my ornate leopard wrasse is going crazy.

[langtudatinh01]

well, i understand that leopard wrasses need sand to sleep on. my new ornate leopard wrasse keeps creating sand storm in my tank every minute. Is this a typical behavior? i dont think any goby will create a bigger sand storm than this fish. the fish does eat mysis very well, but it is keep digging into the sand until everything is flying around and cover all of my corals. will this behavior going away? if not i might have to get rid of the fish due to the concern of my corals. Thanks for any advice.

 

[MCCOOL]

How deep is your sand bed? Perhaps it isn't finding a place to sleep it likes. Mine creates a storm when she digs in to sleep, but it's generally only in one spot once a night.

 

[langtudatinh01]

i have a shallow sand bed that is a 2" mininum. some areas are about 3". my leopard is well cover and sleep at one spot every night. he/she has been going around the whole tank and keep on stirring up the sand bed. i also have a canary wrasse that is slightly smaller but he never stir up the sand this bad.

 

[MCCOOL]

You've got enough sand, I'm not sure why she's doing it, mine has never acted like that. Hopefully someone more knowledgable will chime in, it might also help to post this in the Leopard wrasse primer.

 

[iamwrasseman]

i have many leopards and each has learned different techniques for sleeping and hunting for pods . i think yours is trying to eat and in this effort he will keep rustling up the gravel looking for pods to blown up into the water column if he is doing this during the day . if he is doing this at night then i would suggest you add some sand as he may just need more to burrow . how big is your wrasse ?is he hunting during the day this way or trying to burrow at night ?

 

[langtudatinh01]

he is only doing this during the day. he could be hunting around the tank. but if this is the normal behavior, i would have to remove him because all of my corals will in trouble with sand covered them. plus, the tank looks like a battle zone with all the fine dust, detritrus flowing around. i might try to feed him more and see if he will stop this behavior.

 

[iamwrasseman]

yes he probably learned this action in the wild and he will probably continue to mess up your tank . feeding less more often may help and he also may grow out of this action as he finds less and less pods as a result of his actions . if you have other wrasses in your tank they may start exhibiting this same action as they do learn from each other .

 

[langtudatinh01]

oh boy, i would hate to loose the fish. he is stunning and most important he is eating. i hope his behavior will change soon. with a little more feeding.

 

[snorvich]

How mature is the tank? Dave is correct that he is probably trying to stir up stuff to eat. How often do you feed?

 

[langtudatinh01]

my tank is almost 2 years old. i have all types of corals and a maxima clam in there, so i think my tank is mature enough for a leopard wrasse. i only feed them once a day with mysis and some extra ocean one pellets every other day. today i fed him in the morning and he has not sturring up the sand yet. i hope he is stopping. yay. thanks everyone for your input. he ate a bunch of mysis so far. i will feed them again before light out.

 

[iamwrasseman]

if he gets fed enough he may subside from his boisterous actions and i hope he does .
good luck and please keep us posted .

 

[langtudatinh01]

well, the fish doing it again. the whole tank is cover with sand. i feed him tons of food. he ate most of the mysis almost a quarter of a cube by himself. he just doing it for fun. i dont see him eat anything. he starts to dig the sand under the rocks too. i think i will have to get rid of him unfortunately. he gets worst day by day now.

 

[iamwrasseman]

:sad2: sorry to hear of his unwanted actions and he probably is doing this out of natural instinct forging for food throughout the day . they do burn tons of calories because they are so active and thus are always looking for more food .if he wont calm that action down then you have to make the choice if he stays or goes . he is beautiful as i wall know and its a shame that you may not be able to have one .

 

[ScubaNemo]

well, the fish doing it again. the whole tank is cover with sand. i feed him tons of food. he ate most of the mysis almost a quarter of a cube by himself. he just doing it for fun. i dont see him eat anything. he starts to dig the sand under the rocks too. i think i will have to get rid of him unfortunately. he gets worst day by day now.

Mine does the same where it goes nuts for a few seconds and stirs up the sand. It doesn't affect the tank much. My trick is that I stir up the sand bed 2-3 times a week, so there is not much detritus in it to create a sand storm when my leopard wrasse decides to go nuts. I agree, it is probably a hunting technique