Christmas Wrasse

Boy is he a looker!! The picture does no justice, he shines, has neon green, red, blue, and is just a great looking fish. He got a little bit beat up getting acclimated to his fish buddies... He is a skittish fish for sure, but after a couple days everyone is back to normal. He got one scrape on his side and his back fin is a little worse for the wear, but he's eating like a pig and seems to be doing well.

I thought the cin tom clown was going to be the biggest bully since he's the alpha. However it was the bicolored angel that I found poking at him the most. However, after 2 nights out/lights out they are all getting along fine now.

 

I hate to be the bad news bears here, but this is why I cautioned you on a "Christmas wrasse".

This is Halichoeres ornatissimus. Will reach 7" (and really needs a 75-90+ tank), and is known to become a bit on the aggressive side once mature. He will also love motile inverts once bigger as well.

 

well poop.

 

wow, one hour googling both Halichoeres ornatissimus and Halichoeres claudia has just left me more confused.
I trusted the LFS I got him from and I thought when I looked him up online and saw him at the shop they were a dead on ringer. :-[

again, well poop...

 

Definitely Ornatissimus. Make sure you have a tight lid.

 

I got out my ole glasstops for the jump factor.
However, I don't like keeping fish in tanks that aren't the correct size. I'm instantly feeling bad, but I don't know how I would get this fish out of here and back to the LFS. Now that he's in there, the rocks, the sand... I don't know how I would get him outta of there.

any suggestions?

thanks

 

How large is it now? It would be fine in a 60-65 for a while; until it gets over 5" or so.

Fish trap, including a DIY bottle trap, are your best bets. Or scoop him out of the sand in a container after he goes to bed (assuming that location is accessible).

 

oh he's not small. I would put him in the 4" range.

I assumed that when I read that the christmas wrasses (liveaquaria) said 50 gal tank min and 5" max'ish for the fish size that I would be just fine as frog hair... :-[

He does sleep in the sand, I could also try the bottle trick. I also don't want to go rooting thru my tank 3 days after he just got in there trying to fish him out. I would think that would just add unnecessary stress to this fish just cause I feel really bad right now.

What if I let this guy be for right now and then in a week/month try and get him out? I'm not sure, does that sound better/worse? I don't think there is anything wrong immediately... other than that I can't figure out a fish on my own.

 

I would wait a while as you have said. No reason to stress him out again so soon.

 

Yeah, as long as he's fine and healthy, I'm not going to worry about him.