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 all, very interesting thread this! Lots of good information. However I am getting a bit worried now, I love these wrasses and have 5 of them in my 200 gallon reef (SPS, LPS) tank.
Two female bipartitus since august 2012, two Chaoti since februari 2013 and one negrosensis since over 3 years ago.

All seem to be doing fine, no aggression, eating well, no problems actually.

However I keep reeding that they will start to kill each other when things change, adding a wrasse, a female turning male, ... This first thing I can easily avoid, but is it also possible to prevent one of the females turning male? At what age do they turn male mostly? And what to do if that happens? I guess catch out the male and have 4 happy wrasses left (until this happens again...).

Thank you for any advice!
 
I haven't heard of them "killing" each other. More of a dominance dance per se. They may get too stressed but as long as you have enough room, it shouldn't be a problem. Then again each fish and tank is different
 
gregrocks79 said:
I haven't heard of them "killing" each other. More of a dominance dance per se. They may get too stressed but as long as you have enough room, it shouldn't be a problem. Then again each fish and tank is different
Click to expand...

This...

After all sounds like you've got peace over long term so far, I wouldn't expect any sudden changes unless something in the tank changes like the aquascape or addition of more fish...
 
Ok, thank you! Never worry until it is time to worry :) As a precaution I guess I will not add any new wrasses and then only time will tell what happens.
 
iamwrasseman said:
heres my estimated results of my 50 - 75 purchases
90% survival rate in DT
15% survival rate in QT
Click to expand...

That is interesting. I maintain a fully functional reef tank, just on a much smaller scale, for exactly this reason (though my experience with these fish is FAR less then 50 - maybe 5 :)) as I find often I need to 'rescue' a fish from my bare QT, but it is not yet safe (or big enough) for the display.
 
mysterybox said:
please be cautious, however.

Each species of Leopard has a different personality, and each fish also "has a mind of it's own".

at one time I had 2, female MM leopards along with 1 Potters & all was bliss! This went on for a while......I had one of those females for a number of years by now, too.

Then, a Friend of mind sends me a text that he is putting up for sale a male MM Leopard, so I took it!

The first couple of weeks the Potter's & 1 female MM leopard beat the crap out of the male! Then, all was quiet for a few weeks until one day he killed my Potters! Then, a few days later he killed one female MM Leopard! Then, he went after my "baby"....I decided to sell my baby to Dylan, only if he would sell it back to me if need be.....

So, I kept the male MM, and add a Tamarin, perfect! No issues! .....a year and a half go by, and I purchased my pair (well, 2 females but 1 turned to male in 2 weeks) of Kuiter's (this past August I think?), and the male MM TRIED TO MURDER BOTH! Horrible! 3 days later, after trying to catch the male for hours each day, I wound up just tearing apart my tank completley....I lost a few decently sized acro's in the process, however, I did get him out & sold........and..........I really like the new look when I redid the tank.


So now I have a pair of Kuiter's & 1 Tamarin & all is bliss again! :love1:


The dynamics of relationships change dramatically with the addition of each fish.....so please be cautious!
Click to expand...

Hey Man. Good to see you over here. I've read this post several times, and it has made me pause for a second to think my way through it. There are a couple of other smaller wrasse that I want to get as well. I think I am going to use some spare lr and new sand to stand up my extra 75g as a qt, and get, treat and observe all wrasse at the same time. I'd hate to have to move 300 pounds of LR over a dispute. I know a couple of months in QT won't eliminate any issues, but it'll reduce the risk.

Thanks all for the insight.
 
I have to confess, my MM is the only fish that has gone right into my display fuge without QT. wouldn't do it again, having now setup the intro tank, but ....

interesting observation about feeding though. When I first got my MM, she would only eat Mysis. Got her to also take brine, but that was it. She ignored all other frozen foods. Once I released her into the main tank, and aggression calmed down, she quite quickly started to take other foods, including nori, blood-worms and frozen blend. Amazing how a little competition can diversify diet.
 
Hey all...

I am upgrading to a 180 right now...and I really want to use the sand from TBS. I have several leopard wrasses that burrow...and before I purchase, I'm trying to make sure that this substrate will work.

Here is a picture...

20120813P8130068TBS_zps19445890.jpg


This is sand taken straight from the ocean floor. I'm not posting this to get feedback on whether or not the substrate is good to use or whether it's beneficial. I'm just wondering if it will work for my leopards. I know people say that cc is not good for them...this looks like it could be somewhere in the middle of that and sugar sand.

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks,
Scotty
 
TruRacr314x said:
Hey all...

I am upgrading to a 180 right now...and I really want to use the sand from TBS. I have several leopard wrasses that burrow...and before I purchase, I'm trying to make sure that this substrate will work.

Here is a picture...

20120813P8130068TBS_zps19445890.jpg


This is sand taken straight from the ocean floor. I'm not posting this to get feedback on whether or not the substrate is good to use or whether it's beneficial. I'm just wondering if it will work for my leopards. I know people say that cc is not good for them...this looks like it could be somewhere in the middle of that and sugar sand.

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks,
Scotty
Click to expand...
Fish from the ocean... Sand from the ocean... Sounds good to me?
 
Got lucky and scored this trio from DD



My dilemma now is do I QT, or go straight into my DT fuge. I have the weekend to decide.
 
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