Yellow Banded Possum Wrasse (Wetmorella nigropinnata) VS Pink-Streaked Wrasse (Pseudocheilinops ataenia)

[Kiboshed]

One of these two is going to be the next edition to my 32 Gallon Biocube.

Have a very peaceful group in there with Linear Blenny, Firefish Goby, Hectors Goby, and a CuC.

Lots of rockwork and hundreds of copepods.

Is there much of a difference between these two species?

If any of you have experience with both which do you prefer?

 

[Coral Theory]

They are both very peaceful, IME. I prefer the yellow banded.

 

[vetteguy53081]

One of these two is going to be the next edition to my 32 Gallon Biocube.

Have a very peaceful group in there with Linear Blenny, Firefish Goby, Hectors Goby, and a CuC.

Lots of rockwork and hundreds of copepods.

Is there much of a difference between these two species?

If any of you have experience with both which do you prefer?

Possum will be more challenging as they require very stable conditions and good water quality and a variety of frozen live foods in which the wrasse is not as picky. The possum also susceptible to ich and velvet with poor conditions

 

[Kiboshed]

They are both very peaceful, IME. I prefer the yellow banded.

Mind if I ask why?

 

[Kiboshed]

Possum will be more challenging as they require very stable conditions and good water quality and a variety of frozen live foods in which the wrasse is not as picky. The possum also susceptible to ich and velvet with poor conditions

Thank you, I was leaning toward the Pink Stripe anyway simply based on appearance.

I already have a yellow lined fish.

I just wanted to see if there were any behavioral or medical reasons to pick one over the other.

Thank you for your input, it's very insightful.

 

[i cant think]

Possum will be more challenging as they require very stable conditions and good water quality and a variety of frozen live foods in which the wrasse is not as picky. The possum also susceptible to ich and velvet with poor conditions

IMHO, this isn’t 100% true - Wetmorella Wrasses are somewhat more defensive against disease as they have a thicker slime coat. However, they do have a caveat (both species in question have this same issue) with any aggression towards them. This can end up killing them - even minor aggression can be risky. Which does make these guys somewhat harder to own than other species of wrasses.

As for not being picky with foods, that entirely depends if you get it after it’s feeding. If you get it home and it doesn’t feed, it can be a PITA to get feeding. Generally if you get them home and they are feeding, it’s fairly easy. They mainly feed on meatier foods but can begin to feed on algae and other herbivorous foods.

 

[Kiboshed]

IMHO, this isn’t 100% true - Wetmorella Wrasses are somewhat more defensive against disease as they have a thicker slime coat. However, they do have a caveat (both species in question have this same issue) with any aggression towards them. This can end up killing them - even minor aggression can be risky. Which does make these guys somewhat harder to own than other species of wrasses.

As for not being picky with foods, that entirely depends if you get it after it’s feeding. If you get it home and it doesn’t feed, it can be a PITA to get feeding. Generally if you get them home and they are feeding, it’s fairly easy. They mainly feed on meatier foods but can begin to feed on algae and other herbivorous foods.

Feeding some species is always and interesting topic.

I do not like the sterile, artificial look and feel of most tanks. I try my best to replicate a natural environment, including a lot of biodiversity that some would consider ugly.

I have hundreds of copepods and amphipods that I seeded in the tank as soon as algae started to pop up. Tiny inverts were essentially my first tank inhabitants. Without any fish or other predators it gave them a big leg up to establish a strong breeding population in my tank long before I ever added fish.

If I don't scrub the glass for a couple days it looks like there are thousands of tiny white dots on the glass feeding on algae. Lol

My long winded point is that there is a lot of variety of food in the tank regardless of my feeding.

Having said that, I do a very varied diet of San Francisco Bay Brand Four Varieties of food frozen, LRS Reef Frenzy, NLS Marine Pellets, and Imagitarium flakes on a daily rotation to ensure I am getting a wide variety of food stuffs.

In an ideal world I would feed them fresh live or frozen food multiple times every day, but I am a blue collar working class guy that works 12 hour shifts so they get 1 big meal a day when I am working. The dry food is to prep them for weeks when I choose to take vacation.

Thank you for your insight and input.

Do you think either/or would be able to feed in a tank like mine?

Most difficult feeder I ever owned was a Banggai Cardinal. Swear the things would only eat frozen food, EVER! Basically it would only eat when I have frozen food or whatever it could hunt in the tank. Otherwise it wouldn't touch pellets or flakes.

Was a huge pain.

 

[i cant think]

Feeding some species is always and interesting topic.

I do not like the sterile, artificial look and feel of most tanks. I try my best to replicate a natural environment, including a lot of biodiversity that some would consider ugly.

I have hundreds of copepods and amphipods that I seeded in the tank as soon as algae started to pop up. Tiny inverts were essentially my first tank inhabitants. Without any fish or other predators it gave them a big leg up to establish a strong breeding population in my tank long before I ever added fish.

If I don't scrub the glass for a couple days it looks like there are thousands of tiny white dots on the glass feeding on algae. Lol

My long winded point is that there is a lot of variety of food in the tank regardless of my feeding.

Having said that, I do a very varied diet of San Francisco Bay Brand Four Varieties of food frozen, LRS Reef Frenzy, NLS Marine Pellets, and Imagitarium flakes on a daily rotation to ensure I am getting a wide variety of food stuffs.

In an ideal world I would feed them fresh live or frozen food multiple times every day, but I am a blue collar working class guy that works 12 hour shifts so they get 1 big meal a day when I am working. The dry food is to prep them for weeks when I choose to take vacation.

Thank you for your insight and input.

Do you think either/or would be able to feed in a tank like mine?

Most difficult feeder I ever owned was a Banggai Cardinal. Swear the things would only eat frozen food, EVER! Basically it would only eat when I have frozen food or whatever it could hunt in the tank. Otherwise it wouldn't touch pellets or flakes.

Was a huge pain.

I think that these two wrasses could easily thrive in your tank - watch for aggression from the Blenny but other than that both are great choices