Help with Mystery Wrasse

[badger126]

I keep hearing mixed things about mystery wrasse - do they bury in the sand or not? I picked up one in Salt Lake City yesterday, and after about 6 hrs in a styro box I finally got him home. When I pulled out the bag he was just kind of floating there. I arrived home at like 1 am and he was in a dark box for quite a while so I was hoping he was just sleepy. I poured him out in a bowl and then I noticed him gasping heavily. I did a pretty quick acclimation since I was a bit worried about temp and oxygen depletion. I also had a melanarus wrasse in the same acclimation bowl. I put them in the tank and the melanarus wrasse took to the sand and the mystery wrasse floated to the bottom. The tank was dark so it was hard to keep track of him but over the next hour or so he would just sit in one spot for a while and then swim to another spot if he was bugged by anything like current or my cleaner shrimp. He stopped gasping so much....then I looked at the tank again and he disappeared. I haven't seen him at all today, so I'm just wondering about their general nature. Is it possible that he's still ok? I've done a search and so far haven't found anything helpful. Can someone chime in with their experience? The melanarus wrasse is fine today by the way so I'm just waiting on my expensive fish to show up

 

[denash24]

In my experience that's not really normal behavior for a mystery wrasse. Mystery wrasse's tend to be bold and not really too timid, but check the caves in your L/R he may be in there. I've never seen mine bury himself in the sand like I see my leopard wrasse do.

 

[inselaffe]

They sleep in the rock not the sand, mine took ages to become bold, he hid for about 6 months not coming out to much but now he has been in the tank for over 2 years he's not scared but will still hide if i put my hand in the tank. He never has a go at anything in the tank but will also not take any crap from any of the other tank mates.

 

[dwinter]

Mine went in the back of my LR, I didn't see it often for a few days. It spent about 12h in one spot when I first brought it home. It was 4" when I got it, and had been in an aquarium for 2 years when I got it. It killed every invert it could aside from a clam, was very aggressive when I fed. It only really came out when I was feeding, aside from that I rarely seen it, after 4 months I sold it.

 

[badger126]

So it's been since friday 1 am....almost 48 hrs and not a sign. Can I still hope or is it more likely lost?