiant Wrasse or multiple Radiant Wrasses, Yellow Tail Tamarin Wrasses.

Could you just leave the Melanarus Wrasse in the sink or something until the Leopard Wrasses get established?

I like that, and I tried to answer your question in my previous response.

 

[i cant think]

Right. So to answer the above comments first. If the multiple additions goes poorly I will be scooping the melanurus while he sleeps to isolate him for a bit.

to you “I can’t think” I don’t really have strict species/genus requirements other than I don’t want the coloring to be super similar to the melanurus, but I do want it to attract some aggression. Because I know it will go after macropharynodon from experience.

I also know it won’t go after cirrhilabrus and paracheilinus. (I do have plans for these fish because I love them but they aren’t relevant to this question.)

xenojulis pretty much means a nugget wrasse to me, which I’ll for sure get if I stumble across it, but it can be cost prohibitive…

so of the remainder I’m basically asking for everyone’s favorite colorful, interesting, wrasse.

Halichoeres iridis
Halichoeres adornatus
Halichoeres trispilus
Halichoeres lapillus
Cirrhilabrus naokoae
Cirrhilabrus lubbocki
Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa/rubrisquamis
Cirrhilabrus roseafascia
Paracheilinus cyaneus
Paracheilinus attenutatus
Pseudojuloides atavai
Pseudojuloides severnsi
Xenojulis margaritaceus
Anampses neoguinaicus
Anampses melanurus
Anampses melagrides
Anampses geographicus
Anampses caeruleopunctatus
Macropharyngodon viviennae
Macropharyngodon negrosensis
Macropharyngodon meleagris
Macropharyngodon kuiteri

This is just a few I enjoy to watch for colour and movement and most are wrasses some people will look at/for. Some are more difficult than others so extra research is needed for them.

 

[Pankney72]

Halichoeres iridis
Halichoeres adornatus
Halichoeres trispilus
Halichoeres lapillus
Cirrhilabrus naokoae
Cirrhilabrus lubbocki
Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa/rubrisquamis
Cirrhilabrus roseafascia
Paracheilinus cyaneus
Paracheilinus attenutatus
Pseudojuloides atavai
Pseudojuloides severnsi
Xenojulis margaritaceus
Anampses neoguinaicus
Anampses melanurus
Anampses melagrides
Anampses geographicus
Anampses caeruleopunctatus
Macropharyngodon viviennae
Macropharyngodon negrosensis
Macropharyngodon meleagris
Macropharyngodon kuiteri

This is just a few I enjoy to watch for colour and movement and most are wrasses some people will look at/for. Some are more difficult than others so extra research is needed for them.

Ha! Quite the list.

I think it’s going to be H. iridis, with a pair of M. meleagris for this round.

P. cyneus will probably show up with either a naoko or an orange saddle in a few months.

 

[sfin52]

Hey guys and gals! Got a quick question I could use some creativity on.

I’m upgrading my mixed reef 125 to a 250 next week. I’m planning on adding a pair of melagris leopards after I get things going.

only problem is that I have a melanurus wrasse who can be a bit of a d*ckhead, so I want to add more than just these two to spread the pain around.

many suggestions on additional targets? He leaves flashers and fairies alone. No clams or decorative crustaceans/worms in my tank btw.

@Crabby48
Hes my wrasse guru

 

[i cant think]

Ha! Quite the list.

I think it’s going to be H. iridis, with a pair of M. meleagris for this round.

P. cyneus will probably show up with either a naoko or an orange saddle in a few months.

I think that’s a good start but remember to keep ontop of the pod population as I’m assuming it’ll be a new tank these will go into meaning the Pod population may face a dieoff.

 

[Pankney72]

I think that’s a good start but remember to keep ontop of the pod population as I’m assuming it’ll be a new tank these will go into meaning the Pod population may face a dieoff.

New glass box but keeping all the rock and most of the water from the prior heavily rocked 125. I’m not a huge believer in dosing pods. I’ll watch the new guys’ weight closely, if they start thinning I’ll feed more while microfauna expands.

