Leopard Wrasse Primer

[Bret61081]

I currently have a 60g cube and I had a female meleagris for about 3 weeks and I then added a ornate the same size, maybe a little smaller and the meleagris attacked the ornate like crazy. In my past tank I had a 95 wave tank and had a male meleagris, black, ornate and potters for several months with no issues so I think it all depends on the fish. My new Ornate moved to my refugium for now till I figure out what to do with her or can get the meleagris out!

 

[ca1ore]

the leopard wrasses are very difficult in the beginning and i would suggest starting them on mysis or brine shrimp as they will recognize these foods as "natural" prey and usually feed on them readily . garlic can help and they do best if introduced into a "reef tank setting" .if you have a QT or a tank without a natural look then they usually will not do well IMO . They need to be in a more natural setting so they will feel comfortable enough to survive and their first hurdle will be eating so use the above suggested foods and they will have a much better chance of settling in . GOOD LUCK !

All excellent advice, which I'm already doing I have a decent, though dwindling, stash of ova, so hopefully she'll transition to something bigger eventually. Leopards always go into my invert QT, which is setup as a small reef tank. Works really well.

 

[iamwrasseman]

you should be able to easily switch them over to cyclopeze or San Francisco brand cyclops or brine shrimp .after they are adjusted you can switch them over to pellets pretty easily .All mine eat pellets greedily but i usually feed them Pe mysis as they are larger and less gets "lost" within the tank IME .

 

[mfinn]

I've had a leopard wrasse for 6-7 years now and it has completely changed to the adult
( male?) colors.
From what I've think I've read here, I can add another juvenile/female leopard to the tank, which is a 240 gallon.

Am I correct in that assumption?

 

[iamwrasseman]

you should have no problems as i have done that many times myself .The only leopards that seem to be less receptive to this are older ornate leopards .for some reason they seem to be a territorial mess sometimes ,any other males will accept juvi's without incident IME .best wishes

 

[ca1ore]

I've had a leopard wrasse for 6-7 years now and it has completely changed to the adult
( male?) colors.
From what I've think I've read here, I can add another juvenile/female leopard to the tank, which is a 240 gallon.

Am I correct in that assumption?

I really like the male meleagris. How long did it take to change, and I assume there was never another female?

 

[mfinn]

I really like the male meleagris. How long did it take to change, and I assume there was never another female?

No, it was the only one I've had.



You know, it had the black and white pattern for a 2-3 years. Then inside of 4-5 months, it changed.
I was going through a pretty rough patch health wise and I hardly noticed it.
Going into Sept. of 2011 it was one color pattern, and by Christmas of that year, it was a completely different fish. lol
It's one of my favorite fish.
I can be doing stuff in the tank with my hands or a grabber stick and it's always right there looking to make it doesn't miss a critter or a pod.
Sometimes I've even pushed it away with my hand to keep from setting a rock on it.

 

[ca1ore]

Interesting. I have just a single Meleagris in my 265, and sometimes I'm sure she's starting to change, but then nothing happens. I may do what you are contemplating, and add a smaller female.

 

[iamwrasseman]

i have multiples of females with males and that's okay for sure.i have a vermiculated leopard that was in my display tank with no other co-species in it and it turned male all by himself . there were other different leopards,flashers and fairy's along with some anthias's it the tank but no mat to him and he turned male .

 

[infpalex]

Can someone sex these for me? My best guess was a male and 2 females, but would love some confirmation.

They are arriving in the morning, I am so excited/nervous. I also have one blue star female, who has been in the tank for 2 weeks. She comes out for my full light cycle and eats like a little pig.

I know I have only been successful so far because of all of you and your experiences and this thread. I have read the entire thing, most of it more than once. I will share pictures once I get them and they become more acclimated. (Probably will be in the sand for a couple of days)

Thanks again everyone for all your experiences, I am excited to be a part of the group!

 

[ca1ore]

Stunning. Were they on DD? Didn't see them if so. Nice score. I'd go male and two females as well. Potters tougher to,tell though.

 

[infpalex]

Stunning. Were they on DD? Didn't see them if so. Nice score. I'd go male and two females as well. Potters tougher to,tell though.

Yeah they were on DD, I am sure not many people got to see them because I was all over it haha. I had seen them in the preview and waited eagerly all day. The price was more than I expected, but when I saw them I had to do it anyway.

