CordellWalker
New member
Hi All,
I purchased a small juvenile mccoskers wrasse about 2 months ago for my 60 gallon reef along with an adult yellow fin fairy. Already in the tank I had my pair of occelaris clowns- 7 years old never problematic with tank mates- and my 1 year old cherub angel, which occasionally gets on the losing side of a battle with the clowns but has never been particularly aggressive- All has been well in the interim; the yellow fin in quite shy, but eats normally and has been gradually more active in the tank over time. The mccoskers has been entirely free of issues- eating well, very active, growing and taking on deeper color. Last night approximately 3 hours after lights out, I noticed the mccoskers sleeping exposed on the live rock. I'd never seen him do this and was somewhat concerned, but his breathing was normal and his color looked normal so I thought little of it. This morning when I went to check on him, he was out and active as usual and ate normally at breakfast, but I noticed a large chunk of his tail missing- like 70 percent at least. I observed the tank for awhile and didn't see any abnormal aggression, the cherub is a bit boisterous by nature, but I specifically did not see him chase the wrasse. I came back an hour or two later, early afternoon, and the mccoskers wrasse was nowhere to be seen- I've never seen him hide except to sleep. I have since fed dinner, and he did not come out. My inclination is that he may have run afoul of the cherub, but it seems strange to me as I have never seen any serious aggression whatsoever toward either of the wrasses from the angel, but I suppose that could have abruptly changed? There are a couple of sizable brissle worms in the tank and the mccoskers is quite small still, maybe 1.5 inches, but this seems like a long shot... Now I wonder if I maybe should have thought more into the exposed sleeping incident... any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, I know there is a wealth of knowledge on this forum!
Thanks,
CW
I purchased a small juvenile mccoskers wrasse about 2 months ago for my 60 gallon reef along with an adult yellow fin fairy. Already in the tank I had my pair of occelaris clowns- 7 years old never problematic with tank mates- and my 1 year old cherub angel, which occasionally gets on the losing side of a battle with the clowns but has never been particularly aggressive- All has been well in the interim; the yellow fin in quite shy, but eats normally and has been gradually more active in the tank over time. The mccoskers has been entirely free of issues- eating well, very active, growing and taking on deeper color. Last night approximately 3 hours after lights out, I noticed the mccoskers sleeping exposed on the live rock. I'd never seen him do this and was somewhat concerned, but his breathing was normal and his color looked normal so I thought little of it. This morning when I went to check on him, he was out and active as usual and ate normally at breakfast, but I noticed a large chunk of his tail missing- like 70 percent at least. I observed the tank for awhile and didn't see any abnormal aggression, the cherub is a bit boisterous by nature, but I specifically did not see him chase the wrasse. I came back an hour or two later, early afternoon, and the mccoskers wrasse was nowhere to be seen- I've never seen him hide except to sleep. I have since fed dinner, and he did not come out. My inclination is that he may have run afoul of the cherub, but it seems strange to me as I have never seen any serious aggression whatsoever toward either of the wrasses from the angel, but I suppose that could have abruptly changed? There are a couple of sizable brissle worms in the tank and the mccoskers is quite small still, maybe 1.5 inches, but this seems like a long shot... Now I wonder if I maybe should have thought more into the exposed sleeping incident... any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, I know there is a wealth of knowledge on this forum!
Thanks,
CW
