Melanurus Wrasse?

here are some pics of my wrasses.
 

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The LA photo shows a juvenile. That's just what mine looked like when I bought it. Now its lost the spots and its fully colored, looks just like the other photos. They are reef safe and mine has been just fine in a BB tank for over two years. Great fish, always on the move.
 
38bill - I was worried about QT in a BB, but it seams I may not have to worry after reading your post. Where does your wrasse sleep?
 
Bringing back on old one. Does anybody know if they bother clams? I have a 4" blue Maxima.
I have a 6" maxima and a 3" crocea that it has never bothered. As stated above, it is a myth, IMO, because they do prey on the pyramidellid(SP?) snails that are harmful to clams, so they more protect them than harm them. It does look like they may be harming tham as they pick at the shells, but mine have shown no ill effects.

The LA photo shows a juvenile. That's just what mine looked like when I bought it. Now its lost the spots and its fully colored, looks just like the other photos. They are reef safe and mine has been just fine in a BB tank for over two years. Great fish, always on the move.

True, juvenile or female, it is the males that get the great coloring, here is a couple pics of mine.
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True, juvenile or female, it is the males that get the great coloring, here is a couple pics of mine.

Don't all juvenilles have the muted coloration and they color up as they grow? Or are you saying the only the females have the muted coloration?
Is your wrasse a male, based on the great coloration? I thought they both looked the same as juveniles and adults colored up, just with males getting a little more coloring.

My LFS says they have a few 3" ones, probably juveniles. Is there anything I should look for to get a male?
 
Here is my Melanurus Wrasse. I have had him about 5 weeks. The LFS in my area do not carry them and I had to special order. He is a great fish and gets along great with about 14 tankmates including a Mystery and Sixline Wrasse, which also get along fine with each other.
 

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is there any difference in the sexes other than the color? is the female more aggressive? just wondering before I buy one. Thanks in advance!
 
Since this has gotten bumped and I posted in it earlier I think I should update my post.

I have since gotten rid of my big male melanarus. He started eating snails and wiped out all but 1 of the 25+ peppermint shrimp I had. I still kept him around until he started killing my clams...and NO he was not flipping them over looking for pyr. snails...he was flipping them over, ripping the foot out by shaking them like crazy and eating the insides. I watched him kill 2 ORA maximas before he got the boot.

He went from model citizen to complete terror in 1 year.
 
I picked one up at my LFS. It's about 3" and it's patern is similar to the LA photo, but definetly more coloration. He's in my QT tank and has eatten frozen mysis and hikari pellets.
 
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