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
Thanks, Dave, & you're right about too much movement-I work mostly from home & tank is near my 'puter. Guess I need to give them some space. So how much Prazi should I use to soak their food?
 
Dave,
I appreciate your time and comments :D. I am very aware of getting a good specimen. My current leopard wrasse came in happy and fat and has been easy from day one. My plan was to take my time and track down another healthy specimen. My question was mostly focused on the best ways to pair up my current blue star leopard wrasse with a new specimen. Should it be smaller?? I just want to make sure I go about it in the right fashion.
 
Well, you could purchase a male (that is what I did with both my M. bipartus and M. choati because I was trying to get a primary male partner) but if you choose to "convert" a female, buy one that is smaller (which would be ideal). However, I suspect that any two females will "work it out" as long as they are both relatively smallish. The males are considerably larger and primary males have slightly more intense coloration.

"Like most, if not all tropical wrasses Macropharyngodon is a protogynous hermaphrodite. That is, most begin life as females and males develop from females as needed. To complicate matters there are primary males (those born as males) whose coloration is more intense and whose testis are cylindrical and white with a seminal duct. Generally, there is one dominant male, usually primary, to a number of females. However, if that primary male is eliminated the highest ranking female transforms, often in a matter of hours, into a fully functional male. These are called secondary males, and though fully functional and able to maintain control over the harem, their coloration is not as intense as that of primary males and their testis “reflect their ovarian origins." (Baensch, Marine Atlas)"
 
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By the way, with two pairs, I have been hoping for mating behavior but have not seen such. Anyone seeing that with theirs?
 
Hmmm, I am not sure what I have. I was under the impression that once the female goes male they turn a dark blue color so mine would eventually lose the great multicolor that it is and turn an overall blue. I must be wrong in my thinking. I need to do some more research :). The one I have right now has definately grown, maybe 2 inches, maybe a little more. The colors are quite bright, but I don't really know if it is any more bright than the average. I will conintue to research and look for a nice small specimen in my travels.
 
The male M. bipartus IS overall blue but has interesting patterns. My male is close to 4 inches. My female is wonderfully colored but is definitely a female.
 
What's dosage of prazipro for soaking food? My two ate like hogs today--PE mysis, gut loaded brine & ghost shrimp. Should I keep up with this variety of foods or stick with PE mysis? Any suggestions or comments welcomed & appreciated.
 
i have four bipartus in a 90 gal tank 1 male and 3 females and i have never seen any mating behavior at all . the male has only been in the tank for about a month but they are also in a tank in my bedroom and i only observe it on the weekends .also i believe wrasses need huge water coulombs to do their mating "dance " and i doubt if they would display their intentions in such a confined area compared to the open ocean.
 
i would use the PE mysis as the main staple but it never hurts to vary the diet so if the all eat everything i would slip them something different a couple of times a week .
i have heard of overdosing food soaked with prazi pro so i would only put a drop or two into an ounce of frozen food . i certainly would not soak it but someone else may know some sort of dosage but i dont . the prazi pro is for water treatment not as a food soak if im not mistaken .
 
Thanks. Since they can be so difficult to get to eat, I'm thankful they're eating such variety; was going to keep PE mysis as main food, just checking here to make sure. Yea, I knew Prazipro was a water additive, but thought I'd read somewhere on here about dosing food, too. & how are all of yours doing, Dave?
 
What's dosage of prazipro for soaking food? My two ate like hogs today--PE mysis, gut loaded brine & ghost shrimp. Should I keep up with this variety of foods or stick with PE mysis? Any suggestions or comments welcomed & appreciated.

I do a variety personally- PE mysis, hikari, rod's food, blackworms, etc. I'd just main tank dose Prazi- much easier that way. You don't even need to WC after that.
 
mine are all fine and i have not added any in about two months or a bit less .been looking for a potters wrasses but have not had any luck as of yet .I'm in the middle of removing a twelve tank system and hopefully it will be completely disassembled by the end of Sunday .then i can start on my monster tank that will hopefully house a bunch of choati leopards ,but only time will tell .
 
Well, good luck with the removal, & the monster tank. I don't envy you...Nah, prazi is reef safe, but I don't run carbon or other filter media while using it.
 
no problem with the prazi pro and corals i use it with every new addition if its a wrasse and 99% of the time it is .
thanks swampybill for the "luck" i do appreciate it !
 
Reallllllly weird.

Reallllllly weird.

I found one of my wrasses dead last night, stuck to a power head. It looked emaciated, very skinny; I attributed it to the suction from the power head. I was pretty bummed; there goes my harem of four wrasse. I took it out and buried it in my garden (see: leopard wrasse cemetery).

I woke this morning to feed my fish, and what did I see? My four leopards swimming around. Apparently the one that I had given up for dead approximately two months ago was just on a completely different cycle than my other four leopards. I'm guessing it was still coming out at night, and not receiving feedings. I hadn't seen the thing in almost two months! I suppose it would have been somewhat indistinguishable from the other female leopards, but the rest are all fat... this one was really skinny. Still, how crazy is that? Two months without every being seen (to my knowledge)?
 
wow, that`s pretty weird. I've read a story about someone losing a 6line for around 6 months in a 150g.

How big is your tank?
 
wow, that`s pretty weird. I've read a story about someone losing a 6line for around 6 months in a 150g.

How big is your tank?

Not that big... 120g. I wish I had known that little guy was still hanging around... would have tried to do some nighttime feedings :(:(
 
as there have been many statements that they can disappear for prolonged periods of time and still pull through . your wasn't that lucky but it did last quite a while in your tank without your knowledge as they often do .when my last choati dissapeared it was close to a month that i didn't see him and then one day he appeared only to eat that day and die the next but he did survive much longer than i had given him credit for .
 
Sad day last weekend when I found my bipartitus floating at surface when I woke up. I did everything imaginable to help the girl acclimate, & she was eating fine, looking healthy, but didn't make it past 2 weeks (even with dosing Prazipro). I know how truly difficult these wrasse are to acclimate, but the bug has bitten me.
My favorite LFS had 3 gorgeous ones come in & one of them came home with me yesterday, so the challenge is on again. She's a bit larger than previous one & was eating at LFS. Did the usual sand dive 2 seconds into my tank, but came out around midnight for about 2 hrs. & ate some PE mysis. Haven't seen her at all yet today, but will post if she comes out at midnight again.
Seems I'm hooked on bipartitus; Iamwrasseman Dave has his choati's. btw, how are all of your brood, Dave? Any new additions lately?

Bill
 
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