Leopard or Tamarin Wrasse?

[BigBlueTang]

I just read the entire primer thread on the leopard wrasse, and I am confident that I can get it to work in my aquarium. Is there any other things I should be worried about with it? And will it coexist with a mandarin dragonet?

 

[Dmorty217]

Yes they will coexist together. Wrasse are water column swimmers and mandarins scoot around the bottom of the tank looking for pods to pick at.

 

[BigBlueTang]

Yes they will coexist together. Wrasse are water column swimmers and mandarins scoot around the bottom of the tank looking for pods to pick at.

Thanks for reply Dmorty, read a couple of your posts. Just to make sure, Leopard wrasses need at least a 3" sandbed, and are not like mandarins so they don't have to feed every 30 seconds?

 

[snorvich]

Thanks for reply Dmorty, read a couple of your posts. Just to make sure, Leopard wrasses need at least a 3" sandbed, and are not like mandarins so they don't have to feed every 30 seconds?

They eat copepods in addition to supplied food and as such will diminish your ability to keep a mandarin, perhaps enough for its demise.

 

[Dmorty217]

Yes on the sandbed, and a tight fitting top or netting is a MUST. They don't need fed every 30 seconds but are challenging to get accepting prepared foods. If you get one eating I would feed it several times a day for sure

 

[sethd12]

I had one a few years ago when I worked at a LFS. We actually got them to eat pretty regularly. We came up with a pretty cool idea (if you could get the wholesaler to go along with it). We would have them bag the fish with a few inches of sand in the bag, so that they could remain buried during their transit. It seemed to reduce their overall stress. Once they were acclimated we would feed everything we could usually with mysis being the winner. Good luck!

 

[evolved]

They eat copepods in addition to supplied food and as such will diminish your ability to keep a mandarin, perhaps enough for its demise.

Precisely. Therefore the tank size is rather important here.

Sidenote: Leopards are typically easier to keep than Tamarins.

 

[snorvich]

Precisely. Therefore the tank size is rather important here.

Sidenote: Leopards are typically easier to keep than Tamarins.

Considerably.

 

[slief]

In checking your history, and from what I gather you have a new tank that was just set up a month or two ago was setup with dead or dry rock. The Leopard wrasses like to forage on pods all day long and it's a good idea to put them into a well established system. With your system being so new and virtually void of sustainable micro life at this early stage and also given that you have a mandarin in the tank, I would suggest you hold off on this fish for several months. Both the Mandarin and the Leopard should only be kept in a well established system for best survival chances and both are poor choices for such a new system. Your tank is a long ways from being well established. Especially without having been stocked with live rock.

 

[snorvich]

In checking your history, and from what I gather you have a new tank that was just set up a month or two ago was setup with dead or dry rock. The Leopard wrasses like to forage on pods all day long and it's a good idea to put them into a well established system. With your system being so new and virtually void of sustainable micro life at this early stage and also given that you have a mandarin in the tank, I would suggest you hold off on this fish for several months. Both the Mandarin and the Leopard should only be kept in a well established system for best survival chances and both are poor choices for such a new system. Your tank is a long ways from being well established. Especially without having been stocked with live rock.

I agree.

 

[BigBlueTang]

Oh! I don't have my tank yet!!! Sorry you guys had saw it like that... I was just working on my stock list!!! I would never put a mandarin in a system less than 6 months old

 

[snorvich]

Oh! I don't have my tank yet!!! Sorry you guys had saw it like that... I was just working on my stock list!!! I would never put a mandarin in a system less than 6 months old

A mandarin in a 75 gallon tank is marginal at best and will not work with a tamarin or leopard wrasse.