Christmas Wrass reef safe ?

[chefmur]

I wondered if anyone had experience with a Xmas Wrasse in their reef. I finally lost my 6 line after a few years and would love to replace it with one. I have read conflicting reports on their safety in reef tanks, I understand they sometimes will pick on inverts. I have a mixed reef some softies, some LPS but mostly sps. Any thoughts

 

[wpecoul]

Do you have the genus and species name? Common names can be kind of a mess. Or maybe a picture from an online site you can post a link to?

 

[wpecoul]

I should have added - if it's a melanarus (I think I've seen them called Christmas wrasses), I'd careful with a fish medium sized or larger if you have any ornamental shrimp. They won't bother corals.

 

[chefmur]

The one I am looking at is in LFS in Bhm, a picture of it is on saltwaterfish.com, they call it Halichoeres ornatissimus. By the way wpecoul the purple haze frag i got from you at the swap is growing like crazy and looks awesome.
Thanks Michael

 

[wpecoul]

Well, Halichoeres sp. wrasses can't get any better than a 'maybe' on the reef safe question. They aren't likely to bother corals or clams, but whether they leave other inverts alone or not varies kind of unpredictably. All other things being equal, smaller/younger are likely safer, but no guarantees.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15414618#post15414618 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chefmur
By the way wpecoul the purple haze frag i got from you at the swap is growing like crazy and looks awesome.

Glad to hear it!

 

[chefmur]

Thanks for the info, maybe i'll pass on it.