Leopard Wrasse Primer

[iamwrasseman]

great to hear keep us posted .

 

[Tylt33]

I decided last week I was ready to try leopards again- I still have the first one I purchased, a large male m. bipartitus. The 10 or so I've gotten since have all croaked.

On Wednesday I called an online retailer I use- they said they had gotten around ten female m. bipartitus in on January 8th, and that it looked like a great batch. In quarantine, eating, looking happy. I place an order for four, with Saturday delivery.

Yesterday morning I sat outside my local Fedex hold station waiting patiently for them to open. I got my fish, took them home, opened the box- they all looked lively enough. I drip acclimated them, and in they went. Later that evening, I was thrilled to see that two had re-emerged, and were actively hunting around the tank.

Today I looked in my tank around 3pm, and two had re-emerged. I was thrilled. I fed the tank, and they ate readily. At about 6:30 I looked again, and another had emerged. I looked around the tank, and the fourth was peeking his face out of the sand.

I'm thrilled. My fiance had declared that this would be "our" last leopard wrasse purchase. It's way too early to call it a success, but having fish that aren't dead on day one and are eating is a success compared to the many casualties I've had thus far.

It's been a full month now since I received my order of four M. Bipartitus. As of this morning at least three are still alive; the things move too fast for me to see if there are still all four! And all of my fish hide behind the rock wall in my tank, as if I abuse them. No bodies though, and I've found bodies of every other leopard that has died in my tank. Very happy!!! :bounce3::bounce3::bounce3::bounce3:

 

[iamwrasseman]

yep its kinda weird how they come out of the sandbed to die 99% of the time . its great to hear of your success . do you think anything from this tread has helped you out at all ?if so it would be cool if you would share cause we are all trying to succeed to raise rather difficult fish here on this particular tread .

 

[Tylt33]

yep its kinda weird how they come out of the sandbed to die 99% of the time . its great to hear of your success . do you think anything from this tread has helped you out at all ?if so it would be cool if you would share cause we are all trying to succeed to raise rather difficult fish here on this particular tread .

What I've learned since participating in this thread:

1. Never to dig for a leopard.
2. That they're a beautiful, fairly uncommon, and diverse group of fish.
3. That many times they die, and for no good reason.
4. Not to give up.
5. To always use Prazipro.
6. The value of having a nearby Fedex Hold facility.
7. To not keep them with any aggressive fish.

 

[tibob32]

hey wrasse man, do you have multiple males in your tank? What I want to know, is whether the presence of a male ornate, will stop a female meleagris from changing sex

 

[BigRick]

Yes!! The bipart was out today! My wife got mad at me for buying another fish? I didn't buy a fish, I ran into my office and there is it was swimming with the other fish, hunting and just looking good. My Potters Leopard seemed to enjoy having the brief company. But then while I was about to feed some mysis it went to sleep under my Acans and Favia. So I'm happy now.

I stopped by my friends store and he had a huge 5-6" potters wrasse. He had been holding it for someone for a few days in a little holding cell that was prob 12x12x12 with just one big rock and no sand. You could tell he was stressed out and just wanted to go to sleep. So I talked him into just putting him in his display, soon as he got in there he was happy and colors started immediately coming back.

 

[iamwrasseman]

Tilt 33 very nice list and the best thing i say is never give up ! awesome

i have a male bipartus and a male black leopard in the same tank with no issues and the bipartus did change while the black leopard was in the tank .they both get along together great . so i really dont think you will have a problem although you could because they look more like each other but i really dont think it will be an issue .

good to hear your came out Big Rick, its always a bit scary waiting to see even if they survive to come out and become a great addition to the display tank .

 

[tibob32]

Day 3 of ornate. The fish has already gotten past the jetlag and is out after light on and hides at lights out. She spends her day swimming around the middle of the tank eating the pods off the glass and the LR. It's also eating frozen food like a champ but won't touch pellets yet. The sixline wrasse in the tank tries to attack the new wrasse once in a while, but as he dashes toward her, he remembers she's twice his size and decides against, plus the ornate won't take and **** from him. Very beautiful specimen. Sadly my camera battery died on me as I was about to snap it. Pics still to come

 

[iamwrasseman]

well we will sit right here and wait then ,for the pictures .

 

[rgentry123]

i have a question regarding prazi-pro, i know that many of you use it with your leopards but alos put your leopards directly into your DT, does the prazi affect your corals? isnt it supposed to be bad for inverts? maybe im missing somthing?

 

[Ralph ATL]

i have a question regarding prazi-pro, i know that many of you use it with your leopards but alos put your leopards directly into your DT, does the prazi affect your corals? isnt it supposed to be bad for inverts? maybe im missing somthing?

nope, reefsafe.

 

[wfournier]

nope, reefsafe.

I'd be careful with worms such as feather dusters and tube anemones.

 

[tibob32]

There's the risk of overdosing obviously. Otherwise, it's only supposed to kill worms (internal, feather duster, bristle...)

 

[iamwrasseman]

i haven't personally lost anything due to its use .it claims to be reef safe.it does however state to stop foam fractioning and remove carbon . i have always turned off my skimmer the first two days then run it on the third and at the end of the day added my next dose .and yes i have always removed the carbon but not my GFO .it even claims that it will not harm the biological filtration which i always test during my dosing period and have never seen a rise in anything harmful . a couple of times it did effect my PH but it just lowered it a smidgen .

 

[iamwrasseman]

i have also overdosed once because i figured my gallons wrong and it was off by 25% if i remember correctly ,i just let it be and didn't have a problem either. it did however foam up my sump that time and it never has before .

 

[rgentry123]

So then in theory the medicated food(jungle Jim) should be fine right? Has anyone used it before and was it effective?

 

[iamwrasseman]

i have it and have tried to feed my fish it from time to time but they seem to shun it until it sits for a while and some stays on the top so i would suggest soaking it in some water from the tank first then adding it so it doesn't go into the overflow and become waist in your sock or sump.

 

[tibob32]

as promised

 

[iamwrasseman]

very nice pictures of such a beautiful fish ! thanks for sharing 32.

i just got word that potters were on the list this week so i ordered 2 small and one medium ,hope they come Tuesday .oh yah and a female psyco head tamrin wrasse !

 

[Dizzle63]

Has anyone had leopards that only come out in the morning? My other leopards came out later in the day initially. The potters come out only in the morning and go back to bed after the lights are on 4 hours or so. They are both eating well, but I thought this was rather odd.