Slippery Dick Wrasse

[FlyinggFish]

Hey

I have a Slippery Dick Wrasse, about 6 inches, that I caught in the ocean about a year ago. Very smart and beautiful fish. But I was just wondering if I'm screwed with this fish: he's the only one in the tank for the past year; I'm not sure if I can/should add any fish to the tank (29gal) & I would love to add corals but not sure if he'd do anything to them. What do you think?

His name's Pluto:

 

[AuroraDrvr]

A 29 is way too small for a Slippery Dick to begin with.. So I doubt you'll be able to add anything with the Slippery being aggressive.

 

[FlyinggFish]

Should I release him?

 

[AuroraDrvr]

No fish should ever be released back into the wild, once exposed to other fish/LR/inverts/etc from around the world. The fish my be carrying a disease/protzoan/etc that may wipe out a species.

Either give him to an LFS to sell, or sell/give it to someone who would want it, or humanely kill it.

If you have to resort to the latter, get a large gallon size ziploc bag, fill it with water & the fish, and put it in the freezer. Fish are cold blooded and rely on the water temperatures to regulate and keep their vital systems going. By putting it in the freezer, you slowly drop the fish's body temperature. It is a painless way to go for the fish...

 

[Bohle]

I would def not release him!
LFS or fellow reefer imo!

 

[billsreef]

Won't bother corals, but shrimp and small fish would be a problem. Also, if he's been tanked with any specimens (including live rock) that are not also of local origin, he can't go back.

 

[FlyinggFish]

Awesome. Yeah, you're right, I didn't think about that. I really want to get coral in that tank, I wasn't sure if he'd destroy them or not. I'm probably going to keep him, the down side though is that I've got hair algae - it's ugly, I don't want it, who does? - and I can't put any crabs or snails because he gobbles them up.

Oddly enough, he's never touched my Coral Bandit Shrimp.

Thanks!