Ornate Wrasse (Halichoeres ornatissimus)???

[vamaro]

Do these fish burrow? I am thinking about getting one of these, but not sure if is burrows. I do not have a thick sand bed.

Scott W. Michael's book does not mention burrowing. However, I found a website that did.

I saw one in a LFS labeled as a "Christmas Wrasse"

 

[WuHT]

mine burrowed.... or attempted to when i QT'd him by laying next to a powerhead (gruesome results i found him in one morning).

Definately an awesome fish. so what you can do is pile up your sandbed in a corner and "fence" it off w/ some LR rubble to make a pen for your wrasse.

 

[vamaro]

I only have about 1.5 to 2.5 inches of fine sand. Nothing for him to really burrow into. My other concern is that he would try to dig under the rock and get crushed. But a lot of my rock is large, and the fish is not that big. Maybe they only burrow when they are first put into the tank and stressing. Still looking into it. They are such a great looking fish.

 

[Korrine]

Many of the members of this genus are good looking, peaceful, and stay relatively small. Germinal to their keeping is selecting initially healthy specimens, providing a sand bed for digging and diving, and assuring their getting their share of the food.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/halichoeres.htm

 

[serval]

I have one of these. When he/she goes to sleep, she seeks a quiet spot and quickly burrows (seemingly diagonally) into the soft sand (fine coral sand in my case). The spot she picks is not necessarily under a rock but is usually in a crevice or corner somewhere. I don't get the impression she digs all that deeply and ~2" of sand should be enough. So, it's not that they "burrow", they just throw sand on themselves to hide while sleeping.

 

[mark54321]

I have one, it burrows when he goes to sleep but does not dig at all, I have about 1in. of sand

 

[KillerReef]

my canary wrasse buries when it sleeps and my sand is 2.5" tops, so what you have is plenty....