The wierdest fish I have ever owned....

[Goss]

So I go to a new bada$$ fish store in San Marcos, Ca. called Aquatica to check it out with my wife and son. My wife sees this fish and instantly wants it in our newly cycled 210g reef tank. I look up Melanarus Wrasse on my I-phone and it is a very beneficial fish because it eats parasites and pests off of corals and fish and is listed as easy to care for....so I buy it.

During acclimation I was super stressed out because it kept falling to its side and laying sideways like it was dead. So I acclimated it for an hour and drop it in my tank.

The fish swims to the bottom, looks around for five seconds and POOOF! Into the sand bed.

Fast forward to today....and guess who I see pop out of the sand but this guy:

SOOOO It gets even weirder. He swims around looking thru the rocks picking out and eating things.

THEN....he goes up to my sailfin tang, rubs up against him, does 2 360's in front of him and starts eats something off his tail. This repeats itself with the sailfin AND my yellow tailed damsel.

And then POOOOF! Back into the sand....

 

[Krisjm23]

That is sooo funny. Beautiful fish at first I thought it was a 6/8 line but then I noticed its coloration. Seems like a good tank mate. What is the minimum tank size for this guy? How long was he gone/ in the sand etc.?

 

[sam3113]

Wrasses are cool fish. I have a sixline who has never buried himself in the sand but took care of my colonista snail problem in a few months. There had to be hundreds of them before I figured out what they were. What started a few cool little snails blew up into plague proportions before I knew it but he took care of it. He also will do this little sideways jerky dance for you when you sit close to the tank.

 

[Goss]

KrisJM23: The minimum tank size rating is 50 gallons but he is in my 210 and not small. I can't imagine putting him in anything under 200 gallons. He is big and only a yearish old. He was in the sand for a solid 13 hours.

sam3113: It swims around with noticeable intelligence and purpose. It seems like it is strangely smart.

 

[Tate]

I've had one of these for many years now. They go under the sand to sleep at night and when they are frightened. You have to see them do it too, they dart under the sand in a flash. I raised him from a 3-inch wee lad to full adult over 5 years in a 55g reef. They do fine in thise size of tank if it's not overcrowded. His companions were a smaller yellow wrasse, perc clown, and sailfin blenny. He isn't territorial and never bothered anyone. I recently moved him and the clown to my new 100g fowlr. He's a great fish to have.

 

[xtlosx]

That isn't uncommon for this type of fish.... Our yellow wrasses did the exact same thing. Nice looking fish though.

 

[mysticwave_2]

This is normal behaviour. They need the sandbe to bury in as this is where they sleep. The 360's in feont of the sailfin is him showing he is available for cleaning duty. He will take parasites off your larger fish.

 

[Tate]

The 360's in feont of the sailfin is him showing he is available for cleaning duty. He will take parasites off your larger fish.

Really? That's cool!! I had no idea they were cleaners and would exhibit this behavior. He was always the biggest in his tank since he was only in a 55g. I'll eventually get a yellow tang now that he's in a 100 so I'll have to keep an eye out for this.