Reef Safe Wrasses

[CeeGee]

note to anyone in denial.

ALL fish jump it is only a matter of time. Cover your tank.

 

[alexrex20]

the mystery wrasse got a few votes in this thread. but here's a little anecdotal evidence which may help you decide against one. my mystery wrasse is one of my favorite fish ever, but it is a nightmare for crustaceans. it got to the point where even the hermit crabs would only come out at night once the mystery wrasse went to sleep.

my mystery wrasse is now in one of my cousin's tanks, but in the year that i had it, it ate:

500+ grass shrimp - what most people incorrectly call ghost shrimp (wild caught, and intended as a food source)
100+ baby Gulf shrimp (wild caught, and intended as a food source)
150+ peppermint shrimp (wild caught, and intended as a food source)
20+ porcelain crabs (wild caught, not intended as a food source lol)
1 pistol shrimp (wild caught, also not intended as a food source)
1 emerald crab
2 sally lightfoot crabs
1 baby blue crab (illegally wild caught )
1 fire shrimp
several dozen other various wild-caught crabs

so if you value your CUC, perhaps you should think twice about a mystery wrasse. true, it is reef safe in the sense that it doesn't eat corals (duh), but mine certainly is NOT invert safe

 

[alexrex20]

note to anyone in denial.

ALL fish jump it is only a matter of time. Cover your tank.

QFT

i had to pull my mystery wrasse out of my overflow box twice. if not for the mesh screen cover, it would've been a goner. if the wrasse jumped and landed in the overflow box twice, imagine how many times it must've jumped and just bounced off the screen and landed back in the tank...

 

[aandfsoccr04]

with a 1/4 inch netting covered top.
and proper use of QT.

Lineatus
rhomboid
mccoskers
christmas
leopard
vroliks

 

[TheGodParticle]

what type of cover do you use? glass covers hold too much heat

I use egg crate for covering the top of my tank. It's simple, and you can pick it up at home depot.

 

[snorvich]

I use egg crate for covering the top of my tank. It's simple, and you can pick it up at home depot.

But egg crate will not keep some fish in: fairy and flasher wrasses, firefish, etc.

 

[alexrex20]

And it's ugly.

 

[jt_milstead]

I would not use egg crate, its not small enough to block smaller fish, and it can block light. I would use pond netting, and a screen kit from Home Depot...

Pond Netting:
http://www.customaquatic.com/estore/control/product/~product=PD-DM02307

Screen Kit:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...53&langId=-1&keyword=screen+kit&storeId=10051

 

[snorvich]

I would not use egg crate, its not small enough to block smaller fish, and it can block light. I would use pond netting, and a screen kit from Home Depot...

Pond Netting:
http://www.customaquatic.com/estore/control/product/~product=PD-DM02307

Screen Kit:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...53&langId=-1&keyword=screen+kit&storeId=10051

Yes, this seems to be what the vast majority of people do (including my tanks)

 

[FishTruck]

Six Lines get my vote. They are cheap, neat looking, and I love to watch them cruise through the rocks.

You will need tough inverts though.. if you start collecting wrasses.

 

[ken1977]

i have a mystery wrasse for sale. $50- im in rancho cucamonga ca. PM me

 

[CeeGee]

I would use nothing larger than 1/4" netting. I had something larger and lost a Male/Female pair of Flame wrasses. Ouch.

And the kicker from the looks of it there was no way the wrasses could get through the netting. Haven't lost any fish since switching to 1/4" clear netting that BRS sells.

 

[gradth]

I have a yellow coris that has been a great tank mate in my 180. They grow fast so get a smaller one if you can. My quadrupled in size in six months. It just follows my diamond gobies around picks at what they kick up.

Had a xmas wrasse and he was quite the bully.

 

[pbhere]

what type of cover do you use? glass covers hold too much heat

You can go to Home Depot or Lowes and get a sheet of that egg crate light diffuser and trim it to size.

 

[icecool217]

I have had six line wrasses which I have kept for the longest time. Does not bug other fishes or corals and has a personality of its own. Loves to showcase itself when people are near the tank.

I've seen fishes being stuck in the gaps of egg crates. Perhaps an egg crate with a mesh of some sort would be better?