Flasher Wrasse Question

[C.Rayven]

I recently ordered a trio of McCosker's Flasher Wrasse, one male and two females. Unfortunately, they sent me all males. . . :sad2:

I've heard that these are some of the most peaceful flasher wrasses. I read somewhere about someone having three males together in one tank. I think that all three would be to many in my 100 gallon.

Would two do okay together?
One is the Sumatran color variant and the other is the African color variant.

Here's some Pictures because everybody loves pictures.
The Sumatran

The African (Please ignore the horrific water spots/streaks)

 

[evolved]

A 100g tank? Hmm; it's just on that boarderline to me. It might work fine; it'll be a factor of your aquascape (meaning if all 3 will see each other at any given time).

Had you said a 150+ gallon tank, I would have said you should be alright with 3 males.

So there's no definite answer here; might work, might not. The only way to find out is to try, and be ready to intervene in a few days if any of the three is constantly forced into hiding. They won't outright kill one another, but it's possible one or two could be forced into hiding if the other(s) is much more dominating. And a flasher pushed into hiding is one that will wither away.

Best of luck.

 

[C.Rayven]

Thank you for your reply, I appreciate it.

I'm going to give one to a friend. So I would only have two in the tank. The two that I plan on keeping are in a 30 gallon quarantine tank together. They hide a lot but they both come out to eat when I feed them. They have also chosen the same rock to hide under. Is that aggressive behavior? One thinking he is trapping the other one? The rocks are arched so that there's always more than one way out.

I think that my aquascaping in the DT would give them enough hiding places. . . But who knows. . . I'm hoping that each fish chooses a side of the tank to stay on.

 

[bullitr]

Cindy
I had 3 on males on my tank too thinking they will fight so I give the other 2 to Shirley ( Jadette ) after a week in sump non were fighting so I am planning to get more . HTH

 

[reefjunkie42]

It depends. I think with the presence of females it wont work becuase they will be competing. otherwise I think it would be ok, but 3 is pushing it. It is hard to get female flashers. Most are already changing!

 

[C.Rayven]

Cindy
I had 3 on males on my tank too thinking they will fight so I give the other 2 to Shirley ( Jadette ) after a week in sump non were fighting so I am planning to get more . HTH

Hey Lawrence - Your tank is MUCH bigger than mine. If I had 450 gallons to play with I wouldn't be too worried. I'm thinking I'll try two together.

It depends. I think with the presence of females it wont work becuase they will be competing. otherwise I think it would be ok, but 3 is pushing it. It is hard to get female flashers. Most are already changing!

I only plan to add 2 to the DT, I've already found a home for the other one. I figured that if I were to add the two males, any female McCosker's in the future wouldn't work.

I was thinking about only keeping one and trying to get him a small harem but I'm realizing now how hard it is to get females. The ones that I got weren't even in the changing stage they were big 3 inch males. I am now torn as to which one I would keep if I were to do that as both are beautiful.

 

[indyjaco]

I think it will be risky. I have a 75 with a Carpenter's and McCosker's and the bigger McCosker's will chase the Carpenters around periodically. I'm afraid the bigger flasher would do it more often being from the same species.

Having two of them will help keep their colors though. My McCosker's lost a lot of his color when i did not have another flasher wrasse with him.

Good looking fish!

 

[reefjunkie42]

personally. if it was me...id keep the african varient...I have 3 cf. mccroskii...from DD. 2 females and 1 dominant male. it is because i bought WYSIWYG that i ended up with what I did. the thing is black around the margins do it for me ...more than any other color. A fairy or flasher that has a good amount of black/dark filiment the better for my own personal aesthetic. That said indo varent is cool...but not compaired to african. +++african is rarely if ever seen. JUST MY 2CENT +IME+IMO

 

[C.Rayven]

indyjaco - Thanks!

I was really worried about them chasing each other into hiding but they don't really chase. They are frequently out swimming at the same time and that is just in my QT tank. Neither of them look stressed and they don't have any nips or rips on their fins.

personally. if it was me...id keep the african varient...I have 3 cf. mccroskii...from DD. 2 females and 1 dominant male. it is because i bought WYSIWYG that i ended up with what I did. the thing is black around the margins do it for me ...more than any other color. A fairy or flasher that has a good amount of black/dark filiment the better for my own personal aesthetic. That said indo varent is cool...but not compaired to african. +++african is rarely if ever seen. JUST MY 2CENT +IME+IMO

I think that I'm going to try the two together in my DT, if it doesn't go well I can always catch the Sumatran and I'll be keeping the African. I'm with you I love the black margins. Your very lucky to have gotten the Trio off of DD, I tried to get the ones that came up last week but my phone is way to slow and I was at work.