Halichoeres Wrasse QT behavior

I just got a Vrolik's Wrasse and after putting him in my QT he seemed to be happily swimming around. However when I got home tonight (8pm) I found him laying on his side at the bottom of the tank. I'm running a bare bottom QT, but do have a try of sand in there which I would think he would use if he was sleeping.

Breathing seems normal so I'm hoping he's just sleeping since I hadn't turned the lights on yet to make acclimation less stressful. Any thoughts? I'm hoping I'll wake up to him swimming around and I can see if he'll take food in the AM.

 

Just sleeping would be my guess. You need to put a small container (5" x 5") filled with sand so it won't cause unnecessary stress.

 

Yeah I have a 5x8 Pyrex with sand in there which is why I was confused about him deciding to sleep in the bare bottom.

He was up and swimming around this AM and ate so the guess that he was sleeping looks to have been correct.

I think it's going to take me awhile to get used to wrasses behavior. A fish that plays dead and/or sleeps on its side is stressful if you've never seen it before

 

++1^^ that is so true, that behavior causes the hobbyist stress I only have one wrasse and I don't see it sleep but when I first got it, it hid for quite a bit.....now, it's either out swimming or sleeping in the rocks - I don't "see" it sleep anymore