Leopard Wrasse Primer

Leopard Wrasse Primer

  • Macropharyngodon bipartitus

    Votes: 67 28.4%
  • Macropharyngodon choati

    Votes: 12 5.1%
  • Macropharyngodon geoffroy

    Votes: 24 10.2%
  • Macropharyngodon meleagris

    Votes: 78 33.1%
  • Macropharyngodon negrosensis

    Votes: 29 12.3%
  • Other

    Votes: 26 11.0%

  • Total voters
    236
Hi everyone,

I am considering to get a few leopard wrasses (bipartitus and meleagris) for my 180 g reef tank. However I have corse about 2-3 mm Tropic Eden Reeflakes Aragonite Sand. I wonder I that would be ok for the bipartitus and meleagris? Also I have live rock with a lot of hiding places.

Thank you.

Alla

By corse, do you mean the Tropic Eden Rubbly Reef or grand Select grade or do you have the standard Reef Flakes? I use the standard Reef Flakes and my Leopard Wrasses take it to just fine.
 
just added these guys a week or so ago......x5

the behavior of yours thats usually a sign of stress.......capture, shipping, acclimated to the store, capture, acclimated to your system, new friends, new menu, new home.....its a lot .....with leopards IMO #s and a mature system are the key and I would never add them in less than 3s.....

<a href="http://s17.beta.photobucket.com/user/mrx66699/media/IMAG7291_zps05574c5b.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b70/mrx66699/IMAG7291_zps05574c5b.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMAG7291_zps05574c5b.jpg"/></a>

How long will it take for one to become a full male?
 
Macropharyngodon meleagris
LFS
Straight to tank
My current tank is a reef tank.
I have not made any other attempts at a Leopard and would not have made this attempt if I hadn't seen the fish eat at the LFS. He is an absolute pig and eats anything that goes into the tank. He also eats from the veggie clip with my tang and rabbit fish.

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  • Macropharyngodon meleagris
  • LFS, on sale for $9.99 :cool:
  • Straight into tank
  • In 65gallon (2 years old before Leopard intro) reef for 2 years (parents tank). Keep here was LOTS of healthy live rock. Over 90lbs. A good bit of which was 'dirty Tampa Bay rock.' Rock with tons of different, and varied life on it (just gotta check for mantis's ;)). Lots of hiding room, and lots of pods for him to hunt. Grown from 2" to currently about 3.5." Added to 125gallon reef (my tank) 2 months ago (parents moved). No real 'new tank syndrome issues.' He hid for 3 days, then was wary of everything for another day, then back to his old self. Leopard is starting to turn male as well. The 125 gallon is 1.5 years old, FOWLR turned mixed reef about a year ago. Separate 29gal fuge, 200lbs of LR (in tank/sump/fuge), AquaC EV240 skimmer, and perfect water are it's strong points.
  • This Leopard was the first attempt at one. Has always ate anything put into the tank, mysis, scallops, pellets, flakes. I made a subsequent attempt with a smaller 1.5" Meleagris in my 29 that failed, he hid for 4 days, before finding nassurius snails on him. Reason for success is finding a heathly specimen then placing him in a proper tank. I appreciate what online stores have done, but this truly one fish that you should see before you buy. You want to look for a fish that isn't too shy, one that eats, and kept in a suitable environment (kept with a sandbed at the LFS and at a LFS "clean enough" to risk a fish directly to your display w/o QT). My failed attempt was a Leopard that didn't eat at the LFS, but I figured for $9.99 (on sale again at the LFS) I figured why not try. I was considering a pair of Geoffroy straight from HI, before my parents needed to find a home for him when they moved. I'm considering adding a small female once he finishes turning full male, however (not to bashing anyone) but I feel the LFS's here aren't 'clean enough' (some Ich/scratching fish in their systems) to chance it.


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how long did it take for him to eat?
 
