Lunare wrasse eating coral

Steve Canyon

New member
Most of what I've read suggest Lunare wrasse will torment fish and inverts, but not eat corals. Tonight I watched a 4incher chow down on purple cloves, green / brown palys, zoes and gsp. What gives? Any ideas as to the best way to get him out?
 
I had one turn a frogspawn into pulp. That was the only time I ever seen them touch corals. Shrimp and clams are a whole other story.
 
Ugh...

A species that is too large growing for a wrasse in that situation. Not a Reef safe species either. Very pretty. Very destructive.

A Trap? Really doubtful...

Very super fast and active fish. There is no way short of a strange fluke, that your going to net him out without a complete tear down. As soon as he sees a net or anything, he'll not just hide in rock. But probably completely bury himself in your substrate(sand/crushed coral/what ever you have)

Sorry. Anyone else have a suggestion on this I can't think of? I had one in my first marine FO tank years ago. I switched it to a reef after getting rid of the fish I had in it. I actually really liked the Lunare wrasse a lot. But he wasn't going to work out in any of my new set ups at the time.

Lunare will bury itself on sight of almost anything foreign coming inside the tank. Impossible to get out without an empty- substrate only tank. You may have to sift through it(the sand) to find where he is and net him. Or he'll come out so you can catch him swimming once you disturb where he's hiding.

Sorry guy. What I'm saying here sucks. I know. But it's my knowledge of this fish and experience.
 
Ugh...

A species that is too large growing for a wrasse in that situation.
Not sure what you mean here. Please elaborate. This guy is currently in a 9 foot long tank.

As soon as he sees a net or anything, he'll not just hide in rock.
I stuck my hand in the tank to move around some rock and he was all over them while I was moving them from place to place. The fish in the tank are all really skinny, so maybe he's so hungry he'll do something stupid for me. (I hope)

But probably completely bury himself in your substrate(sand/crushed coral/what ever you have)

Impossible to get out without an empty- substrate only tank. You may have to sift through it(the sand) to find where he is and net him.
I suspect this is going to be the answer

Or he'll come out so you can catch him swimming once you disturb where he's hiding.

Sorry guy. What I'm saying here sucks. I know. But it's my knowledge of this fish and experience.

Thanks for the insights
 
Go fishing. I have done it twice. Go to a fly fishing store. Get a size 16 or smaller hook A really fine leader and a stick. Put a pice of krill on it or mysid. Its fun. If you wanna do it and need help shoot me a PM.
 
Your tank is plenty big enough for him and a lot of other stuff. A lot.

But the fish can grow up to 10" if you even have 1 for that long.
Someone that kept one that long would have an interesting/possibly challenging mix of other tank mates with it. Not really good for a reef style tank.

The fish being a larger wrasse is also not good with any inverts. (Even many small "reef safe" wrasses will go after very small inverts) A full size Lunare could even challenge a small - Medium sized Lobster.

They may leave some corals alone. They will eat a lot of different things. Many people find certain corals munched. Overall it is known as not reef safe.
For multiple reasons. From invert to coral damage, and a cumbersome large body size(one day) mixed with their high speed- that can be disturbing in a reef to it's other inhabitants.

Even at smaller sizes this wrasse can consume foods offered to the tank FASTER than many other fish can even keep up with it. Which can cause a problem, no matter how much you feed, to some other species to slow to compete. Some fish can suffer.

It's best with not too aggressive tank mates(so the Lunare is not hurt)
But very boisterous themselves, so they are not beaten out by this wrasse.
In the food chain and aggressiveness. You may not notice all these things now, he is small right now. But believe me, this fish is too much competition in a reef style tank. Shy fish don't do well with it. In the other spectrum It's even faster than most Tangs too!

It's hard to keep it with aggressives in the beginning when small in some cases. You don't want tankmates that can swallow it either obviously. But eventually when large enough, it is really best kept with some what more boisterous fish, slightly more sub aggressive to aggressive in a non reef setting. A lot of these types of tank mates are not all usually kept in Reefs either.

Yours not running from you is not out of the question either.
Go after it with a net though. I bet you won't even get close.
More than one attenpt will most likely start him into hiding in the substrate too. Burying himself. A tactic they use when threatened.

Also, you may never notice. But in the dark of night when they are done with activity at some point, they even "like" to go to bed "so to speak" buried in the substrate somewhere.

Sorry, this sucks. Believe me, I'd like to give better advice in catching. But most likely, your going to have to remove rock and sift the bottom.
One thing you can try is try tricking with some food and netting fast at the top. Try to keep the net close but hidden kind of some how. Use a non sinking food attractant. You'll have to be lightning fast and most likely it won't work.
 
Wait until he's asleep, then scoop him out. Look for him buried in substrate and coated in mucous in the dead of night. They sleep almost as soundly as clownfish. Should be pretty easy.
 
Sometimes I'm so effin' dumb. I was scraping the glass and I noticed he would constantly nose around the end of the tool. I grabbed a 6inch net reached in and scooped him right up against the glass. Since I wasn't really prepared, I had my daughter grab a bucket and fill it with some tank water while I held the net against the glass. I'm thinkin' this is too easy. I tapped the glass to get him to the back of the net. He swam in deep. Just as I'm about to quickly tilt and remove the net, he was out. Of course now he's net shy. As soon as it enters the water, he's on the other side of the tank. I'm bummin'.
 
Update:
Turns out he was just tasting everything. So far, everything he tasted he's now ignoring. EXCEPT ME. He bites constantly. I think he's after the hairs on my forearm. I don't know which hurts more though. The black and white striped damsels or the wrasse. I end up bleeding from about two or three bites every 3 or 4 days. I really have to watch for them sneaking up on me to get a nip in. I'm able to flick the side of their bodies with a snap of my fingers when hang too close. It's almost turned into a game with them. I've netting him a few times, just to get him used to the idea. Maybe it'll make it easier when / if the time comes....
 
If you're bleeding regularly then you're exposed to bacteria that might be in the tank. I'd wear gloves if I were you. I've seen enough nasty photos of Mycobacterium marinum infections to keep me scared of open wounds around fish tanks. . .
 
Go fishing. I have done it twice. Go to a fly fishing store. Get a size 16 or smaller hook A really fine leader and a stick. Put a pice of krill on it or mysid. Its fun. If you wanna do it and need help shoot me a PM.

this has worked very easily for me in the past as well.
 
another vote to go fishing.
It sounds crazy but it will usually work very quickly with these types of fishes.

Largest catch of mine to date: a 10" miniatus type grouper.
 
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