I really trust Diver's Den, and I think that has always made a big difference in the health of the fish I get and my success, they are a big part of it.

Thanks for the confirmation, as you said it is harder with Potters.

 

[ca1ore]

Just keep an eye out for internal worms. Of the leopards I've bought off DD, that's been the problem. Good luck.

 

[infpalex]

Just keep an eye out for internal worms. Of the leopards I've bought off DD, that's been the problem. Good luck.

Ok, np. I did do a double cycle of Prazi in my MT with the last one so will probably do the same for these. I might just dose the food as that seems to be Kevin's suggestion earlier in this thread.

 

[iamwrasseman]

yes i would suggest the pazi pro for sure as it will not hurt and can only help . yes the potters are one of the more difficult leopards but it can be done if you have good stock to start with IME .Keep us posted
Good Luck

 

[jason2459]

Potter's are awesome. I'm sad he's the only one but happy with the pick I did. He is super passive with all other fish EXCEPT any other leopard wrasse. Or at least he was... Which brings me to my question following the above discussion on adult fish accommodating juvi's. I can't remember how long I've had him but he's something over 5" now. Almost as long as my yellow belly blue tang which is something over 6" now which I got under the size of a quarter a couple years ago.

I would be nervous doing it but looks like there may be a chance I might be able to try a juvi leopard wrasse of some other kind now?

Here's a terrible picture I got with him in it yesterday

 

[infpalex]

Acclimation procedure still the same?

Acclimation procedure still the same?

Iamwrasseman! Thank you for chiming in, I have followed your posts for a while on several different threads, and enjoy your successes and even when you learn something new through your Choati journey.

Is this still your preferred acclimation technique?:

yup definatly the drip method but first get them temp acclimated and i do mine in my sump with a special "plastic jug" that fits in there . its a 2 gallon jug and then i drip them in the sump to keep it at the correct temp . i also check the ph and over the period of two to three hours get the ph correct and then introduce the specimine into display tank .also i drip at approx 3 drops per second or slower . if i get a fish in the mail or in the original bag i usually do the acclimation over the period of four hours . i know its a long time but if you can keep the temp correct as i do it really helps out IMO . i very slowly adjust the ph of the newbie to match that of my tank . you have to be careful with ph adjusters because they may increase the ph to much with only one drop so it needs to be diluted and i usually put two drops into an ounce of the bag water after the first hour . the red tail tamrin that you have i have had good results with but they have to be fed small food such as cyclopeeze and mushed up mysis . also i stat them out on live brine as i usually do with most of my new wrasses just to get them introduced to aquariun life . the live brine is good for the first week but you have to get them eating frozen because its not very nutricious .
great luck with you tamrin ,they are also very cool and beautiful ! :fun4:
Dave

It is basically what I did with my bipartitus, but I know the potter's are more sensitive.

Thanks!

 

[infpalex]

One step down!

One step down!

Well they arrive alive and in amazing character. Diver's Den put them in no less than 10 bags and a gallon of water each. The package weighed in at 30lbs for 3 fish. These guys are amazing, they are all swimming around in the bucket robustly! The male is huge, looks bigger than 3 3/4 inches to me, but I usually buy my fish very small (2 inches or less so I can watch them grow up) so that may be it.

He has tried to jump out of the bucket several times, I have egg crate on the top so he can't but man he is an active fish. When my bipart came in, she was so mellow and calm like "Hey what's up, just chillin' myself," he is like "Give me some room to swim and food to eat!!!"

The other two swim around a lot too, very exciting. I usually video all my fish when I put them in the display, so I will try to do that too.

 

[Jstn]

Can someone sex these for me? My best guess was a male and 2 females, but would love some confirmation.

They are arriving in the morning, I am so excited/nervous. I also have one blue star female, who has been in the tank for 2 weeks. She comes out for my full light cycle and eats like a little pig.

I know I have only been successful so far because of all of you and your experiences and this thread. I have read the entire thing, most of it more than once. I will share pictures once I get them and they become more acclimated. (Probably will be in the sand for a couple of days)

Thanks again everyone for all your experiences, I am excited to be a part of the group!

Beautiful fish! I am envious!

I think after moving to my new home I am going to look for a potters pair.

 

[evolved]

Can someone sex these for me? My best guess was a male and 2 females, but would love some confirmation.

Top to bottom: male, female, sub male