wrasses - recommendations ?

[SherryQ]

I have a number of wrasses - as they are my favorite fish after pufferfish.

A sixline wrasse is a beautiful easy fish. They do not sleep in the sand and are good eaters. I never saw mine bother any inverts and I had him for 4 years. I never had a problem with mine, but I've read they can be aggressive especially to other wrasses.

I currently have these wrasses in my 72 with a mandarin (I also have a refugium on the back of the tank for pod supply).

Scott's Fairy Wrasse - a gentle giant - eats well, sleeps in mucus cocoon - jumps!

Melanarus wrasse - absolutely gorgous and active, sleeps in sand, will try to eat snails, good eater

Pink Flasher Wrasse or Filamented Flasher (newest addition - just bought Saturday):
so far - eats well, pretty, peaceful - not sure where he sleeps - I think in the rockwork.

I also have a blue sided or purple wrasse in another tank - peaceful, eats well, sleeps in the rockwork.

Other wrasses I had:
Halichores Iridis - gorgous - peaceful, sand sleeper, good eater - I had him for a few months and then he disappeared - I want another.

Pencil Wrasse - most do NOT do well in captivity. Mine was doing great - nice and fat and peaceful, I think he slept in the sand. One day he managed to jump out (I still don't know how he got through or around the egg crate) and died.

There are so many beautiful wrasses. Check out Scott Michael's pocket guide to reef fishes for a look at some of the more common ones and his recommendations.

Good luck!

Sherry

 

[SherryQ]

I just reread you post and saw you mentioned the H.iridis wrasse. A great choice - mine was so awesome - one of my favorites - I really want another one.

As far as the sand bed - mine is about 3-4" deep. The funny thing is, is that I put some rubble and corse crushed coral in one section in front of the tank as I plan on getting some jawfish. Well, that just happens to be the melanarus's favorite sleeping spot. It is amazing to see him go to bed. In a flash he dives down into the sand and disappears. A tiny cloud of dust comes up in the area and disappears quickly. So, I wouldn't worry about the sand getting disturbed. In fact the spot he likes to sleep is right next to some zoos and ricordia on the ground and they are not disturbed at all.

A good place I've found to get wrasses is Aqua Addicts. However, I have first dibs on any H. iridis

 

[Moe_K]

Here's a good thread from RDo a while back... Leonard Ho (find his aquarium pictured in Michael Paletta's Ultimate Marine Aquariums) describes many flasher and fairy wrasses. Excellent info.

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2567&highlight=fairy+wrasse

 

[nunofs]

saw you mentioned the H.iridis wrasse. A great choice - mine was so awesome - one of my favorites - I really want another one.

I remember when you got it down at Marc's, I agree that it's a very beatiful fish.

I may head up to AA tonight to see what they have, seeing the actual fish may help me decide... anyone else going planning a visit there tonight?

Nuno

 

[NateHanson]

What time Nuno?

 

[nunofs]

Probably around 6:30, not exactly sure yet... feel free to PM me if you want to meet there.

Nuno

 

[NateHanson]

I'll have to play it by ear.

 

[karl wagner]

I am partial to the H. chloropterus. I hereby certify it's reef safeness.

best peaceful wrasse I ever had.

That said, the tank "COVER" requirement cannot be overstated.

Also, Wrasses love overflows, so if yours in inaccessible, I'd consider otherwise.

 

[~Flighty~]

I'm heading out to AA tonight too. I think they should buy up the retail space next to them and put in an attached bar. They'd make a killing.

 

[Antimony1019]

Hey Everyone,
It's going to be crazy at AA tonight, Mike is currently on his way to the store with a very large order (distributor couldn't get the order packed up early enough and it got put on a later flight), so there will be tons of acclimating going on. Everyone is obviously still more than welcome to come, who knows you might get your pick of a sweet fish that just came in . I'm leaving work and heading over there now, hope to see you guys!!

 

[nunofs]

There were a few very nice wrasses at AA but they were still being acclimated and I ended up not bringing any of them home... the other thing is that I didn't know anything about those species (they weren't on the reference book)... Mike and Joe had excellent advice, but I always like to read up on critters before buying them. Weird thing is that I can't seem to find anything about one of the species, a Vila Fairy wrasse (don't know the scientific name)... any pointers?

Nate: I didn't see you there, but it was good to chat a bit with Cindy again

Nuno

 

[synchiropi]

Nuno, seems that you have a pretty good idea of what wrasse you like, so maybe this is a little late. However, I would like to add that the solorensis wrasse is a very very cool fish. It does not bury in the sand (sleeps in a little crevice and makes a coccoon) and its an avid eater. Additionally, it is not very timid at all and swims around to the front of the tank whenever somebody approaches it.

I have him with two baby bangai cardinals, a flame angel, a purple firegoby and two green chromis. For some reason he seems to profoundly dislike the green chromis. Otherwise very well behaved fish that pays no attention to corals or the cleaning crew.

Mmmh, is the plural of chromis, chromises? Maybe chromisi?

 

[Shallowwaters]

Nobody has mentioned my favorite fish yet - A Yellow Streaked Fairy Wrasse aka Velvet Multicolored Wrasse aka Cirrhilabrus luteovittatus.

They're colors are more subtle than a Solorensis, but they are not sand sleepers. Take all kinds of frozen and fresh non-living foods. Mine is VERY peaceful. Lots of personality.

Clam and shrimp compatible too!

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Beautifu Xmas wrasse is my recommendation

Halichoeres ornatissimus

 

[nunofs]

I was at Skipton's today and ended up getting a Carpenter's wrasse... clearly not as rare/exotic as some of the suggestions here, but it seems to be a safe bet in terms of behavior, and the coloration is very nice.

Depending on how things go with this one, I may think of adding a different wrasse down the line.

Nuno