Six Line Wrasse Story

[Ariela]

We got a Six Line Wrasse and what an interesting fish we have! We brought her home and she hid in the rock...but the next morning she came out when the lights came on. She hunts...weaving in between the rock and is all over the tank. We added her first by mistake then our clownfish. However, luckily, she thinks she is part clownfish and swims with them and even tries to swim like them instead of her normal streamlined darting.

Yesterday we watched as she worked with our cleaner shrimp to successfully murder one of our red legged hermit crabs. It was impressive teamwork. Anyone else ever seen this? We have been feeding her lots..she leaves the other crabs alone. She hunts the bristleworms and copepods but has never gone after a crab, however the cleaner shrimp was attacking this crab first.
It was indeed murder as we watched the battle....thoughts?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I'm sure you will see many more murders and other not so good antics as your 6 line matures!

 

[Moort82]

I'd hazard a guess that the crab was already dead or recently shed and hardening up. Its unusual for sixlines or cleaners to take crabs but not unusual for either to scavenge if one had died.

You'll likely not find much love for sixlines as they can be aggressive and bullies but they are still one of my favourite fish and in the right tank they are well worth it.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Moort, I need to use one for a week to get rid of quite a few of my bristleworms. I'm worried how it would treat my other fish if I did this. What are your thoughts and opinions?

I certainly don't want to keep it. I will be getting a McCosker's wrasse in the near future and if I do this need to before I get it. Do you think the McCosker's will eat them?

 

[snorvich]

Why would you want to eliminate bristle worms? They are highly beneficial.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Oh I have so many of them. Anytime I feed pellets they come out from under the rocks instantly grabbing pellets. I'll see several dozen at a time. So I want to thin them out but I'm not going to reduce feed on my fish. I guess the McCoskers wil take a few out once i get him.

 

[Deinonych]

I guess the McCoskers wil take a few out once i get him.

I wouldn't count on it. Paracheilinus sp. wrasses primarily feed from the water column. You'd have better luck with a wrasse from the Halichoeres genus if you want to eliminate benthic crustaceans and/or worms.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Thanks Chris, but I am not choosing the McCosker's for that ability. I just think they're beautiful fish.

If the worms get too bad I'll do a trap or the pantyhose thing and get some out of there. I'm not having any problems with then yet just want to stay on top of a possible problem down the road.

 

[FDAWG]

Why would you want to eliminate bristle worms? They are highly beneficial.

Even the 6"+ ones? I was always scared of one of those buggers eating a sleeping fish at night...

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Even the 6"+ ones? I was always scared of one of those buggers eating a sleeping fish at night...

You should be alright. I have worms even larger than that with a few small fish, and they haven't caused any issues. I have one about 8-9 inches long in one of my overflows with a peppermint shrimp, and the shrimp has been unharmed by it for about 6 months. Even the multitudes of copepods seem to be safe. I see them crawling all over the bristle worms at night. I don't know what it eats, but it's steady growing, and the shrimp is still around...

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Uh ya no problem with a few little bristle worms, they are good for yer tank yah

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2524368

 

[Deinonych]

Uh ya no problem with a few little bristle worms, they are good for yer tank yah

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2524368

Ew.

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Uh ya no problem with a few little bristle worms, they are good for yer tank yah

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2524368

Damn...

 

[Moort82]

Moort, I need to use one for a week to get rid of quite a few of my bristleworms. I'm worried how it would treat my other fish if I did this. What are your thoughts and opinions?

I certainly don't want to keep it. I will be getting a McCosker's wrasse in the near future and if I do this need to before I get it. Do you think the McCosker's will eat them?

As already mentioned bristleworms are the good guys but i'm not a huge fan of getting spiked. What I did was trap as many as I could and introduced a couple of brittlestars (this is when I had hundreds of hungry sun coral mouths to feed so the tank was very heavily fed). These do essentially the same job and help keep the numbers of bristleworms down. It does help that I have a couple of greedy halichoeres wrasse as well but these were added after the brittlestars.
I personally wouldn't add a fish unless it was there for life and I wanted it. I don't think a sixline would work on massive bristleworms and likewise I don't think a flasher will do much for them. I've had a few for years and never seen them take any out but they were good for flatworms if they had competition, so they do feed from the substrate.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I agree with you Moort and I really don't want to add anything that is not for life to my tank but most of all what isn't on my must have list for this tank. I was kind of thinking out loud on the 6 line and pretty much already knew the answer.

As long as the bristleworms don't create any problems they can stay. I must admit that my sand looks amazing since I upgraded to my 40b. Slight diatom bloom but not bad and now none. My snails are having a hard time finding algae to eat. It's a wonderful feeling to look at your tank and know it's matured in a short period of time.

Now to finish getting my fish list and add a few more corals. Then sit back enjoying a cocktail and watching my tank grow.