Leopard Wrasses?

[allendehl]

Hello guys,

Looking at adding a pair of leopards to my tank. They look beautiful but I've read quite a bit and they seem to be pretty delicate to acclimation and getting them used to eat frozen food.

I don't have a cycled QT to help them in the process, so they'd go straight into DT. Also, I typically alternate food between frozen LRS, pellets and flakes.

What tips do you have to maximize my chances of success?

 

[billdogg]

fine soft sand. They will very likely bury themselves for a day or a week. One of mine was presumed dead until about a month after I got it it suddenly appeared like nothing had ever been amiss.

They like pods and any other little things they can find to munch. Flatworms seem to be a particular delicacy.

Once acclimated, they will be out from lights on to lights out cruising the reef.

By far my favorite fish in what is now 30 years of marine aquariums.

 

[FirstContact]

For burying wrasses a 3" - 4" sand bed is a good idea.

 

[mcgyvr]

Love mine.. No problem with it eating pellets..
I've got 1.5" of carib sea special reef grade sand and that thing sleeps at the bottom of it every night like clockwork.. Its freaky how well they track time..

Very peaceful cool fish always on the hunt..

 

[allendehl]

Thank you as usual. I read it's a good idea to buy local and a fish that has been in the store for at least a week.
Problem is that fish don't last that long in my lfs, they seem to have a quick turn over.
Any special tip at buying? I plan to get two, hopefully they turn out to be male and female.

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[ReefKeeper64]

It took me 4 leopards to get 2 that finally transitioned to frozen and flake foods.

One thing that seemed to help was putting the leopards in the refugium for about two weeks before introducing them into the display tank. In there, they had plenty of amphipods, no competitor fish, and the leopards got used to the new water. By the time I moved them to the display, they were already eating frozen foods. Now they eat most anything and are hardy. In fact, they are somewhat aggressive at feeding time and can swim circles around the other fish to get the best food.

Buying from an LFS that has had them for a while can work out because those fish have already transitioned to various frozen foods. If they don't eat, they don't last very long (a week or so is it).

 

[eastlake]

Buying local is a good idea as you can ask the folks at the store to feed them so you can see if they're eating or at the very least showing interest in food. Depending on how long the tank has been setup it also might not be a bad idea to seed the tank with some more pods so that they don't deplete the pod population before you can get them switched to prepared foods. Also, make sure you have a tight fitting lid, I know that they're sand dwelling and their instinct is to go into the sand if they're scared but, if/when one of the wrasse transition to male it may begin to try to coax the female to mate and go into spawning rises. I've had to pull my female out of my over flow more times than I care to count as a result of the two of them darting towards the surface.

 

[nereefpat]

In case you've got time to read all of this: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2369454

 

[homer1475]

In case you've got time to read all of this: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2369454

Leopard wrasse primer. Was just going to post the same thread. Great read, but a bit long winded. I read the entire thread before purchasing my leopard.

 

[Dmorty217]

Thank you as usual. I read it's a good idea to buy local and a fish that has been in the store for at least a week.
Problem is that fish don't last that long in my lfs, they seem to have a quick turn over.
Any special tip at buying? I plan to get two, hopefully they turn out to be male and female.

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I would keep looking on Divers Den for them, that way you know the fish are eating and you have a money back guarantee

 

[allendehl]

I would keep looking on Divers Den for them, that way you know the fish are eating and you have a money back guarantee

Good point, though prices there are sometimes prohibitive. I'll keep an eye on it though.

 

[Tripod1404]

Any special tip at buying? I plan to get two, hopefully they turn out to be male and female.

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You will know it is one male and one female. Males look quite a bit different than females. They all start life as female, larger&dominant females eventually turn into males. So if you get two, one will most likely become a female, but it can sometimes takes years before that happens.

 

[Thornbreaker]

How old is your tank? Refugium? Kinda like with mandarins it may be a good idea to wait till your over 6 months so that there can be plenty of in tank food for them to forage, so on the off chance they won't eat dry/frozen they'll be fine.

