Nudibranch Eating Wrasses

[Ladipyg]

I've never had or saw a nudi in my tank despite lots of zoas...I just write if off to the fact that the first fish in my tank was a Hong Kong Wrasse...(Halichoeres exornatus) I got for next to nothing. Great fish and I understand he is continuing his work in the tank of the person I sold him to when I broke down my big tanks. Nothing and I mean NOTHING got past him....he would hover head down over a colony of zoas and then BAM...he'd go in for something and eat it. I also turned the colonies over once in a while so he could see the bottom...anything hiding out there was soon wrasse food. I guess each fish is an individual but he never picked on any snails or crabs and got along with everyone else who was ever added to the tank. If I had known how hard they are to find I would have never sold him....I sure do miss that fish!!!

 

[rjosel]

Has anyone ever had both a Yellow Coris Wrasse and strawberry dottyback in the same tank?

 

[650-IS350]

Dotty backs are mean aggressive buggers... I've seen even tiny doty demolish bigger wrasses in LFS....

I say NO to dragon wrasses as they are NOT reefsafe, they will decimate your shrimp, snail, hermit population and they get big...

As for jumping, you can build a net brace system, simply using windown screen frame, and a 3/8" fish net... I made one for my tank easily... gotta keep my Lineatus and Mystery from jumping... had a Red fairy and carpenter flasher jump prior to installing the net.

 

[HBtank]

My yellow wrasse cleaned my infestation out.

I don't know how long it was there but when I finally noticed them I was picking out at least 5 a night. They dissapeared almost immediately after adding it.

I never noticed any damage to my zoas, oddly. And it seemed like the were confined to a few greenish zoas in small numbers. I Just happened to notice one with a flashlight on the glass one night, and thats when I really started hunting.

It is undetermined if the wrasse ate my cleaner shrimp. Lets just say there is a coincidence . I have yet to try more, some new peppermints (small) seem to be doing ok, but they are much better at hiding.

 

[lotus02]

My Green wrasse is the best hunter by far I've had yellow and sixlines in the past but the green is the best by far IMHO. It also ate flatworm like candy in my frag/QT. Although if hungry will eat your small snails.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

this is all really good stuff to know...i just recently noticed some nudi's on a very nice paly frag i bought...currently in QT until i am quite sure they are all dead...

only problem is i had the paly frag in my tank for a good 12 hours before i figured out what the ugly little buggers were i found in the bottom of the acclimation tub..

Does ANYONE know how long the gestation period of the Nudi eggs are? i picked off 8 spirals from the heads of the paly's...but i want to know if any had a chance to hatch or do what ever they do, to turn into the zoa munching menaces..

 

[650-IS350]

I think just for safety purposes, inspect frags once a week for 4-6 weeks... ( the known infected frags ).. you can also check at night for roaming nudis with a red light.

 

[mark97r6]

Great thread guys.
Im considering a yellow coris wrasse as well as 2 dragonface pipefish. Mainly because i am hoping they will eat monti nudis aswell, but i am currently working on my zoa garden in the lower levels of my tank so he could happily patrol that also... But i am quite partial to shrimps, would you guys trust a yellow coris with small shrimp like sexy shrimp?

Cheers
Mark

 

[kypatriot]

Or a green coris with skunk cleaners?

 

[650-IS350]

as they get bigger maybe.. they get to somewhat 6 - 7 ".. unless you get them small and have them grow up with the shrimp.

 

[Shift_9k]

^ good question

 

[josephatmbibank]

One ya are leaving out are the Blue star and the ornate leopard wrasse also reef safe . I have both, possum is okay to timid of a fish to really do much work. I have a bright red and yellow strip and deep purple and blue strip possum wrasse. They are both wusses and don't come out too often hense the name possum!

-Joseph Le

 

[greyfox]

Hi guys. First of all, thank you for the good information on these fishes. My question is if they go after the flat worms, pods, and snails that harm the clams, why wouldn't they go after the dreaded red bugs that cause headaches for the SPS folks? Thanks.

 

[lotus02]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10784129#post10784129 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greyfox
Hi guys. First of all, thank you for the good information on these fishes. My question is if they go after the flat worms, pods, and snails that harm the clams, why wouldn't they go after the dreaded red bugs that cause headaches for the SPS folks? Thanks.

Good question. I wish they would.
Maybe Red Bug taste bad. :frog:

 

[Bill Foster]

Had a sixline eat redbugs off my acros. Too bad he didn't eat the acro eating flatworms, too.

 

[650-IS350]

I've read somewhere of possiblities of them having some taste for redbugs. But best use to kill redbugs is only INTERCEPTOR.

 

[Peter Eichler]

Well, my radiant wrasse doesn't seem interested in hunting for anything. Great fish, but for those looking for something to eliminate zoanthid eatings nudis I'd suggest sticking with something more tried and true.

 

[PAS Photography]

My orange striped wrasse (melanurus) took care of all the flat worms I had but still see nudis so far. maybe hes not one for being a nudi eater.

 

[jwhockey23]

I have a Twin Spot Wrasse (Clown Coris Wrasse) that will eat all pests but it also ate all my snails and crabs, He just swims around all day tipping over rocks looking for stuff to eat, very good hunter but a pain in the butt when he flips over corals. He is also a very cool looking fish

 

[kypatriot]

Anybody know if a green coris is likely to eat spiders too?

I just ripped one off my sweet greens last night - literally ripped it off; part of a leg tore off the spider.