Leopard wrasse

[Alvin88m]

I've been planning to get a leopard wrasse and I'm wondering how often would I have to replace the tank with copepods till I can get him eating frozen foods??

 

[ca1ore]

Acclimation of leopards is the most critical element of being successful IME. You have to introduce them to an environment where they are not being picked on by other fish and can be fed multiple times per day (at least 5). If you can do this, and water quality is very high, my experience is that most can be coaxed pretty quickly onto frozen brine and Mysis. There's always an exception that just won't eat at all.

I have a pretty good naturally occurring population of pods in my tank, so I have not added them at all. I initially put all Leopards into my fuge, and only move them up to the main display once they are aggressively eating frozen and are at least 2" long.

 

[eatbreakfast]

The above post is right. If you have a healthy tank your pod population should not need replacement, it should be self sustaining.

 

[snorvich]

Both posts above are correct. Maintaining a leopard wrasse in other than the proper conditions will not work.

 

[albano]

The 3 preceding posts are 'spot on'... Wish I had something useful to add, but these 3 guys are a tough act to follow!

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Though not as pod reliant as mandarins, leopards pretty much graze for pods all day. As stated above, get them eating frozen and pellets if possible before adding her to the DT where she has to compete for food. Note that the frozen and pellets are for supplemental dietary needs.

If you don't already have pods in your tank, be prepared to add them weekly until a self sustaining population is established. You can do this while your leopard is in QT for treatment and/or getting her used to the food you feed your fish. I'd set up a fuge and add a couple thousand pods to it, then another thousand, or so to your DT at night with the powerheads off so they can make their way to the rock. Remember to turn the powerheads back on in an hour or so after adding the pods. After that, another 300-400 per month for a couple of months should have your pod population booming and self-sustaining, and your wrasse happy. For an instant pod population, go with the live mature pods, as the bottled pods take a while to mature and be large enough to keep a fish happily fed. You may be able to get away with adding a bottle in addition to what is prescribed above to your fuge. Sounds like overkill, but I've ordered pods from just about every vendor on the web, and what is advertised as 1,000 pods is probably only about half of what is actually received...

Best of luck, and keep us posted...

 

[Reef Man Dan]

I think it's monumentally important to do your research before buying anything living. In the case of pod eating animals, having a sustainable population of naturally occurring food is essential. I mean the idea here is to recreate the most wild-like ecosystem we can, isn't it?

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Yup...

When I started pursuing my leopards, I added an additional 80 pounds of rock to the DT to create more hiding places and places to graze for pods along with an additional 2400 pods (to an already stable pod population) to the DT. This was before even purchasing my leopards that are in QT now.

By the time my leopard makes it to my DT, she will be treated, acclimated to pellets and frozen, and there will be plenty of pods in the DT for her to forage on. I even added pods to my QT after she was eating frozen and pellets. Whatever pods make it through the treatment will be food. I know I'll have to discard the rock and sand after they have been in the QT, but I wanted my QT to me as natural as possible (I have a vey sensitive Potters wrasse in QT). Once again. Overkill, I know...

 

[snorvich]

I think it's monumentally important to do your research before buying anything living. In the case of pod eating animals, having a sustainable population of naturally occurring food is essential. I mean the idea here is to recreate the most wild-like ecosystem we can, isn't it?

Exactly. While I have much larger tanks than most, I keep leopards and a mating pair of mandarins. As such each tank is totally self sustaining (although each of my tanks has 40 gallon refugium which includes a cryptic zone) with regard to copepod production.

 

[snorvich]

As the folks above said, proper research and an appropriate tank make keeping copepod eating fish much more doable. Even anampses can be kept if the conditions are proper.

 

[downbeach]

As with all fish you should QT them first. I would suggest you put a container of fine substrate in the tank for them to sleep in as well. Keep them in the QT until they are fat and happy. If you use the right container, you can simply place the lid on it before they emerge, and place the container into the DT, remove the lid and once it has emerged remove the container.

Here is the idea:

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

IMO, a leopard is not a fish you can just purchase and hope it does okay with good care. I think a lot are doomed by the time they make it to the store. I would not buy a leopard if it was not already eating. This is a fish you need to get from a reliable source.

 

[snorvich]

I agree with both of the two posts just above.

 

[Alvin88m]

As of right now he would be the first fish in my tank. My population of pods is pretty high and well sustained in my display I just didn't know if I'd have to add more later on or not. I def know it's not an easy fish successfully keep. I have a qt set up and everything. But I wanted to add him before I added any other fish

 

[Marshall O]

As of right now he would be the first fish in my tank. My population of pods is pretty high and well sustained in my display I just didn't know if I'd have to add more later on or not. I def know it's not an easy fish successfully keep. I have a qt set up and everything. But I wanted to add him before I added any other fish

I will start by saying I have never owned a Leopard, however IMO one should not be added until the tank is established, at least 6 months to a year. Hopefully someone else chimes in, but I would be wary about this being the first fish into a new tank.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Generally I would agree with marshall on this, as an established tank is essential for pod population and tank stability, but the more live rock and larger the tank the shorter the period you would have to wait to add a leopard.

 

[snorvich]

Generally I would agree with marshall on this, as an established tank is essential for pod population and tank stability, but the more live rock and larger the tank the shorter the period you would have to wait to add a leopard.

Exactly. And tank size and amount of rock is relevant.

 

[ca1ore]

I'm going to take a contrary view here (surprise, surprise) .... It's just my own pet theory, but I tend to put new Leopard wrasses into a calm environment that is relatively pod poor. The thinking being that if there are lots of pods, there is little 'motivation' for the fish to learn to eat frozen fare. If after a week or so the fish is still not eating frozen I do move in some pods. This approach has worked for me in most cases.

 

[snorvich]

I'm going to take a contrary view here (surprise, surprise) .... It's just my own pet theory, but I tend to put new Leopard wrasses into a calm environment that is relatively pod poor. The thinking being that if there are lots of pods, there is little 'motivation' for the fish to learn to eat frozen fare. If after a week or so the fish is still not eating frozen I do move in some pods. This approach has worked for me in most cases.

Leopard wrasses of all species eat PE mysis out of the get go. I am not quite sure why you always need to take a contrary view?

 

[snorvich]

Further clarification. When leopard wrasses are put into a new environment they almost always "go into the sand". Since most newly arrived leopard wrasses are "jet lagged" and operating in a time zone that is not the same as that of the aquarists, they will also eat on a schedule that would be inconsistent with the feeding schedule of most aquarists. As such having sufficient copepods in that environment is critical since supplied food will not be forth coming when the leopard wrasses come out of the sand and expect to eat. Over time, the leopard wrasses will adjust to the aquarist schedule and they will invariably eat PE mysis initially and will adapt to other forms of supplied foods over time.