fairy wrasse color maintenance

[commodore]

Will male clown(solor) fairy wrasses maintain good color without a female or other wrasses in the tank? SAme question for carpenter and mckosker wrasse

Thanks

 

[snorvich]

C. solorensis will not maintain great color absent a female. The "blue group" loses the most coloration absent females. Flasher wrasses will maintain better color with females than without.

 

[wrasseguy2]

they will fade quite alot..i see female solorensis at stores all the time they are mislabled as ruby head or some other nickname like that quite often...i wish i could find some pics of one i seen that someone had for 3 years without a female and it was faded really bad..proper diet helps some but the females will help keep thier nuptial colors

 

[commodore]

So, is the clown(solonaris)wrasse worth getting without the female? The one I am eyeing at the LFS is in a tank with no other wrasses and has good colors

 

[wrasseguy2]

i would not keep one unless i had females for it though i love the colors on it but that is just me

 

[snorvich]

And, of course, they are one of the more aggressive fairy wrasses.

 

[commodore]

favorite wrasses

favorite wrasses

Steve(Snorvich)-- I see that you have a number of wrasses in your tanks. What would be your recommendations for some that would be good in a 60 gal mixed reef? I am interested in good colors, personality , peacefulness and not too expensive.

Thanks

 

[commodore]

clown wrasse color maintenance

clown wrasse color maintenance

Steve, Snorvich, others - Would a male and one female be OK? I am trying ti limit the number of fish, but don't want a single female with the male to be bullioed to death.

 

[iamwrasseman]

i have a five year old clown that is brilliant colored to say the least but as Steve said they are aggressive and i think they are a PITA myself .

 

[commodore]

Reply to Dave

Reply to Dave

Dave - Do you have a female with your male clown. Has it actually harmed or killed other tankmates? A number of descriptions I have read about them is that they are peaceful and good community tank fish. I guess there are exceptions to every rule, but if everyone's experience is that they are aggressive or bullies, not sure I want to go there. Thanks

 

[iamwrasseman]

no i just have a single male and he is very brilliant but he is not the only one that i have had that was aggressive . he is a monster now at about 3" long and rules the tank . he only chases the other fishes and doesn't actually do any damage to the tank mates but he has stopped me from putting any other fish in that particular tank

 

[commodore]

So you expect that any new fish introduced into that tank might be killed by the clown fairy wrasse? Have you enjoyed the fish enough to buy another one in the future, or have you sworn them off?

What other wrasses have you kept that are still nicely colored but are better behaved?

 

[iamwrasseman]

the leopard wrasses are my favorite but are tricky in the very beginning ,i love my liniatus,rombloid,and most tamrins add great color too . take your time and wait to find that perfect addition as they should be cared for until their natural demise but never discarded as some are
i do not think my clown would kill newbies n=but it certainly would harass any fish so that could contribute to stress and thus weakening their immune system opening them to disease.

 

[snorvich]

Steve(Snorvich)-- I see that you have a number of wrasses in your tanks. What would be your recommendations for some that would be good in a 60 gal mixed reef? I am interested in good colors, personality , peacefulness and not too expensive.

Thanks

Well, you put in a lot of variables. I can do good colors, personality, and peacefullness (such as C. rhomboidalis) but they are expensive. Better options with flasher wrasses which are all of the above (with two exceptions that are not normally available).

 

[snorvich]

So you expect that any new fish introduced into that tank might be killed by the clown fairy wrasse? Have you enjoyed the fish enough to buy another one in the future, or have you sworn them off?

What other wrasses have you kept that are still nicely colored but are better behaved?

C. solorensis would be aggressive towards newly introduced fairy wrasses. But there are worse ones, e.g. C. scottorum

 

[Jacob D]

I had a solorensis with a lyukyuensis and it held it's original color pretty well, also was not aggressive towards the other wrasse. It was semi aggressive towards some other fairy wrasses though. I wonder now if it thought that the lyukyuensis was its mate.

In my current tank I had (past tense) a solorensis with a naokoae. The naokoae was very aggressive towards it and the solorensis eventually disappeared. I'm a little concerned about adding any more wrasses with the naokoae now.