Good Greef Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 75g SPS majority tank, 2 yrs old, with roughly 75 lbs LR. Current fish = Midas Blenny, Crescent tail Fairy Wrasse (juvi female, 2 inches), Green Chromis, Purple Firefish, Banagaii Cardinal, and YWG. My CBB just died after I went out of town for 5 nights. I'm in the market for a free agent and want to add a larger showpiece fish. Not too excited with the Tangs I can get, Dwarf Angels would be perfect but last Flame I had kept all my polyps closed. Ive kept Anthias succesfully before, but want a fish that can survive a week without feeding if I go out of town (if I cant ask someone to feed). That leaves Wrasses as my ideal target. Adding some finer sand to the 6x6 section of my tank, bo tupperware. Im ok if the sand spreads. Labouti, Mystery, Leopard, Melanurus are my favorites. Ive read probably 5-10 articles and 50+ posts on the Leopard and Melanurus. I understand how hard it is to get Leopards past the 1st week, but also like how its not as aggressive as the others. Not interested in smaller flasher or fairys, as Im looking for my largest fish. Who has thoughts? I saw some posts here from Dan about how aggressive the Laboutis are nut am interested in yalls thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I think a sand sleeping wrasse is a bad idea. It's better to go with a cave or rock sleeper. Here's a link that you can use to identify where wrasses sleep. Avoid Anampses, Coris, Bird, and Cleaner Wrasses. Thalasoma Wrasses are semi-aggressive and can't be housed with your current fish or passive wrasses. Flashers, Lined, Fairy, and Carpenter Wrasses can all be housed together, don't need sand and are considered peaceful fish. I know that you said that you don't want any of these though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Our Labouti was aggressive at first, but eventually chilled out and now is probably the most relaxed fish in the tank. Plus his personality is hilarious. Honestly, if you're considering one, you should come check ours out, you'll fall in love. I really like all 3 of our wrasses, Labouti, Scotts, and Mystery. All have very different personalities, and are simply beautiful fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 My leopard wrasse is the most chill fish I've ever had. Nobody botthers him, he bothers nobody. My mystery wrasse is one of my favorites to watch, both personality and color-wise. I've had them in the past, though, and aren't the most hardy. I've had my cleaner wrasse for about 3 years. Everyone said not to get him, but he is the most popular fish in my tank and the hardest worker. Definitely avoid coris wrasses if you have and want to keep corals. Blue-headed wrasses are fun and active but become very territorial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BobcatReefer Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I've had my cleaner wrasse for about 3 years. Everyone said not to get him, but he is the most popular fish in my tank and the hardest worker. Why is this? I see them all the time at the LFS and I absolutely want to stick my head in the tank for a teeth cleaning, but they are listed as "difficult" care level on liveaquaria.com. What's the challenge w/ them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I've had my cleaner wrasse for about 3 years. Everyone said not to get him, but he is the most popular fish in my tank and the hardest worker. Why is this? I see them all the time at the LFS and I absolutely want to stick my head in the tank for a teeth cleaning, but they are listed as "difficult" care level on liveaquaria.com. What's the challenge w/ them? Similar to a mandarin, most need live food (parasites) that most of our tanks just don't provide. Mine has developed a taste for mysis, pellets, and algae disks so he gets enough to eat, but he still spends the whole day checking everyone out and keeping them clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BobcatReefer Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Gotcha - thx! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Why no corris ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good Greef Posted April 7, 2016 Author Share Posted April 7, 2016 Great information yall. Dan - I may take you up on that offer. Mike - once you got your Leopard eating frozen (or pellets?) and fat, would Leopards be able to survive 5-7 days without manual feeding? Again, I know its based on the amount of natural foods in your tank, but I guess I just wanna know if their hardiness is as good as others once they are established? Lastly, did yall special order the Labouti or Mystery from an ATX store? Anyone have a Melanurus? Ive noticed that reviews on them are polarizing, either awesome fish or they bully/kill all fish and inverts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Reefer Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I have a semi large Melanurus wrasse and he is an active swimmer and sometimes makes a bit of a mess digging into the sand, but otherwise he gets along fine with my other fish however I do not have any Blennies, Fairy Wrasse or Firefish, to be bullied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 The mystery we ordered but the Labouti was from another hobbyist (Thanks again Vu!) Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Why no corris ?There are three species of corris commonly sold: queen, red and clown. All of them get large, are aggressive and predatory. Green and Yellow Corris Wrasses are in the Halicheores family despite the name.Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 So yellow is ok? I was nervous had a yellow Corris wrasse for about 3 weeks now in the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 So yellow is ok? I was nervous had a yellow Corris wrasse for about 3 weeks now in the system.I've had a yellow coris wrasse for 3 years now and he's no trouble at all. Him and the foxface hang out all day, which I think is interesting. He doesn't seem to ever mess with anything, fish or coral. I don't keep any shrimp. I never saw him show aggression towards any of the 3 other wrasses I've added over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Woods Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 I have a Potters Leopard Wrasse eating frozen mysis agressively that is available for sale if you want it. He is about 5" long and super chill. Just PM me or text me Five1two. Five6five. Four2nine9. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Hovens wrasses are great. I have one and it's the perfect tank mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Great information yall. Dan - I may take you up on that offer. Mike - once you got your Leopard eating frozen (or pellets?) and fat, would Leopards be able to survive 5-7 days without manual feeding? Again, I know its based on the amount of natural foods in your tank, but I guess I just wanna know if their hardiness is as good as others once they are established? Lastly, did yall special order the Labouti or Mystery from an ATX store? Anyone have a Melanurus? Ive noticed that reviews on them are polarizing, either awesome fish or they bully/kill all fish and inverts. I can't speak for the 5-7 days, the longest I go without feeding mine is 4 days on long weekends when I travel. With that amount of time I've never had a problem with any of my fish. And I've never noticed any issue with the leopard, he's really been one of the easier fish I've gotten. Bought, temperature acclimated, released. He hid for the first day or two, but has been out and constantly active since then. I picked up my mystery from Just Reef, but have seen them at the Dome and RCA in the past. Just let your store of choice know, they can all get them. Availability is somewhat seasonal but now seems to be the right time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 What about setting up an auto feeder? Assuming it'll eat pellets and flakes? All my wrasses rush over and grab food from my auto feeder as soon as it dumps food in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 So yellow is ok? I was nervous had a yellow Corris wrasse for about 3 weeks now in the system.I've had a yellow coris wrasse for 3 years now and he's no trouble at all. Him and the foxface hang out all day, which I think is interesting. He doesn't seem to ever mess with anything, fish or coral. I don't keep any shrimp. I never saw him show aggression towards any of the 3 other wrasses I've added over the years. I agree with Kim. Yellow Coris Wrasse are peaceful, won't bother your inverts and they can be kept in aggregation. Not all wrasses will tolerate the same species, but the yellow one will without aggression. They also don't get as big or lose as much color as Green Coris Wrasses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 I vote mystery wrasse. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OU12004 Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 I have a large and small Meleagris leopard and an Ornatus leopard, mine do not eat pellets but do pick at the rocks all day. They also eat Mysis and Cyclopeeze. You could order a bag of pods and dump them in at night before you left on your trip and they should have plenty to hunt until you get back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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