Melanurus wrasse question

[lcs]

I have a male melanurus that has been in QT for two weeks today. The tank is bare bottom, but I have a sand "pool" in there for him to sleep in and he does use it. It's been normal for him to go to bed early and sleep late, but today and yesterday I would go to feed him and he'd be in the sand after only having been out for a few hours.

Any ideas?

SG 1.024
NH3 0
temp 78F

 

[milkman55]

I would not worry too much. I have two Melanurus and one uses the sand and sometimes will disappear for a couple of days. The other one in a bare bottom frag tank does not appear to use the sand bed container I added to the tank.

 

[bruce 1]

Mine get up 1 hour after light on, and goes to bed 2 hours before lights out.

 

[Korrine]

I wouldn't worry yet.

 

[lcs]

Thanks for the replies! He was still in bed as of 8:00 this morning. I'll check again in a bit and make sure I have some food with me!

 

[Korrine]

Also if you re-arrange any decor in the tank or move stuff around she's likely to hide for awhile, like up to a couple weeks. Don't move anything in the tank before she's fat and healthy unless you absolutely have to. PE mysis is good for fattening them up Plus it's awesome to watch them eat the larger pieces. Try it to see what she does with them :spin3:

 

[Zach.Attack6]

Are Melanurus wrasses jumpers? Have a 90gal open top just curious?

 

[jnc914]

I have a Melanarus and Vrolik's wrasse and they both go to bed early (8pm) before lights are out and are up in the tank when sunlight peeks into the tank room in the morning. They are great fish. I would not worry at all about it at this point.

 

[zachk]

Wrasses are reliable jumpers.

 

[Korrine]

All wrasses can be jumpers, some more than others. Also any fish can jump from an open top tank. Even fish that aren't known for it can get spooked and take the "leap of death". Please cover your tanks. If your fish were able, they would thank you too


There are build threads here on RC about making mesh tops. You don't have to use glass.

 

[flyyyguy]

fwiw I have two large melanarus and there isnt a grain of sand anywhere. I can grab them while they are sleeping anytime I want. I dont, but just sayin. I also have 6 other various smaller wrasse which supposedly need sand by many peoples accounts

Thus far the only two fish of many that supposedly need sand that I have proved for myself truly do, is a leopard wrasse and a pink spotted watchman. When I got rid of the last system with sand years ago I tried hard as I like both of them a lot and wanted to keep them. Finally gave in and found them a new home as it just wasnt going to work out

 

[lcs]

Thanks again. He was out and about this morning/early afternoon and back in hiding about an hour ago. He ate the pellets I put in there and seemed to be less skittish.

if you re-arrange any decor in the tank or move stuff around she's likely to hide for awhile

You know, I wonder if it was due to changing the lighting over the tank. The tank is in the basement laundry room with a couple track lighting units over it. Both bulbs blew and I was only using the room lights for about a week and then I replaced the bulbs over the tank and stopped using the room lights. He would spook whenever I turned the room lights on. Hmmm . . .

Nothing like trying to understand the psychology of a fish!

I have the mesh cover, but I lost a Carpenter's wrasse through one of the very small openings in the back where all my cords, etc come out of the tank. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the melanurus is too big!

 

[Korrine]

could likely be that