New Carpenter's Wrasse

I just brought home last night a male Carpenters Wrasse. I acclimated him for about an hour and then turned the lights out and let him go. he swam around flashing for a minute then dove into the rockwork. I did not see him the rest of the night. I have a 55 gal tank. his tankmates are a kole Tang, 2 Fire Fish, Starry Blenny, Dragon Goby, 2 Perc Clowns. In the LFS they had him in with a humbug damsel and a brown tang. He was out all the time that I observed him had amazing color! and would flash the humbug from time to time. He seemed in good overall shape, no frayed fins and such.

My wife called this morning to let me know that she spotted him. the Kole dove down behind the rock and the wrasse came up from behind the rock the kole pursued and the wrasse is now behind another rock. Now this is actually my second "peacefull" Kole tang, the first one I had I returned when he would not allow me to add any other tank mates. he was relentless. this new guy like to run back and forth "showing" to the dragon goby and the starry until one of them usually gets fed up and bumps him.

Do you think his tank mates are suitable? and do you think this will calm down after a few days. I will have to wait and see how things are going after I get off work today.

I hope to be able to enjoy him like I was when watching him for the three days I observed him at the lfs

thanks

 

bump!!

 

All sounds relatively normal to me; tankmates are suitable.

Give things a couple days to settle down; it'll take a week or so before everyone completely adjusts and the new guy settles in.

Please cover your tank if it's not already; 1/4" clear mesh screen works great for this.

 

Thanks Evolved. I read your wrasse sticky very informative. I have learned the jumping lesson the hard way, had 2 firefish jump to their deaths recently, I now have the tank fully covered.

I will give it some time I will be able to better see what is going on when I get home tonight, I just wanted to know if for the most part his tankmates are suitable. I think they are even if they will occasionally show display to each other.

I also know who to ask if I have another question about wrasses!

 

Also Evolved, this guy is about 2"+ and has a really good girth to him, lfs said he was eating like a champ, I plan to feed pellet, flake, frozen, and cyclopeeze, I would assume they should be fine on my varied diet correct? also I have a tank full of pods, I cant wait to watch him hunt for all of the Mysid shrimp I have!

 

I'll say it, I think there are too many fish in your tank, sorry.

 

No need to be sorry, I have been able to keep good water params to this point, This wrasse will be the end of my list. I have a pretty amazing cuc that keep everything cleaned up detriutus wise, and water changes every week.

 

I would try to find a female carpenter or any other female flasher for that matter, if you want your male to keep his color.

 

ok thanks I think I have actually read that.

 

Hopefully it will work out for you, they're beautiful fish. However, there is more to keeping a lot of fish than just keeping the tank clean and parameters stable. There are also issues with territory that could cause permanent fighting.