Leopard Wrasse Primer

[RokleM]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13517892#post13517892 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flfireman1
Its pretty obvious your biparitus changed sexes on you from female to male. However, I wouldnt call that jet black. They are a greenish blue color. Very striking fish and one of first fish visitors ask about in my aquarium.
By the way, great picture, wish I could snap one as good of my guy.
Eric

Yes, that's the same thing I thought on the sex change. It was just interesting to see in person, and amazing how fast it occurred. I'm use to clowns, fairy wrasses, anthias, etc were the change is over many weeks, sometimes many months. The day I realized it was happening, I had to do a double take becuase I saw two black leopards from a distance knowing I only had one.

You're right, it's not fully "jet black". The color is actually quite a bit more black in the tank to the eyes. Notice the excess light/contrast around the wrasse. The picture brings out a bit more highlights. As I mentioned, it isn't the greatest picture, but it give you a good idea

 

[snorvich]

Great thread. How deep a sand bed does everyone keep? Are arctipods really a good starter food? Thanks everyone!

 

[flfireman1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13529392#post13529392 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snorvich
How deep a sand bed does everyone keep? Are arctipods really a good starter food? Thanks everyone!

As far as a sandbed goes, I would recommend at least 3 inches. When you see them "dive" down into the sand you will understand why. They litterally dive straight into the sand.

As far as the arctic pods go, I really think they prefer a little heavier meal. However, I would try anything to get them to eat. Like I said before live brine shrimp is pretty much irrisistable. I have fed cyclopeze as a treat and they eat it very well. But I just think they enjoy the larger foods a bit more.

By larger foods I mean, PE mysis. They love to grab the larger mysis shrimp pieces and crush them against the rocks and break it up into more manageable pieces. Pretty interesting to watch them do this natural behavior.

 

[RokleM]

Arctic Pods are a great starter food yes, becuase for some reason it seems most of them instantly identify it as food. That's one of the difficult things with this wrasse, getting it it to eat and eat well. Once they start to latch onto the fact things you're putting in the water are food/tasty, you can move on to all sorts of other things. Mine literally eat everything, pellets, ArcticPods, Cyclopeeze, flake, LOVE Mysis, LOVED zooplankton (when I use to be able to get it), etc. Funny enough, my biparitus has not taken to a nori clip. It's only happened in the last three or so months. I have two tangs that love the clip. Less than two weeks after being in the tank, my Hooded Fairy Wrasses figured it out. Now the biparitus has learned and will go up and tear off a piece as well. The clowns know it's food to, and wait for small floaters.

As for sand, as mentioned the more the better. I have roughly 2" remaining in the 180 now. I'm filling the bottom of my new 200 where they'll go with 120lbs of southdown (VERY FINE) and another 120ish of a little more course sand 1-2mm. I'll shoot for at least 3", maybe slightly more. Most like to get a sand that isn't going to blow all over the place with powerheads, but try to keep the grain pretty small so they can easily bury themselves.

 

[Genetics]

If you start with live mysis and blend other foods during feeding you can get almost any wrasse on whatever diet you wish. I did live mysis to frozen mysis, to frozen seafood blend.

 

[tdp22]

What is the min. tank size you would put one in? I have a 55 gal., 48in long, LR tons of pods set up to house a Leopard. LFS said No?? Thoughts?

 

[RokleM]

You didn't mention anything about the depth or type of substrate. I would say you have a decent chance of keeping one with enough hobby experience. That being said, I personally wouldn't keep one in a tank that size. I believe for one to be happy and thrive, a good amount of rock and larger tank is necessary. Requirements are much like keeping a mandarin.

Even though the 55 is a common tank, it's pretty painful when it comes to reefs.

 

[brandyrb]

I just recently got two Macropharyngodon bipartitus one male, one female. The LFS ordered them for me and I picked them up from the shipment to avoid acclimating them twice. The stores tank, then mine. From what the LFS read, the biggest hurdle is to get past the acclimation process and doing it twice can be too much for the fish.

Once I got them home and acclimated, the female didn't hide at all. All my other fish checked her out and within 15 min. She started searching the tank for pods. The male swam into a large piece of live rock then came out and also started searching for pods. According to what I've read, they will often bury themselves in the sand and stay hidden for a long time after acclimation.

They do sleep under the sand at night and during a large part of the day, but come out and search for pods daily. The female follows the male around the tank.

I have a 300 gal reef with approx. 5" of sand and 250-300 lbs of live rock. The 300 has been setup roughly a year and a half. I upgraded from a 125 that was setup for approx 3 years before that. The 125 was an upgrade from a 55 that was also setup about a year.

I have not seen either fish eat prepared foods yet, but my pod population is so large, I'm not worried about it. I purchased them last friday, so it's almost been a week.

Female:

Male:

 

[brandyrb]

Duplicate Post...

