Leopard Wrasse eating dry foods!

[TheFishTeen]

I am currently planning my stocking list, and fell in love when I saw this:

In my opinion, the leopard wrasse belongs up there right next to the Gem Tang as 'The Most Beautiful Saltwater Fish in The World'. I knew I would never be able to acquire one because of their special live food requirements, but it was a nice dream.

Today, while browsing through liveaquaria.com, I found a page on the leopards wrasse, and found this.

The Leopard Wrasse diet should include vitamin enriched frozen mysis shrimp, vitamin enriched frozen brine shrimp, and other meaty foods along with a high quality marine flake and marine pellet food.<

Does this mean LiveAquaria sells Leopard Wrasse eating dry foods, or that it's main diet is live food and it should be supplemented with dry foods?

 

[snorvich]

No, nothing unique to LA. This fish's primary diet is copepods (or similar) but ones that are healthy will eat copepods, PE mysis, nutramar ova, cyclopeeze, and in some cases even pellet food that is of sufficient quality. The trick is to get one that is healthy. Ones that are not healthy will perish rather quickly.

 

[prop-frags]

Macropharyngodon bipartitus happens to be our favorite Leopard. We have a 2 yr old male that morphed from a female when it was about a year old.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5633934418/" title="nt 988 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5106/5633934418_759ccc8120_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 988"></a>

We recently acquired a couple of cute little females for him from Live Aquaria:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5639188409/" title="nt 1029 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5149/5639188409_8306ba5abd_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1029"></a>

In our experience, healthy specimens will eat anything you put into the tank, including nori. Ours will even eat romaine, red leaf, and green leaf lettuces.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Honestly, I have found them not to be that difficult if you get them from a good source (i.e. good wholesaler). I work at a LFS and we get them from Quality Marine, we have better luck with leopards than christmas wrasses. They do like to bury for several days after they first come in though.

That said, I've never had them eating dry foods, but they pound any frozen foods like champs and will pick at nori too.

 

[MCCOOL]

Agreed with snorvich and prop-frags, IF you get a healthy specimen they'll generally take any food after they settle in. Mine eats pellets, flake, gel food and anything else thrown in the tank. The struggle is finding a healthy one, not getting it to eat IMO a healthy leopard wrasse loves to eat.

 

[Texsun]

Agreed with snorvich and prop-frags, IF you get a healthy specimen they'll generally take any food after they settle in. Mine eats pellets, flake, gel food and anything else thrown in the tank. The struggle is finding a healthy one, not getting it to eat IMO a healthy leopard wrasse loves to eat.

2nd that. Once established, mine ate pellets as eagerly as mysis and cyclopeeze.

 

[snorvich]

But one caveat: they need peaceful tank mates.

 

[snorvich]

Great pictures and beautiful fish prop-frags!!

 

[Ralph ATL]

take a looksie here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1486086&page=70

 

[prop-frags]

Great pictures and beautiful fish prop-frags!!

Thank you Steve!

 

[darkside212]

I have a Macropharyngodon meleagris and a Macropharyngodon negrosensis both eat whatever I throw in the tank: frozen mysis, brine, limpits reef buffet, spectrum pellets, and NORI!