Brand new Flame Wrasse question

[nuxx]

Hey guys just introduced 3 Flame Wrasses to a quarantine tank. 1 male and two females.

Noticed 30 minutes after going in, one is on it's side breathing slowly in one of the pvc pipes.

Is this normal for a brand new Fairy wrasse?

Shipping stress or should I be worried?

Thanks

 

[PMazz]

It is normal for a wrasse to "play dead" when first put into the tank but they should bounce out of it quickly. Kill the light for the night and let it settle in. Good luck and i hope it pulls through

 

[Newsmyrna80]

How did you acclimate?

 

[nuxx]

How did you acclimate?

I don't like doing drip, so I floated the bags for 20 minutes. Then added a cup of water 6 times each 5 minutes to the bags while floating. Always worked well in the past. Then drained bags into a plastic colander and released the fish.

I noticed the fish moved a little bit this morning. Then I had to moved my Potter's Angel from the larger tank with the two Crosshatch Triggers in it, since it had no fins this morning...

After I moved the Potter's, all the Flames looked dead again, but still breathing...

Here's a video...


<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/VlaEpiEv5kM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>



Think it's still "wrasse" behavior for just going in last night? BTW: No ammonia is present.

 

[nuxx]

BTW: Saw two Flame Wrasses giving each other hell today.

Will the Male with two females in a 20 gallon long work? Are they just trying to establish an order or trying to kill each other?

 

[ryanremle]

Hard to tell-are they berthing fast? High ammonia from shipment.

 

[ryanremle]

Breathing-I've got 1 female nd I don't ever recall it acting like that. I do remember seeing a post that the male can harass the female-does that appear to be the case?

 

[nuxx]

Might have been some ammonia burn from shipping.

Still acting weird. I saw some fighting while spying on them on a network camera.

Was hard to tell what was going on. Almost like they were in a ball...

 

[PMazz]

They definitely try to show dominance but with many wrasses "eventually" they will all be male. It will take some time but you will see them all change sooner or later. One of the females could of been in the changing stage when you bought them.

 

[nuxx]

Well the larger of the "females" was dead this morning. Looked pretty beat up.

Looking closer at the "male", it looks like it's a terminal male. Maybe that's why it's so aggressive?

It's now picking on the smaller of the wrasses. UGH!

 

[PMazz]

You would be better off putting a separator in the middle of the tank and trying to sell one of the flames. If you can get rid of it fast enough you won't have them cramped for too long. You might take a small monetary loss but its better then taking the whole loss.

 

[nuxx]

The two left flames seem fine today...

Even came out to eat...

 

[PMazz]

Glad to hear...good luck with them, they are awesome fish!

 

[nuxx]

Yeah wish they'd come out a bit more

 

[Spar]

i had similar issues with my trio when i got them as well. took almost 3 weeks in QT for them to finally come out. these days they follow me around like puppies.

my two females did fine in a 20g together, but once i put them in my 450g they started fighting to the point where one of them was almost dead. i fished out the dominant one, kept them separated for a couple weeks to let the hurt one heal, and ever since they have been fine together.

these fish have a ton of personality, so will see some unusual behavior until they get fully adjusted.

 

[nuxx]

Looks like the last two got over the hump.

I fed them this morning and they both came out and ate. Didn't see any battle damage on either one.

Started a 4 week ParaGuard routine yesterday, so we'll see in about 5 weeks if they can make through QT and into the DT.