 

[Mark]

Re: Leopard wrasse sucess stories

Re: Leopard wrasse sucess stories

• Species of leopard: Female meleagris
• Source (LFS, online, etc): From a friend's tank, who was downsizing
• Method of introduction (quarantine, straight-to-tank, etc): Straight to tank. Transported in a 5 gallon bucket with sand.
• Tank set up (reef, fowlr, size, age, etc): 180G softie/lps reef.
• How many other attempts, if any, you made to keep a leopard wrasse and thoughts on why this attempt was successful (if applicable): First and only attempt

I was lucky in that my female came from a friend's tank. She eats small New Life Spectrum pellets with gusto from my feeding pipe. My sand bed is only about 1-2 cm, and it seems to be just fine for her. So I would say, IMHE, a DSB isn't needed. Shallow sand bed works fine. My substrate is made up of Caribsea Seaflor Special Grade.

I've had her for a couple of years now. The previous owner did as well.

 

[revaltion131]

This fish did not last long (internal parasite it wasn't treated for) but I "baby-sat" a young M. meleagris for a friend (240g cube) after a Yellow Tang beat the snot out of it. They tried the no-QT method to get the fish to a reliable source of food faster, and so when they introduced her, the tang went nuts. I took the leopard while they found a home for, and removed, the tang. The wrasse started eating in my tank within three days. I already used a cyclopeeze and mysis mix so I can make sure that my neon gobies get food small enough for their mouths. She started by eating the cyclops and went after the mysis the next feeding time.

As I said, she died a couple of months later with an internal parasite but the way that she started eating supports the idea of using Cyclopeeze, Marine Snow, Arctipods, and so on, to get them to start eating.

 

[Texsun]

• Species of leopard: Female bipartitus
  Source (LFS, online, etc): LFS
  Method of introduction (quarantine, straight-to-tank, etc): Straight to tank. Drip acclimated for ~1 hour.
  Tank set up (reef, fowlr, size, age, etc): 30g mature SPS/LPS dominated reef.
  How many other attempts, if any, you made to keep a leopard wrasse and thoughts on why this attempt was successful (if applicable): Third attempt with bipartitus. First was successful for over six months but lost due to tank crash. Second attempt unsuccessful but admittedly shouldn't have brought her home (broken beak). Thought I could save her from certain death at the LFS.
  
  My current bipartitus is going on 16 months now. Eats anything I throw in the tank and thriving.
  
  I'm interested to hear from the 1 choati voter as I've tried a few and they seem to last, oh maybe 3-4 days at best.

 

[hatfielj]

I must be lucky with my leopard because it is the hardiest fish I have so far. It eats everything I put in the tank and does a great deal of foraging in the sand and on the live rock. I've had it for 6 months now and its doing great so far. I hope it continues to do well.

 

[hatfielj]

Here's what mine looks like

 

[Shawn D]

Here is my female Macropharyngodon bipartitus from Live Aquaria, that I have had for about 5 months.

I got her then put her in a temporary tank with lr rubble from my refugium and a ball of chaeto filled with pods, then over a week she slowly started taking mysis and now eats anything I put in the tank. She is by far my favorite fish.

I have a couple of questions about these fish
1. Can I add another female and will one change into a male? I am having a hard time finding a male in the area or online.
2. How do they do with other species of leopard wrasses?

 

[flfireman1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13585403#post13585403 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shawn D
I have a couple of questions about these fish
1. Can I add another female and will one change into a male? I am having a hard time finding a male in the area or online.
2. How do they do with other species of leopard wrasses?

1. Yes, from everything Ive read, females of the same sex can be kept together. In the wild one male keeps a harem of females. Although it is not a certainty that adding two females will cause one of them to turn male.
2. I keep a female biparitus and a female meleagris. The two get along fine. The only chasing is done by the male who very sporatically chases either female for a short burst with no bitting.

 

[snorvich]

Well, all of these postings have convinced me to try them. Nice thread, and thanks Brian for starting it. Great pictures everyone.

 

[Sigmund]

Macropharyngodon bipartitus

Macropharyngodon bipartitus

Have had my Macropharyngodon bipartitus (BSLS) for about 2.5 years. She started in my 75gallon reef, is now in my 150gallon reef.

Is just completing it's transition from a Female to Male. The process of the color change has taken about 2months or so, and is almost complete. Not sure what caused the transition to begin, inhabitants in the tank has been stable, and tank conditions have been stable. Regardless it has been a cool thing to witness.

 

[Fuzznutz]

-Macropharyngodon meleagris-female
-LFS
-Quarantine for 3 weeks with a tupperware container of sand to burrow in
-90g, mixed reef, dsb (4")
-First attempt, I only bought this gal because she was eating brine shrimp in the LFS, where as the African Leopard next to her was not.

 

[Fuzznutz]

Re: Macropharyngodon bipartitus

Re: Macropharyngodon bipartitus

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13589356#post13589356 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sigmund
Have had my Macropharyngodon bipartitus (BSLS) for about 2.5 years. She started in my 75gallon reef, is now in my 150gallon reef.

Is just completing it's transition from a Female to Male. The process of the color change has taken about 2months or so, and is almost complete. Not sure what caused the transition to begin, inhabitants in the tank has been stable, and tank conditions have been stable. Regardless it has been a cool thing to witness.

From what I have read all females will become males in time when no male is present.