 

[i cant think]

New glass box but keeping all the rock and most of the water from the prior heavily rocked 125. I’m not a huge believer in dosing pods. I’ll watch the new guys’ weight closely, if they start thinning I’ll feed more while microfauna expands.

IMHO, leopard wrasses need feeding all throughout the day and the easiest way to do that is an established pod population. One or two big feedings in the day isn’t bad but they can’t thrive with that. How do you plan on getting an established pod population?

 

[Pankney72]

IMHO, leopard wrasses need feeding all throughout the day and the easiest way to do that is an established pod population. One or two big feedings in the day isn’t bad but they can’t thrive with that. How do you plan on getting an established pod

Your opinion is noted and appreciated. I’m starting the tank with 180lbs of rock. 100lbs of which are completely seasoned and come with an established pod population. I also have a refugium. From there bugs will do what they do and spread to fill the remaining uncolonized rock. Easy peasy

 

[i cant think]

Your opinion is noted and appreciated. I’m starting the tank with 180lbs of rock. 100lbs of which are completely seasoned and come with an established pod population. I also have a refugium. From there bugs will do what they do and spread to fill the remaining uncolonized rock. Easy peasy

Ah, knowing you have a refugium does increase the odds of pod population's thriving and growing even through a die-off. Also, whilst this isn't to do with the fish but more coral I'd recommend keeping a lower amount of rock at the start (As you are doing so) as once coral grows in, they are an excellent way of natural blind spots.
100lbs out of 180lbs should be enough to keep the 3 leopards happy though, as you mentioned you will do so, keep a good eye on the leopards to make sure they don't get skinny.

 

[JCM]

IMHO, leopard wrasses need feeding all throughout the day and the easiest way to do that is an established pod population. One or two big feedings in the day isn’t bad but they can’t thrive with that. How do you plan on getting an established pod population?

I've had great luck using pellets in an auto feeder for my leopards. They hunt so efficiently and continuously that I've never felt comfortable relying on pods.

 

[Crabby48]

Fairy’s most are ok but some are more aggressive and shouldn’t be mixed with less aggressive. 250 gallon tank helps. Best thing to do is make a list of fairy’s then let us pick through what is best options. Flashers you can mix they are chill. Eightline flasher is the more aggressive out of them.

One warning is it’s possible both melagris transition one day so be prepared if it doesn’t work long term.
Sounds like you got the pods figured out. Depending where you get the leopards they may not eat prepared foods at first. Leopards snack on more pods then a mandarin lives on in my experience. Highly recommend amphipod population for wrasse!
As for melanurus I would not add him before other wrasse.

 

[i cant think]

I've had great luck using pellets in an auto feeder for my leopards. They hunt so efficiently and continuously that I've never felt comfortable relying on pods.

I rely on pods and populations with my wrasses, even my Halichoeres I will rely on pods to keep them thriving. I have two fat Halichoeres and one fat Juvie Blue Star Leopard.

Fairy’s most are ok but some are more aggressive and shouldn’t be mixed with less aggressive. 250 gallon tank helps. Best thing to do is make a list of fairy’s then let us pick through what is best options. Flashers you can mix they are chill. Eightline flasher is the more aggressive out of them.

One warning is it’s possible both melagris transition one day so be prepared if it doesn’t work long term.
Sounds like you got the pods figured out. Depending where you get the leopards they may not eat prepared foods at first. Leopards snack on more pods then a mandarin lives on in my experience. Highly recommend amphipod population for wrasse!
As for melanurus I would not add him before other wrasse.

I have also discovered this - I've always dosed copepods into my tanks for all of them. even my fairies will take the free swimming pods. As for the prepared foods, if you manage to get them at a small enough size they can be trained into it from a young age but they have to be less than 1" IME.

I have found that no fish, especially long distance swimmers or fish that need feeding several times (Wrasses, Tilefish, Tangs, Butterflies ect), can thrive with pellets as a main source of food. Other foods should be mixed in, whether that's live or frozen.

