All About Reef Safe Wrasses

Good. I will look into the Dusky then. My smaller fish right now don't seem to be bothered by large fish, just the large hands that seem to keep going into the tank lately.

What is the best way to contact PIA? I Emailed, but never got any response (yet).

Thanks Hunter!

 

I am interested to know if I could add a Melanurus Wrasse to a tank with a juvenile female canary wrasse and male carpenter flasher wrasse? I am also interested to know how you add a member of the Halichoeres genus to an acclimation box when they dont have sand to ease their stress?

Thanks for your help and your knowledge on the subject.

 

First, how large is the tank, and what are the other inhabitants?

As for mixing Halichoeres, it's always a bit of a crap shoot. The flasher does not present any issues, but the canary wrasse might, especially if it's already well established in the tank.

If you're putting a sand sleeper in an acclimation box, you need to have a small container with sand in the acclimation box. The container only needs to be as long as the fish; GladWare works nicely for something like this.

 

135 gallon with 2 ocellaris clowns, yellow watchman goby/shrimp pair, purple firefish, male carpenters flasher, and female canary wrasse. Canary has been in the tank for two weeks. Would a Christmas or radiant possibly be more friendly?

Thanks

 

2 weeks? Not much risk in that case.

Same caveat applies for any Halichoeres. Radiant and Christmas (H. claudia) are about the same temperament.

 

I have purchased my 2 new males to go in with my existing flasher -- went with a blue and a McCosker and they are currently in acclimation boxes for one day so far. The existing flasher has definitely checked them out thoroughly but is back to mostly mid-water cruising and doesn't seem to occupied with them. The McCoskers is a bit bigger than the existing but not by much and the blue is a little smaller than the other two. How long should they stay in acclimation boxes?

My existing flasher was purchased at an LFS and simply marked flasher. I was pretty sure that I correctly identified it as a Carpenter's based on 2 long filaments and a good bit of red on the anal fin - subsequently he now has just one long filament but you can still see the base of the second, perhaps a hawkfish nipped it or something. But in the last 2 weeks the red anal fin has started looking very yellow to the point that I started wondering if maybe it was a yellow-fin. Now with the McCosker in the acclimation box the red margin is starting to show more but likely less than 1/3rd of the fin. Definitely much less red than the McCosker so I'm wondering if maybe it is a hybrid of Carpenter's and Yellowfin? Or perhaps just a color fade though the rest of him is vibrant, more color than the new McCosker. Here's a pic of the original flasher for ID

 

If there's no signs of any aggression, 2-3 days is sufficient. I usually leave them in for 2 days, 2 nights, and let them out towards the end of the third day in instances like this.

Your exisiting fish is simply a P. carpenteri; classic example of one.

 

Thanks for confirming the Carpenter's id and the info on acclimation. I went a day a half and set all free and it has gone very well. That first hour was full of some great flashing and amazing colors. I think the blue was actually my favorite and he liked to engage in sprialing up swimming mirroring the Carpenter's. The McCosker preferred to jet along as he flashed. So interesting to see how the Carpenter's and McCosker look so similar but in the flashing the Carpenter's is so yellow while the McCosker's regular colors just intensify except the dorsal which changed a lot. Since then not a lot of flashing but the 3 are weaving in and out of one another swimming in the open column all day with almost no chasing and colors are very vibrant on the Carpenter's and the blue. The McCosker is a bit more muted but seems to be settling in. The blue is the smallest but the most bold and aggressive of the three. We are really enjoying them!

Thanks for all the help with this process.

 

What would be some of the best fairies/flashers for a 36 x 18 x 20

 

For flashers, that's big enough for any of them really, with the possible exception of the Eightline flasher. Those get larger than all the other flashers (4"), and I feel that size tank is too small for them.

For fairys, I'd stick with the ones which don't exceed 3-3.5" in length. Species such as: C. adornatus, C. flavidorsalis, C. lubbocki, C. marjorie, or even C. rubriventralis. If you were really looking to splurge C. johnsoni or C. lunatus could also work.