All About Reef Safe Wrasses

Just ordered a pair of c. jordani... They're going in a standard dimension 90g (48x18x24) that currently has a Royal Gramma and a pair of Purple Firefish. They are being shipped Monday for Tuesday arrival. Anything special we need to do for acclimation or anything? Wasn't planning an acclimation box or anything unless you recommend otherwise.... Any tips are appreciated.

 

First, a bit of a disclaimer: my practices aren't to be follow to a "T" by everyone, in the sense that I have not ever QT'd a fish. However, there's a reason I am comfortable with this, and subsequently the same reason I feel I've been successful in this practice. I only obtain my fish from a handful of select sources, and I am aware of how they handle their stock prior to sale. Everything is QT'd for several weeks and preventatively treated for parasites. Sure, this typically raises the price quite a bit on some already expensive fish, but in this hobby some things are just as much what-you-get-is-what-you-pay-for as what-you-see-is-what-you-get.

So with that out of the way...

If I was to obtain wrasses from an unknown source, I would do a QT/conditioning process. Wrasses are mostly prone to flukes and internal parasites, both of which can be treated with prazi. This would be my primary concern during QT. Wrasses are not very susceptible to ich; sure they can get it but unless they're in a severely weakened state it's not going to kill them. Further, unless you QT EVERYTHING which ever enters your tank (including snails), you're very apt to have ich present in the DT anyway. Copper can be very hard on many wrasses, hence it's something I've never use in a wrasse QT. Hypo would be the only option I'd entertain for that, but in accords with what I said a moment ago it's something I'd personally skip.

So assuming we're past the QT point and ready for introduction to the DT...

3 things matter when acclimating any fish, not just wrasses for that matter: temp, salinity, and pH. I generally check these three things in both the DT and the water the wrasses are in before acclimation; how different they are drives why type of acclimation I do. I'll only do a drip acclimation if salinity is quite a bit different, otherwise I'll do the simple turkey baster mehtod over a 30min period or so. If I'm doing a drip acclimation, I do a fairly steady drip, such that I quadruple the water volume in the bucket over the course of 45-60min. Any acclimation longer than an hour is unnecessarily long.

I'm a big advocate of always using an acclimation box with wrasses, and especially so if there are other wrasses in the system. It allows all the fish to see each other and adjust to the idea of each other without the new guys (gals) being overly stressed. It also allows you to ensure the new arrivals are eating, which can be especially important.

However, in your case, with such few other fish in the tank (especially with the lack of several potentially aggressive fish - the gramma is the only one who might be upset), you could probably forgo the acclimation box without much concern, assuming of course the health of the animal has already been ensured.

Best of luck, and you're in for an evening show every evening with a pair of flames. And I can't stress it enough, but your tank must be 100% covered/escape proof, especially with the show they're bound to put on.

 

Hey evolved I just purchased a melanurus wrasse that I believe is male. Took me an hour to acclimate because his SB was 1.021 and mine is 1.026. I did not QT, and the owner of the lfs states he only receives his fish from a distributor that has a basic QT policy so he does not do any FW dips or prophylactic treatment. If he were to have internal parasites or flukes would it be enough to kill the fish and would it ever resolve on its own? WOuld it jsut live in home much like certain things live in us and as logn as we are healthy never poses a concern? Would it spread to others?

I am pretty sure it is a male. The tail is very nicely colored and there is no second spot like found on females. The stripe extends basically though the eye and when viewed from most angles seems to have a very reflective glare. Is that normal with wrasse?

 

Here is a picture with flash, as you can see the eye looks normal it just seems to be from many angles it has a glare that looks different than my other fish

 

Awesome, thanks very much for the thorough write up! Our tank is covered by 1/4" screen so we should be good there. Super excited....

 

Answers in red below.

 

Thanks evolved. Do you agree with my assessment that it is a terminal phase male?

Also, he eats very well but does not yet touch pellets. I usually only feed RODS a couple times a week and the pellets the others to try and cut back on nutrients in my skimmerless system. He eats the RODs very greedily, do you think he can eventually be taught to eat NLS?

 

In time, it's pretty likely. He'll figure it out, but Halichoeres are a bit cautious approaching the surface. Frozen foods are a slightly better choice for them. However, they're very good hunters and find a lot to eat on their own. So in the meantime, just keep an eye on his weight. If he's getting skinny, feed more frozen.

 

My melarunus love NSL pellets. He is so fat too.

 

Sorry I am colorblind so the red does not stand out, I missed the answer to the question I repeated.

I actually throw the pellets at the surface to attempt and make them sink since nobody but the clowns seem to eat from the surface. The wrasse just hit in the back of the tank and never even looked at a pellet. As soon as some RODs hit the water he darted out and gobbled up huge pieces in no time. Not a bad problem to has at least he eats well and is plump