Leopard Wrasse Still Hiding

[tuttioi]

Hello All,

I purchased a leopard wrasse week last Saturday.
Haven't seen him since adding.
I've read lots of posts stating shy and will eventually come out of sand.
Between 3 - 7 days most posts with similar experiences state.
Mine is now at 13 days :sad2:

I don't want to go proding sand as this is a no no.

I don't know what to do

Any of you have experiences with these little guys???

Thanks

 

[ca1ore]

Need more ....

What kind of leopard? In QT or directly into DT? Tankmates?

 

[tuttioi]

Need more ....

What kind of leopard? In QT or directly into DT? Tankmates?

Hi,
Not sure which leopard, see lfs photo.
Directly into tank.
Tank mates :
1 x Cleaner Shrimp
1 x Firefish
1 x Small Pajama Cardinal
1 x Randals Goby
1 x banded pistol
2 x Black Onyx Peculas
1 x Possum wrasse
1 x Jewelled blenny

Thanks for your reply

 

[jbvdhp]

Leopard Wrasse Still Hiding

That's a female vermiculite. Blue star.

There have been accounts of them staying in the sand for up to 2-3 weeks, but in my experience they pop up after a few days: either they pop up happy and checking out their new environment or they pop up to die. Ive had several pop up to die, same species. Most recently a beautiful, vibrant colored female. Made me sad as she was awesome looking. She stayed buried for about two days then I found her dead today.

I would say hold on a bit longer, I haven't seen them die in the sand, although I'm sure it's entirely possible for them to do so.

They're amazing, beautiful fish. The reward of getting one or many to survive is so worth it. I've lost 7 in my attempts to keep them, but have 5 now that I'm very confident they're going to be ok. This site has helped me understand them, so don't give up yet.

 

[ca1ore]

I've had many leopards. A few didn't bury and one buried for almost 4 weeks, but most were a few days to a week. I have had a couple that buried and then never reappeared. You don't want to go digging for them though. Vermiculite is a difficult fish, but not the most difficult of the leopards. The good news is that you have a relatively non-aggressive tank, so it may reappear.

 

[Bret61081]

Have you checked your tank at night? I had a Potters that only came out at night for a month or so till she eventually got on the same clock as the lights!

 

[jbvdhp]

Have you checked your tank at night? I had a Potters that only came out at night for a month or so till she eventually got on the same clock as the lights!

True! My vermiculites came out at 11PM PST, which when I checked their time (Africa) it was 10 AM. So they were on different time zones. This happened for about a week and slowly but surely the times got earlier and earlier until it comes up at 11-12 in the day PST. It might be coming up at night still.

 

[tuttioi]

That's a female vermiculite. Blue star.

There have been accounts of them staying in the sand for up to 2-3 weeks, but in my experience they pop up after a few days: either they pop up happy and checking out their new environment or they pop up to die. Ive had several pop up to die, same species. Most recently a beautiful, vibrant colored female. Made me sad as she was awesome looking. She stayed buried for about two days then I found her dead today.

I would say hold on a bit longer, I haven't seen them die in the sand, although I'm sure it's entirely possible for them to do so.

They're amazing, beautiful fish. The reward of getting one or many to survive is so worth it. I've lost 7 in my attempts to keep them, but have 5 now that I'm very confident they're going to be ok. This site has helped me understand them, so don't give up yet.

Thanks.
My only hope, if the unfortunate happens is that the fish comes out and not stays in sand causing an ammonia spike i'm unaware of.

 

[bobkill]

In our experience also it can take time - also they suffer time changes and may be out when you are not around

11 days
15 days

Zero days