Meleagris (2-2.5")
straight into tank
reef/75g/8 months
1st attempt

Have had for 2 weeks now. Fish never made it out of bag at lfs i got it shortly after arriving.
Fish hid in sand for about 3 days. Seems to be pretty finicky so far.
been feeding live black worms for past few days. It goes after them but not voraciously. no interest in mysis or cyclops. it picks a lot on the side glass.
seems to have settled in nicely so far..just need it to get more food interests.

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Melegaris
Straight into tank
2 weeks old
LFS held them for me in original shipping bags to reduce stress
ate live brine right out of the bag and began to explore right after releasing into tank, started realizing I am the source of food but still spits out frozen, one ate a pellet today!
3 year old 55 gal, was a fowlr but recently changed into softy reef
1st attempt with melegaris, I was given a potters for free but it did not make it because it wasnt in good shape upon arrival.



 
Update on wrasse.
fish has settled very nicely. purchased on 3/18
ignored all foods at first.
began feeding live black worms which she went for but not many.
i then began feeding some live brine which she ate pretty good.
now she is eating the frozen mysis and some blood worms. so this is very encouraging.
pretty awesome fish.
 
I have a new female melegaris.
First 24 hours spent in hospital tank with malachite green, formalin
Next 24 hours spent in QT for observation. She ate Reef Caviar, was active, and showed no signs if ailment.
Nest 24 hours in acclimation box, in display tank.
The past 24 hours she has done great in the display. She was eating an hour or two after being released from the acclimation box. No problems from the other wrasses in the tank. She disappeared into the rocks right after lights out. She was out swimming around about 30 minutes after the lights came back on. She's been very active all day. Maybe to active. She's in a 200 gallon tank, but she keeps swimming along the outside walls of the aquarium. She seems a little stressed, like she wants more room to roam????????? Hopefully, she'll adjust to the new environment.

Peace
EC
 
Lost one of the two, but not sure why. All other fish are fat and happy but the leopards were still not eating frozen. One still remains and began to sample and spit out frozen but goes nuts with live brine. It is constantly picking at the live rock. I may try live black worms in a few days. Hopefully this one will start eating frozen.
 
Added 4 M. meleagris I purchased from the FS. After 5 days all are out and eating. Three of the four were eating mysis at the fish store but all were hunting and picking at rocks. I know success is still a ways off but I am optimistic.......



chuck
 
My wrasse make up just recently reset.......


unfortunately, my 6 inch 7-10 year old Halichoeres claudia or cosmetus (Christmas Wrasse) passed which was an aggressor to some extent....


So now in the wrasse world I only have:

1. Anampses melanurus

2. Male MM Leopard

I want to introduce another Anampses

First choice:
Anampses meleagrides

Second
Anampses chrysocephalus

Third
Anampses melanurus


and another Leopard:

First Choice:
Kuiteri Leopard

Second Choice:
Female MM Leopard


I had 4 leopards at once a few years back, however, with the aggressiveness of the Christmas Wrasse & Male Leopard, I had to relocate.....and 2 died........

Please opine!
 
I have a new female melegaris.
First 24 hours spent in hospital tank with malachite green, formalin
Next 24 hours spent in QT for observation. She ate Reef Caviar, was active, and showed no signs if ailment.
Nest 24 hours in acclimation box, in display tank.
The past 24 hours she has done great in the display. She was eating an hour or two after being released from the acclimation box. No problems from the other wrasses in the tank. She disappeared into the rocks right after lights out. She was out swimming around about 30 minutes after the lights came back on. She's been very active all day. Maybe to active. She's in a 200 gallon tank, but she keeps swimming along the outside walls of the aquarium. She seems a little stressed, like she wants more room to roam????????? Hopefully, she'll adjust to the new environment.

Peace
EC

Well....... Just an update. She lasted about a week. Seemed stressed the whole time. Picked at food and rocks. When she died, she was noticeably under weight. My tank is well established, but very clean with few pods.

Hope that helps someone.
Peace
EC
 
Got my female M. bipartitus yesterday, she's been zooming around the tank all day. I have been trying to get one of these for 6 months! Crappy cell shots is all i have but here she is

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another month gone by and still doing very well. but I really need to get my fuge setup to assist with the feeding. what a great fish so far.
 
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