Haven't seen black leopard wrasse since introducing him

[Conigs]

Last Thursday, (Today is Tuesday) I purchased a black leopard wrasse. He looked great in the store, was surfing around the rocks for food, was fat, everything about him looked awesome.

I introduced him to the tank, he swam around for like 20 minutes, then went into hiding. It's now been 5 days since he's been in there and I haven't seen him. I know this is very normal for wrasse to hide when first introduced. But for this long???

Tank is a 300 gallon.

 

[Cliving1]

That's a big tank. Any signs of jumping? Its not uncommon for them to hide for a long period of time, and coming out to graze during the night.

 

[mcgyvr]

Its certainly possible..

 

[username in use]

Could be his preferred territory is behind the rocks lol.

 

[homer1475]

My last black leopard hid for 2 weeks before I finally saw him/her. I had already chalked it up to being dead. Then low and behold, one day it was swimming around.

 

[Conigs]

My last black leopard hid for 2 weeks before I finally saw him/her. I had already chalked it up to being dead. Then low and behold, one day it was swimming around.

And how has he done since then?

 

[billdogg]

My first Blue Star Leopard Wrasse never hid at all. The second one dove straight into the sand the instant it went into the DT. A month later I still hadn't seen a sign of #2 so I got #3, who died after about a week. Several days later #2 reappeared. Probably 6 weeks in hiding.

IMHO, nothing to worry about just yet. Once it becomes comfortable in it's new home, it'll be out and about

 

[101010]

When I relocated my tank a month back, my leopard wrasse didn't came out for almost a week.

Sent from my ASUS_X00TD using Tapatalk

 

[Conigs]

My first Blue Star Leopard Wrasse never hid at all. The second one dove straight into the sand the instant it went into the DT. A month later I still hadn't seen a sign of #2 so I got #3, who died after about a week. Several days later #2 reappeared. Probably 6 weeks in hiding.

IMHO, nothing to worry about just yet. Once it becomes comfortable in it's new home, it'll be out and about

Wow thats crazy!! Wonder if he was awake at night eating?

 

[Zalick]

Last Thursday, (Today is Tuesday) I purchased a black leopard wrasse. He looked great in the store, was surfing around the rocks for food, was fat, everything about him looked awesome.

I introduced him to the tank, he swam around for like 20 minutes, then went into hiding. It's now been 5 days since he's been in there and I haven't seen him. I know this is very normal for wrasse to hide when first introduced. But for this long???

Tank is a 300 gallon.

I've heard many stories of wrasses hiding in sand for a month.

I swapped tanks last month and my wrasse stayed hidden in the sand for 9 days. When he finally came out he looked just a little bit skinnier but otherwise just fine.

 

[Conigs]

Haha thats such a long time to hide out.

I've had one leopard wrasse in the past, he hid for like a day or two and then was out and about. He lived for about 7-9 months in my 90 gallon then randomly passed away one day. Not sure why. He was eating frozen, but didn't really eat pellets if I'm remembering correctly.

Now that I've introduced a black leopard, (hopefully I'll get to see him soon), I want to add a trio of regular leopards. Would look awesome.

 

[Conigs]

Update - Today marks 2 weeks. Still haven't seen the black leopard wrasse. He looked very very healthy in the store. Fat and searching for food in the rockwork.

 

[Conigs]

14 day mark and now I'm finally starting to worry! Lol. I actually think he's doing fine under that sand. Just hanging out. I'm just worried about how he's not getting any food.

 

[WVfishguy]

Fourteen days is a pretty short time. In a 300, it's no time at all.

Depending on how much live rock you have, he might be getting plenty of food without coming out.

I have a magnificent marine betta (comet) which will grace me with his presence one day out of 10 - if I'm lucky. He's about 6 inches long.

I set up this current 90 gal with keeping a leopard wrasse in mind, so one of the outflows blows water under and around the rocks on the bottom. I squirt food in the pump intake, and food goes under the rockwork. The comet simply lays there with his mouth open, and gets all the food he wants.

I had a comet about 15 years ago which almost never hid, and came out at each feeding. This new comet drive me crazy - a $100 fish I seldom see. :headwally:

I'll bet your leopard wrasse is doing something similar.

 

[Conigs]

Update:

Today marks 25 days since I introduced the wrasse. Still haven't seen him! Again, looked extremely fat and healthy in the store, surfing around the rockwork looking for food.

Hopefully he comes out! I'll give it another 2-3 weeks before I chalk it up.

 

[WVfishguy]

Truthfully, after 25 days, he's probably gone carpet surfing. Wrasses are like that. Sorry.

 

[lionfish300]

Update:

Today marks 25 days since I introduced the wrasse. Still haven't seen him! Again, looked extremely fat and healthy in the store, surfing around the rockwork looking for food.

Hopefully he comes out! I'll give it another 2-3 weeks before I chalk it up.

I lost one of my black leopard trio found it the sump brought it back to DT but never see it again. However a Comet did not see it till after 3 months darting across the rocks work at sunset. Keep your fingers cross

 

[Conigs]

I lost one of my black leopard trio found it the sump brought it back to DT but never see it again. However a Comet did not see it till after 3 months darting across the rocks work at sunset. Keep your fingers cross

My fingers are still crossed. It's been a little over 6 weeks. Again - he looked extremely healthy in the store. And I trust this store very very much. He was fat and continuously surfing the rockwork for food.