Leopard wrasse

[ErosJN]

Im curious to know how many people have kept leopard wrasse successfully and what are your experiences? In december, i picked up a leopard wrasse in ft lauderdale before driving back to Tampa... since then it has done fine. I even copper dosed in a bare tank for a month without issues... I'm now thinking of picking up a male for her but have read they are expert only fish. Wondering if i just got really lucky with mine or are they not as difficult as depicted?

 

[steelers559792]

Wrasse

Wrasse

I have had 2 and both ate anything I put in the tank. I believed they are easy as long as you get a healthy specimen. Make sure they are eating in the store as the issue is they don't ship well

 

[robthorn]

Leopard wrasses die probably more than any other fish from collector to the home. I have an ornate and have had several leopard wrasses over the last 20 years. I have lost many of them eating at the store. Dead in the bag before you reach the house 20 minutes later. Fun stuff.

 

[ErosJN]

Thanks for the input. That is insane Rob! This is my first specimen and I picked it up around 4pm in fort lauderdale... kept it in the bag and headed back home around 6pm so i didn't arrive until almost midnight and this thing was completely fine... I'd hate to buy her a mate and have issues with em!

 

[laserjim]

Ive had a Black Leopard for a about 3 years. Never a problem from day one. One of my tank moves, I realized he wasnt in the new tank. He was outside on my back porch, in the old aquarium, under the sand and about an inch of water in it. I scooped around in there, and sure enough, he popped out, tossed him in the new tank. lol

 

[robthorn]

How do you know you have a female? It is ideal to get one as small as possible. Male's are bulls and can be very mean and most likely kill a new male put in the tank. I want to say they are born female and change to male at maturity.
Once established they are great fish and live a long while. Its the change that gets them or stress of moving or something. Emmett has had my ornate for 5 or 6 years probably and I had it probably 2 years before that.
It seems ornate and negrosensis are the easiest. Maleagris and bipartitus are the hardest. Yeah I know I butchered the names.

 

[Postal]

How do you know you have a female? It is ideal to get one as small as possible. Male's are bulls and can be very mean and most likely kill a new male put in the tank. I want to say they are born female and change to male at maturity.
Once established they are great fish and live a long while. Its the change that gets them or stress of moving or something. Emmett has had my ornate for 5 or 6 years probably and I had it probably 2 years before that.
It seems ornate and negrosensis are the easiest. Maleagris and bipartitus are the hardest. Yeah I know I butchered the names.

Leopard wrasses are sexually dimorphic so they are pretty easy to tell apart.

The other option for the OP is to buy another 2 females and let one of them eventually turn male.

 

[laserjim]

I cant seem to find anything on telling Black leopard wrasses apart.

 

[risin]

May have got lucky, but I bought a Macropharyngodon bipartitus (blue star) and it ate like a pig from day one. Been fat and happy for about a year now. I want to get a second one, but hear conflicting stories... some say they do well in pairs, some say they are like anthias and it's 1 or 5+. Getting to the point where there are so many different fish that nothing looks cohesive; makes me think more pairs/group would look better.

 

[Postal]

I cant seem to find anything on telling Black leopard wrasses apart.

Here you go...
http://www.marinebreeder.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4292

FWIW, almost every black leopard I have seen in stores has been a juvenile with a few adult females here and there. I don't think I have ever seen an adult male.