Know anything about pencil wrasse behavior (Pseudojuloides Kaleidos)?

Poseidon20000

New member
I purchased a pencil wrasse today from my LFS on an impulse buy... It has a hot pink stripe on its back, greenish body, blue lined face, and yellow tail - never seen anything like it. The employee at the store informed me that it was a pencil wrasse and that it was reef safe. The fish seemed very healthy and I fell in love with its coloration. Hes in a container now drip acclimating. I've done an extensive search online and have come up with little to nothing besides the fact that I have identified him as Pseudojuloides Kaleidos. Here is the link - http://www.saltcorner.com/AquariumLibrary/browsespecies.php?CritterID=3715. I have also attached additional photos to help you. The coloration is a little off but you will get the general idea ( cant really see the yellow on him). Does ANYONE know anything about this species? Is it reef safe? Has anyone had any experience with this fish? THANKS TO ALL IN ADVANCE :thumbsup:
 

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While I've never kept one, my understanding is that they are reef safe (except possibly with the smallest of inverts), however make sure you have a good lid on the tank as they can jump!
 
The genus is very touchy as a whole, is the fish feeding? What size tank do you have, how long has it been up and running, and what kind of tankmates does the fish have. Not a good impulse buy I'm afraid, if it is feeding well you might get lucky but this can be a hard fish to keep.
 
The fish was feeding on live brine in the store for a few days. One of the employees kept feeding him live brine periodically throughout the day because he was going to take him home. I have a 6 year matured 150 gallon reef with a lot of rock and a deep sand bed. Fish include mystery wrasse, blue hippo tang, sailfin tang, flame angel, yellow eye kole tang, percula clownfish, black cap basselet, royal gramma, bangai and pajama cardinal fish. Inverts include 4 cleaner shrimp, 1 blood shrimp, snails, hermit crabs, and clams. He was drip acclimated for about 3 hours and was just placed into the tank. As with most of these wrasses, he swam around for a bit and buried himself into the sand. At this point my fingers are crossed and I hope to see him again soon.
 
A friend of mine has had a Pseudojuloides sp. for over a year now in his 90g reef. They do have a reputation for being touchy but his has done really well with no special attention. I was a bit surprised about it given their reputation, it may come down to getting a fish that made it through the chain of custody with no issues. They're very pretty wrasses.
 
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