Leopard Wrasse

[PeeperKeeper]

Okay, so I usually don't buy a fish I don't know pretty much about already, but I was very taken with a blue Leopard Wrasse at Rivercity last weekend and gave in to the impulse. Carlos is a good guy and I trust him, so he said it will be a cool fish for my eight year old well established 75G reef and I believe him.

But now I want to find out more about them. It's such a gorgeous fish! I put him in Saturday late afternoon. The tank's at my office so I figured it would be good since Sunday no one is there and it would have time to get used to the new surroundings before it has an audience. Today, it's still hiding under a rock, but it's a different rock than the one it went under initially and I can see it's tail move every so often and know it's alive. I know wrasses like to lay on the bottom, so I'm trying not to get too nervous, but I'm anxious to see it swimmin' around.

Carlos said several of the big show tanks around here have these fish so I wanted to hear from some of you who have one. What do you feed? Any quirks or things I should know?

Thanks in advance.

*edited to add: This post at RC makes me feel better about him not being out yet:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1069059

Both people who posted that theirs had been hiding said they eventually came out, and it sounds like it's common for them to do this when new. The only thing that did make me worry a little is that they said it was hard for them to survive shipping.

Edited March 26, 2007 by PeeperKeeper

[semperfimarine1]

the same thing happen with mine and now shes doing great. i also got mine from river city. when i first put her in she quickly hid in all my rock. didnt see her for like a day or two maybe and now she comes out during mid day and swims with my herd of tangs. she come out swim and towards the evening i wont see her till the next day. i feed mine mysis. they are cool fish with a neat pattern!!

hope your works good for you like mine is!!

[Joseph9123]

I have two different leopard wrasse, one in the main tank and one in my fiance's tank. The blue spotted leopard loves PE mysis and the same one that you got love the smaller mysis and live brine. I have to get her used to me feeding thru the baster till I convert her to full mysis. The eat copepods like mandarins so I hope you have alot of them to keep them happy.

-Joseph

[PeeperKeeper]

Well, he still hadn't come out this morning, so I started worrying that he was stuck under the rock he had gone under. I could still see his tail and it still moved. I put some food in the tank and the tail started moving more, like he smelled it and was interested, but he didn't come out. It wasn't like he was struggling, just flipping the tail a little.

So I decided to make sure he could get out. I moved all the rocks around to get to where I could just lift the one he was under straight up. When I did, he came out and looked stressed of course, but generally intact. He was out in the front while I put all the rocks back, but then went back in to hide in basically the same place when I was done, only now I can't see him like I could before. While he was out, he swam okay, but also layed down across a rock at one point. I could actually move him with my hand without him darting away like a normal fish would. Is that normal wrasse behavior?

I'm just worried that he hasn't eaten yet. Carlos said he ate some mysis before I picked him up, but that would have been either Friday night or Saturday morning.

[thedude]

I've had them live for over a week and a half without eating. By moving the rocks and such to look for him you're probably doing more harm then good stressing out the fish. Keep watching and feeding and hopefully he'll feel comfortable enough to come out and eat.

[PeeperKeeper]

Okay, you're probably right, John. I'll just hope for the best and stop buggin him. That makes me feel better that you've had them go so long.

Edited March 27, 2007 by PeeperKeeper

[xcreonx]

I'm sure you know the benefits of researching fish before you buy them.

Leopard Wrasses are considered 'Expert only' by most people, as they eat primarily live foods, ie: amphipods on live rock. I'm sure they can be taught to eat frozen, but this is the risk. Much like Copperband Butterflys or Mandarins.

You can try feeding them a variety of live foods, clams or mussels and feeder shrimp, but unltimately they want live amphipods in the tank to constantly feed on.

Good luck! They're beautiful fish, but picky as ****.

Oh, I guess H-E-double-hockey-sticks is a banned word

[+ACampbell]

Good luck! They're beautiful fish, but picky as ****.

