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
Top to bottom: male, female, sub male

Thank you!

To update: I put the fish in after about 2 hours of acclimation, they were all swimming around really well and really seemed to be ready.

They stayed out for 3 hours together, including my bipart, then she went in, shortly followed by the large male. The other two, the female and sub male have been out still and are doing great.

All three of the new ones ate like champs: Enriched brine, black worms, and lots of PE Mysis which seems to be their favorite.

I am actually most concerned that my bipart is hiding, she has been staying out for my full lighting schedule for about a week now. She didn't get harassed or anything by them at all. In fact, they were all harassed for the first 1/2 hour by my tiny 2 inch Kole tang, who LOVES my bipart. She was what I attributed a lot of my success with the bipart to.

When the bipart arrived, it stayed hidden for 5 days, on the 5th day it came out and my kole tang escorted her all around the tank and ate algae while she picked for pods. They have done this every day since she came out, so I was super surprised to see the Kole aggressive at all to the new guys, and that the bipart went in, the kole eye seems lost wi/o her buddy.

But as I type this the female potters and sub male are totally out having no problems, eating pods and shrimp. I am sure everything will settle down in a week or so. This is the only reason I don't like getting new fish haha, breaks up the harmony that was happening. But it is a big tank and I only had a couple fish so this should be great when everyone gets settled.
 
Beautiful fish! I am envious!

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

Thank you! They sure are pretty in person, i can't wait to pull out the camera in a couple days and snap some shots. I am trying to give them some space to settle in :)
 
Just an update, my bipart came out like clockwork this morning and seems like nothing happened. The two male potters are also out. The female stayed up super late, well over an hour past when the blue lights came on. She seemed like she didn't realize there was sand and at first was trying to sleep in a rock, when all the sudden she dove in. I hope to see her soon. Everyone is eating lots, including the female who ate all through the day yesterday, while picking at rocks.

Started Prazi as well since they are all eating like champs. Man I hate having to use it because my corals don't look right, but worth it for these amazing fish to be happy and healthy in the long run.
 
Just got a female Meleagris in the mail, and boy is she proving difficult to feed. Have had lots of success with these fish in the past, but sometimes I get one that just will not eat. This one will eat ova, but that's a rare commodity these days, and not sustainable. I'm not really interested in cultivating live foods, so any suggestions on what to try (though I have tried a bunch of different frozen that I regularly keep on hand)?

live black worms?
 
Getting them to eat

Getting them to eat

live black worms?

These are a part of my arsenal. I also soak all mysis in Selcon and Garlic, and they sure do go after them.

I have enriched brine, LRS, Formula 1 and 2, and a few other random things, but the live black worms and Mysis with Garlic and Selcon are the winners every time.
 
These are a part of my arsenal. I also soak all mysis in Selcon and Garlic, and they sure do go after them.

I have enriched brine, LRS, Formula 1 and 2, and a few other random things, but the live black worms and Mysis with Garlic and Selcon are the winners every time.

Agree! my leopards wouldn't be alive without live black worms.
 
Black worms are good, if you can get them locally. As it turns out, I just needed to persist a bit more. Female meleagris is now eating pretty much anything (Mysis, brine, LRS). All in her own time, I suppose :)
 
Congrats!

Congrats!

Black worms are good, if you can get them locally. As it turns out, I just needed to persist a bit more. Female meleagris is now eating pretty much anything (Mysis, brine, LRS). All in her own time, I suppose :)

Great news, Congrats! Love to hear when they are adjusting well!
 
1. No QT?
2. IMO... 2 hr acclimation is 1hr and 45minutes too much
Many people ITT don't QT leopard wrasses. Prazi has shown to be fairly safe for display tanks.

I still QT them with several special considerations for them.

But I agree 2 hours is a very long acclimation process for anything.
 
My Potter's is in the 6th week of QT. At first she would not eat anything I offered. I didn't have live blackworms and they aren't sold locally so I tried frozen blood worms. She started eating them great. After about 10 days of that I tried some Hikari mysis which she immediately ate with gusto. Now she eats LRS, mysis and pellets.

I've never had a fish become so personable so fast. Within days she associated food with me and rushed to the tank anytime I stopped to look. My new favorite fish.

Potters%20wrasse5%201%20of%201_zpsawnvz8qc.jpg


Potters%20wrasse3%201%20of%201_zpsfxif2zce.jpg
 
My Potter's is in the 6th week of QT. At first she would not eat anything I offered. I didn't have live blackworms and they aren't sold locally so I tried frozen blood worms. She started eating them great. After about 10 days of that I tried some Hikari mysis which she immediately ate with gusto. Now she eats LRS, mysis and pellets.

I've never had a fish become so personable so fast. Within days she associated food with me and rushed to the tank anytime I stopped to look. My new favorite fish.

That is definitely a good feeling for sure! I felt the same with my blue star when I got him. He's one of my favorite fish to watch in the dt.
 
1. No QT?
2. IMO... 2 hr acclimation is 1hr and 45minutes too much

I have to say I like Qt my leopards, I find a Qt with sand and a little live rock provides a low stress habitat for them to acclimate and start eating. I feel my DT is too high pace and stressful.
 
Got mine from someone who had train them to eat variety of food. Been three days and still not touching anything. I'm gonna try nutimar ova and live black worm and see how it goes.

I just acclimate it and into the DT it went. Which garlic you guys using?
 
Got mine from someone who had train them to eat variety of food. Been three days and still not touching anything. I'm gonna try nutimar ova and live black worm and see how it goes.

I just acclimate it and into the DT it went. Which garlic you guys using?

No far no go on the reef caviar either. Success!! With live black worms!
 
Well I just watched my melagris go from female to male over a few days, pretty cool to watch. I must add the behavior of this wrasse has changed, it is more aggressive in how to goes for food and acts; no signs of aggression toward the other fish but definitely acting more boss these day.
 
Well I just watched my melagris go from female to male over a few days, pretty cool to watch. I must add the behavior of this wrasse has changed, it is more aggressive in how to goes for food and acts; no signs of aggression toward the other fish but definitely acting more boss these day.


Nice sounds like he is the big boss!
 
I created a post but wasn't getting much feed back so I figure I'll ask here.

I have 2 wrasse in my dt, a melanurus, and a blue star leopard wrasse. I introduced 2 more wrasses, a china pearl wrasse and a female leopard which are both smaller then the current 2.

They both have been attacked and or chased but the female leopard has gotten it the worst from the blue star. I gave it 5 days and the pearl has come out basically started fitting in with just some chasing here and there. Unfortunately the female leopard has been getting speared/dive bombed by the blue star every time she tried coming out. It was so bad that I decided I needed to do something about it. So I put the blue star in the fuge of my sump. Basically hoping that the female would give coming out another try and get acclimated. This has not happened and now I'm going on 7 days with her not eating.

My thought was to either:
A) wait a few more days to see if she comes out. If not then maybe put her back in a qt tank.
B) get her out in a qt tank with the blue star for a week in hopes that with both being in a new environment that the blue star will not bother her. Plus once re introduced to the dt the blue star will leave her alone.
C) any thoughts or ideas from those who've gone through this before.

I'm tyring to to be somewhat proactive now that 7 days has gone by. I'm guessing the longer she doesn't eat the worse my odds will be with her surviving.
 
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