Help me choose a reef safe wrasse!

S

SteveZZR

New member
Hi guys,



I'm trying to pick the final fish in my plans.

I have my 3x2x2 ready to go, I'll be adding a yellow clown goby, mandarin, and a pair of bangaii cardinals.

Current plans are to add

1x One Spot Foxface

2x saddle clown



One last choice

Pair of possum wrasse, because they're different and pretty damn cool, or a single fairy wrasse or other reef safe wrasse.



Can anyone help me choose?

Pictures would help where possible!
 
i have 4 wrasses. a red velvet fairy wrasse, a yellow fin flasher wrasse, a yellow coris wrasse and a vrolik's wrasse. all are reef safe and all are stunning as far as color. i suck at taking pics but if you go to liveaquaria.com, there is a "wrasses-reef safe" category where you can look at all of them. in fact, all of mine were shipped from there and the pictures on their website represent pretty much exactly what i have. :)
 
I've read several complaints about Possum wrasses being overly cryptic especially in larger tanks. If I had the room I would do a Leopard wrasse, with my DT only being 30 gal, I don't so it is Possum wrasse for me. Tank is small with minimal rockwork so I hope I don't have this problem.
 
In your size tank any flasher wrasses and all but the largest fairy wrasses will work, as well as a leopard and the smaller Halichoeres species.
 
Are leopards easier to keep than the jewel leopard wrasse?

Was under the impression marcophygon (sp?) wrasses' were planktivorous and not good with mandarins as it results in a hungry mandarin
 
I missed that on the Mandarin. AFAIK Leopards are carnivores but not planktivores. They are most certainly "pod" hunters and will definately pose a problem if a Mandarin is a selected fish, a Possum will present the same problem as well.
 
Really? Snorvich approved them as compatible in the thread.

Aren't pods zooplankton, making things that eat them planktivores?





So, colourful, active, non-podhunting wrasse suggestions? :D
 
I love my yellow coris wrasse. I got it after reading about Nina talking about hers. It's a beautiful yellow with orange stripes on it's cheeks and is very peaceful. I missed not having a yellow tang till I got this fish. It's an excellent replacement for color.

One word of caution, be careful with turning your lights on or off all at once, mine freaks when this happens. Probably common to most all wrasses... I programmed my Radions to have a step down in intensity if I need to turn them off or down for this reason which seems to have solved the problem.
 
SteveZZR said:
Really? Snorvich approved them as compatible in the thread.

Aren't pods zooplankton, making things that eat them planktivores?





So, colourful, active, non-podhunting wrasse suggestions? :D
Click to expand...

They are compatible, problem is in the care and feeding of Mandarin fish. If you can get your Mandy to eat prepared foods then it would be fine, if not then the last thing you would need in a tank of your size would be another fish eating the Mandy's only food source.
The wrasse you linked from LA will hunt the same foods and also diminish the supply but will coexist with the leopard otherwise. Most (if not all) wrasses that are suitable for your tank will compete with the Mandarins food source.
Either one of the wrasses should be fine with larger shrimp. I've had both and kept them with cleaner shrimp with no issues.
 
The mandarin is taking brine shrimp - on a couple of occasions has swam into the water column to grab some! Need to get some mysis and try that really I guess.



Wrasse will be few months away anyway so plenty of time to try new mandarin foods and to pick a wrasse
 
I have a linespot wrasse that is stunning and tends to flash regularly when he's happy. I've also got a McCoskers which is another stunning fish with a great personality. Both are totally peaceful and safe. My redline wrasse has the potential to eat small inverts but hasn't bothered anything except flatworms. They are aloof but spend all day swimming around the rocks so they're active. Male redlines are gorgeous but could be hard to find. Mine is peaceful with all fish except the other wrasses which she will briefly chase if they come near her.
 
Tempted by McCosker's and Linespot.

Have room for both as they're same size as possums too.....



Canary Wrasse (the one wrongly called 'Coris' a lot) is tempting, but I already have my clown goby for a splash of yellow, and will be adding a yellow foxface too...
 
One spot should be ok, but they can be hit or miss with corals. I had a Lo in my 75g and he got too big really fast but I have seen One spots in 75s and they are just fine.
 
Just about any wrasse that you choose will hunt for pods and fauna nearly constantly. Fairy and flasher won't as much as a Halichoeres or Leopard, but they still will.
 
jda said:
Just about any wrasse that you choose will hunt for pods and fauna nearly constantly. Fairy and flasher won't as much as a Halichoeres or Leopard, but they still will.
Click to expand...



From what I've read flasher and fairies eat swimming pods rather than picking the rocks?



Tempted by chalk bass instead of wrasses now.....







New game guys, suggest reef safe fish for my tank based on the stocking I've listed already - clowns are coming soon already at lfs, fox is on order
 
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