At least that's my plan. I plan on two. My sand bed is over 2" and probably above 3" in random places. Not sure on QT yet as I've seen some treat these like mandarins (drop them rt in to DT), and some who build a qt specifically for them (container of sand for them to burrow).

The thread they mentioned above is great and some long time leopard owners still check it.

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[hkgar]

Quarantine ALL new fish. Preferably do TTM with PraziPro treatments. Anything less you are taking a chance of infesting your tank with ick, if you haven't already.

 

[Thornbreaker]

Quarantine ALL new fish. Preferably do TTM with PraziPro treatments. Anything less you are taking a chance of infesting your tank with ick, if you haven't already.

This is true 99% of the time. Mandarins are an example of an exception. Food needs and slime coat outweigh a QT.

The concern with leopards is the need for the sand bed. They can be incredibly stressed out without one. So TTM could be more detrimental in their case. I'm leaning toward a couple weeks in a QT with an improvised container of sand.

Alot of that is covered in the thread mentioned above. It's also good to ask a LFS assuming that's the place of purchase if they treat them differently as some will put them in their display reef tank where there's a sand bed.

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[allendehl]

With the 14-Days guarantee, ans seeing that the majority of the issues with these fish is acclimation and getting them to eat, I believe that LA is the best shot right?

 

[Dmorty217]

With the 14-Days guarantee, ans seeing that the majority of the issues with these fish is acclimation and getting them to eat, I believe that LA is the best shot right?

Divers Den is the best bet (fish are conditioned for 2 weeks, which means eating before being put up for sale and come from Wisconsin) Fish that come off the LA website come from Quality Marine (arguably the best wholesaler of fish in the US) but won't necessarily be eating prepared foods already

 

[Dmorty217]

This is true 99% of the time. Mandarins are an example of an exception. Food needs and slime coat outweigh a QT.

The concern with leopards is the need for the sand bed. They can be incredibly stressed out without one. So TTM could be more detrimental in their case. I'm leaning toward a couple weeks in a QT with an improvised container of sand.

Alot of that is covered in the thread mentioned above. It's also good to ask a LFS assuming that's the place of purchase if they treat them differently as some will put them in their display reef tank where there's a sand bed.

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No fish is worth not Qting no matter the food requirements. Not QTing a mandarin could be a $30 mistake that ends up wiping out a system because of disease not too mention the time invested which can be years or decades. When tanks are wiped out by disease it is devastating and I would argue is a huge factor in why the average time spent in this hobby is around 3 years. You can do TTM with a sand bed, simply use a tupperware container and fill it with sand and repeat for the next transfer just always use new sand.

 

[allendehl]

Divers Den is the best bet (fish are conditioned for 2 weeks, which means eating before being put up for sale and come from Wisconsin) Fish that come off the LA website come from Quality Marine (arguably the best wholesaler of fish in the US) but won't necessarily be eating prepared foods already

Thing with DD is that I'd like to get a pair and they usually have one, unless they get a bonded pair and jack up the price. I keep looking every few hours tho, they may prove me wrong.

Thanks!

 

[Thornbreaker]

No fish is worth not Qting no matter the food requirements. Not QTing a mandarin could be a $30 mistake that ends up wiping out a system because of disease not too mention the time invested which can be years or decades. When tanks are wiped out by disease it is devastating and I would argue is a huge factor in why the average time spent in this hobby is around 3 years. You can do TTM with a sand bed, simply use a tupperware container and fill it with sand and repeat for the next transfer just always use new sand.

They both have slime coats which largely prevent ich. TTM is for primarly ich to break its cycle. Thus, the consensus is that TTM is largely unneeded to these specific fish.

For a mandarin, a QT means constant supplementing of pods. Most don't bother.

For a leopard wrasse the remaining concern is the possibility of carrying something like velvet, which is why a QT for a few weeks to dose prazi or something like that for internals can be reasonable.

I'm not disagreeing with you on the risks, but the consensus for both of these is that TTM is largely unneeded. And some do take the risk of forgoing a QT because the risk for these specific fish are limited.

I wouldn't by a leopard wrasse from online or a LFS where you can't establish its ability to eat or where it's been kept.



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