Ornate with African Leopard?

[DrSoussou]

Hey everyone!

Just started adding fish to our renovated 150gal reef aquarium and I'm looking for opinions on some wrasses.

The first additions were a pair of maroon clowns
Then 5 female lyretail anthias
Days later, a very happy and healthy ornate wrasse
Then a huge mandarin goby
Finally, an extremely small longnose hawk (smaller than smallest anthias)

My LFS supplied most of them and recently they obtained three African Leopard wrasses with brilliant color. I prefer their look immensely over that of my ornate, but I'm not sure if I can add one of them and just hope that they get along.

Side-note: I would be willing to capture my ornate and trade it in, but the leopards seem to be buried all the time when I visit the store, and my ornate took to the tank like he was the king and only hides when he goes to sleep.

What do you guys think?

 

[Winwood]

Usually leopards coexist rather well. My guess is you would be fine mixing them.

 

[arashsheikhpoor]

I have three different leopards in my 75 and they coexist just fine. They are an Ornate, an african and a Black Leopard wrasse. They are pretty awesome fish.

 

[eatbreakfast]

As long as they are not both males they should coexist just fine, though having 2 leopards will put a lot of pressure on the pod population, which will make it difficult to successfully keep a mandarin.

 

[snorvich]

As long as they are not both males they should coexist just fine, though having 2 leopards will put a lot of pressure on the pod population, which will make it difficult to successfully keep a mandarin.

I agree. I have found that multiple males, even those that transition, do not coexist well.

 

[Winwood]

Yeah I've always kept girls together. I kept a group of 4 meleagris together for over a year and none of them began the transition though too.

 

[jgalen0025]

I dont think the op is talking about two leopards. He is talking about the ornate wrasse (halichoeres claudia) Please Clarify?

 

[eatbreakfast]

I dont think the op is talking about two leopards. He is talking about the ornate wrasse (halichoeres claudia) Please Clarify?

And not the ornate leopard, Macropharyngodon ornatus? I see H alichoeres claudia nearly exclusively identified with the common name christmas wrasse.

Even so, both should tolerate a Macropharyngodon meleagris being added, particularly if a social acclimation box is used for introduction.

 

[evolved]

H. ornatissimus or M. ornatus is the real question.

 

[jgalen0025]

And not the ornate leopard, Macropharyngodon ornatus? I see H alichoeres claudia nearly exclusively identified with the common name christmas wrasse.

Even so, both should tolerate a Macropharyngodon meleagris being added, particularly if a social acclimation box is used for introduction.

From advanced aquarist: "H. ornatissimus (ornate or Christmas wrasse), my specimen (younger than this larger fish), has been christened 'Noel', for predictable and unimaginative reasons."

I was wrong and I meant to ask if the op meant H. Ornatissimus not claudia.

 

[jason2459]

I HAD multiple leopard wrasses living peacefully together until I got a Potters which decided he didn't like any of them. He was more then aggressive towards them but completely ignores all other fish including other kinds of wrasses in my tank.

So, it's another one of those maybe, depends, YMMV, etc things.

 

[DrSoussou]

Sorry, guys. Mine is M. ornatus, not the Christmas wrasse. The choice was made for me. Last time I visited the LFS I was told the African leopards didn't survive and I went with a beautiful Solar wrasse instead. Thanks for all the tips, though. I'll keep all the info in mind for future reference!