All About Reef Safe Wrasses

For those interested in or lovers of Cirrhilabrus, you might find this noteworthy: http://www.reef2reef.com/blog/cirrhilabrus-complexes-inferiority-need-not-apply/

 

I have 6 leopards in my tank, but it started rough. I ordered 5 bipartitus (blue star) from live aquaria. They came in looking good, but 1 was larger than the other 4. That one end up killing of the others. When I say killing, I mean actually ramming them in the sides until beyond dead. It was horrible.

I decided I would pull that wrasse and try again. I ordered 4 more blue stars and 3 negrosensis (black). Well, I couldn't get the killer wrasse out in time and had no choice to add the other wrasses to the tank and hope for the best. It turned out fine and the killer wrasse left them all alone. It's been several months now with no issues. Now I'm just waiting for that larger female to transition.

Oh.. And live aquaria screwed up and sent me 2 meleagris (regular leopards) instead of 3 blacks. I kept them. Debating about tossing a black in and maybe someday a choati.

 

Evolved, Great thread.

I think I've read somewhere that you've had experience keeping lunate fairy wrasses and just wanted your thoughts on the one I've recently added to my 60G tank, 1/4" mesh topping plus acrylic lid. The tank is relatively new, about 8 weeks and fully cycled and the current residents include a pair of sunburst anthias, a hooded wrasse and mccosker's (added the same day), and a tailspot blenny. 2 days later, I added a male lunate using an acclimation box and kept him in there for 48 hours. Since the wrasses were all added within a few days of each other, 48 hours seemed like an adequate acclimation period and he was released soon after the lights were off. He went straight to hiding that evening but was out the following day lured by some morning feeding. The hooded which was roughly the same size didn't pay much attention to him and the mccosker is too small to even bother. They were all swimming around and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No signs of any aggression.

The following day, I didn't see the lunate come out like he did that one morning feeding and I thought nothing of it cause new wrasses tend to hide. It's been about 3 days now and I'll admit I'm starting to get a little concerned so I just wanted your particular experience and others here as well on the chances of him reappearing. Makes you wonder with each passing hour if I missed something confrontational between the lunate and the hooded wrasse.

 

Mixing leopards can get complicated, especially when dominant males enter the mix. Keeping two males, even of different species of leopard, is not recommended.

I did have a true C. lunatus (Japanese) for several years. He was extremely shy and ultimately didn't do well amongst the other wrasses being so very passive.
The lunatus which are currently entering the market are actually cf. lunatus; a Philippine variant which is quite possible a separate species. And the aggression level is also quite different; on par with johnsoni.

I wouldn't much worry about not seeing much of the new guy for the first several days. It's not uncommon for the "settling in" period to last around a week or so. If there was no aggression from the hooded while the new addition was in the box or upon his release, it's not likely that's the issue. Best of luck!

 

They were all small juveniles (female of course)

 

Canary, dusky and a female choats leopard wrasse all added at the same time with no problems at all with my existing tank mates. Happy days! Thanks for the advice.

 

Ooooo a Choati? My fav fish

 

Glad to hear; you're very welcome.

 

Love your article, really clears things up about wrasses. My question is I have a Male Line Spot Flasher and want to add a Naoko wrasse, will this work? Thanks for your help

 

Possibly; depends a bit on the size of the tank, as the Naoko can be a bit on the relatively aggressive side.