 

[JCM]

I rely on pods and populations with my wrasses, even my Halichoeres I will rely on pods to keep them thriving. I have two fat Halichoeres and one fat Juvie Blue Star Leopard.

I have also discovered this - I've always dosed copepods into my tanks for all of them. even my fairies will take the free swimming pods. As for the prepared foods, if you manage to get them at a small enough size they can be trained into it from a young age but they have to be less than 1" IME.

I have found that no fish, especially long distance swimmers or fish that need feeding several times (Wrasses, Tilefish, Tangs, Butterflies ect), can thrive with pellets as a main source of food. Other foods should be mixed in, whether that's live or frozen.

I've never had a tank as large as OP's, so maybe relying on pods in that size tank is reasonable.

My last M. meleagris made it almost 9 years which at the time was about the longest I had heard of one in captivity. She shared a 58g tank with a H. Melanurus and a H. Iridis (along with 15 other fish), so keeping pods was about impossible. She ate the pellets 4x a day plus frozen once or twice and was always fat and seemingly happy. She ate one night and the next morning was dead on the sand without a mark on her. I assume she just reached the end of her life, nothing had changed or been added to that tank for years prior. She never did transition to a male. (That tank also had a marine betta that would come out to gulp pellets from the feeding ring, strangest thing ever to see)

My current M. Meleagris is a year old and loves the pellets just as much. She also has shown no signs of transitioning.

I agree they need frequent feeding, they hunt non stop in the wild. One big meal a day isn't going to cut it.

 

[i cant think]

I've never had a tank as large as OP's, so maybe relying on pods in that size tank is reasonable.

My last M. meleagris made it almost 9 years which at the time was about the longest I had heard of one in captivity. She shared a 58g tank with a H. Melanurus and a H. Iridis (along with 15 other fish), so keeping pods was about impossible. She ate the pellets 4x a day plus frozen once or twice and was always fat and seemingly happy. She ate one night and the next morning was dead on the sand without a mark on her. I assume she just reached the end of her life, nothing had changed or been added to that tank for years prior. She never did transition to a male. (That tank also had a marine betta that would come out to gulp pellets from the feeding ring, strangest thing ever to see)

My current M. Meleagris is a year old and loves the pellets just as much. She also has shown no signs of transitioning.

I agree they need frequent feeding, they hunt non stop in the wild. One big meal a day isn't going to cut it.

Thats interesting that you couldn't keep up with pods.
I personally am finding it easy, I have a RS max nano with 7/8 fish (2/3 wrasses, 4 gobies and a blenny). 6 of them will eat pods, those six include a Griessinger Goby, Blue Star Leopard Wrasse, Hector's Goby, Naoko's Fairy Wrasse, Pink Streak Wrasse?, Yasha Goby. Most weeks for the past year I have added pods but when we had a shortage for 2/3 months there was still a thriving population. This is extremely similar to my 4' tank. The thing that helped me to accomplish this in only a year was actually having rocks that were from my first ever reef tank 15-20 years ago.

IMHO, it shouldn't be too hard unless you have an immature tank to keep up on pods. but that is based on my experience with reef tanks.

 

[JCM]

Thats interesting that you couldn't keep up with pods.
I personally am finding it easy, I have a RS max nano with 7/8 fish (2/3 wrasses, 4 gobies and a blenny). 6 of them will eat pods, those six include a Griessinger Goby, Blue Star Leopard Wrasse, Hector's Goby, Naoko's Fairy Wrasse, Pink Streak Wrasse?, Yasha Goby. Most weeks for the past year I have added pods but when we had a shortage for 2/3 months there was still a thriving population. This is extremely similar to my 4' tank. The thing that helped me to accomplish this in only a year was actually having rocks that were from my first ever reef tank 15-20 years ago.

IMHO, it shouldn't be too hard unless you have an immature tank to keep up on pods. but that is based on my experience with reef tanks.

I've never been a fan of refugiums, so that wasn't helping my pod population. I also didn't put alot of effort into supplementing pods as I never noticed a problem with just feeding pellets frequently. I've always found my fish take to them pretty quickly when it's a frequent food source.