Oh, I guess H-E-double-hockey-sticks is a banned word

Badword list amended.

[PeeperKeeper]

I'm sure you know the benefits of researching fish before you buy them.

Leopard Wrasses are considered 'Expert only' by most people, as they eat primarily live foods, ie: amphipods on live rock. I'm sure they can be taught to eat frozen, but this is the risk. Much like Copperband Butterflys or Mandarins.

You can try feeding them a variety of live foods, clams or mussels and feeder shrimp, but unltimately they want live amphipods in the tank to constantly feed on.

Good luck! They're beautiful fish, but picky as ****.

Oh, I guess H-E-double-hockey-sticks is a banned word :D

Yes, as I said, normally I research before buying, but we all get caught up sometimes. I have researched and/or kept many other wrasses, so I at least had some idea of the type of fish. Wrasses always freak me out with their little lying on the bottom habits and I just needed some reassurance.

I've had reef tanks for the past 13 years, at home and at my office with the exception of 4 or 5 years when my tank was just a FOWLR for the most part. This tank has been up and running in my office for about 8 years. I have one refugium connected to it and another separate one with no fish which is teeming with pods so I occasionally move a rock from there into the main tank. I understood from Carlos and Randy that Leopard Wrasses normally eat PE mysis and that this one did eat at the store before I picked it up.

As far as an update, he was lying with just his head buried in the sand at the FRONT of the tank the whole time I was at the office today, which was just a few hours in the morning. Several patients commented that we had a dead fish, but I assured them he was definitely breathing, and is just stressed. One of my staffmembers suggested stress management counseling for him.

I'm wondering if he's up at night. It was suggested in the link referenced above at RC that they may "have their days and nights mixed up" initially after being shipped from elsewhere in the world. He has been in a different location each morning from where I last saw him with the exception of yesterday. I also noticed when looking at him today that he has a bulge where I suppose his stomach might be, indicating he may have been eating when I wasn't there to see. The bulge does seem kinda low to be his stomach though. I think it's right in front of his cloaca, or whatever you call a fish's "exit orifice". I hope he's not "irregular".

[Joseph9123]

Well as you been looking up on it. They eat the same stuff as mandarin but also go after the larger copepods that the mandarin don't like. They are nocturnal, and will feed at the dusk hours of the day or very early morning. It just happen that mine freaked out and hid himself for the first day. Since I work from home as a Loan officer at a mortgage bank, I have extra free time to look at the tank. RIght when I saw him, I had some Pe mysis and live brine availible. SO I shot alot into the tank so he first was hesitated but after seeing the live brine ,he attacked everything. Now I feed him at 3 pm to insure he's out till 11 pm or 12 pm, then I shut the light for night time. You just have to wait for him to be out at business hour and shoot food so he will learn to eat at your own time.

-Joseph

[apedroza]

More than likely he is coming out and feeding at night and hides when the lights come on. When I first got my Yellow Coris Wrasse I didn't see it for a month and thought I lost it. Then one saturday before my lights came on I glanced in the tank and there it was. I watched it for a while and fed some frozen mysis and it went after it. Once the lights came on it buried itself once again. Slowly it sarted staying out longer and longer and now barely hides at all. Give it tiem and hopefully he will start to come out more and more.

[PeeperKeeper]

Well, I wish that had been the case, but I'm sure I lost him. The last time I saw him was Thursday and I was encouraged because he actually came out and swam around briefly. But alas, he never did eat, and he went back in the rocks never to be seen again. I'm sure he's gone because I saw a little piece of what could only be part of his skeleton Tuesday. What a bummer!

I asked the guy at Aquatek about them and he said part of the reason they're so hit and miss is that because they're "sand divers," when they are collected, they tend to dive into the sand so forcefully that the sand damages their gills. He said if you can get one that they managed to catch while it was still above the sand, they do well, but you can't ever tell if that's the case. I don't know if that's true, but it sounds reasonable.