What are the GOOD things Wrasses eat?

[BigEZ77]

I'm thinking about getting another wrasse. I had a yellow wrasse but it was very thin when I bought it and it died within a couple weeks regardless of eating food I put in the tank. After much discussion with more experienced reefers, I feel he wasn't a healthy specimen to begin with...anyway, I digress...

Now I'm looking at maybe another yellow or a 6 line (yes, I've heard about aggression issues). But, as I read more about wrasses, I see a lot of opinions that not only to they eat pests but also good things for the biodiversity of the reef tank. Now, for just one example, I'm not getting a mandarin so don't need (as far as I know) a large population of pods in the tank. Please enlighten my on the good things they eat and the reason why I might need these in my tank.

Thanks,

 

[CStrickland]

There's a lot of diff wrasses, but I think a melanurus is pretty close to a six line. Mine ate all my bristle worms, and some other kind of sand worm that I used to have a lot of - I forget the name but they build little tubes out of sand and their snot, also all my pods, and some of my snails, and also all my hydroids. I don't care though. It's a beautiful fish, and my tank is perfectly happy without them.

Some people really like "biodiversity" because they think that a lot of diff worms and pods and stuff is important for tank health, or they just like the idea of an "ecosystem" that is "natural." That's cool but it's a different philosophy than I have, which is more about prioritizing certain pets - fish and coral mostly. If I can keep those pets happy then I'm happy, and I don't think that a lot of filter feeders are necessary to do it. Perhaps because I am a little stricter about maintenance than other reefers, I keep up on cleaning my tank and changing my filter socks and stuff. I don't mind doing those chores.

I also have a tang, and a couple urchins and chitons for algae control, since snails are on the menu. But I don't have much trouble with that because I keep nutrients in check with maintenance. I like to feed 4-5 times a day so even if I had all the worms I'd still need to be on top of husbandry.

Basically I don't think biodiversity is doing anything that I can't do myself, and I'd rather do it if it means I can have a wrasse. Plus, I think I do it better because the added bioload of a lot of worms can get out of hand over time. Its not like bristleworms don't poop too, people get a false sense of security from huge cucs sometimes, and it bites them in the end.

The aggression is real though, I'd reconsider the 6 line because so many people regret adding them

 

[gone fishin]

My wrasses eat whatever goes in the tank frozen, flake, pellet and algae sheets. My current wrasse list gray head, Temminicki, Naokis, solon fairy, pink margin, red velvet fairy.

 

[BigEZ77]

Thanks CS, makes sense now.

 

[JC Slater]

Hi all! First post, long time lurker Anyways, I have a 6 line in a 29 gal biocube with a pair of clowns, yellow clown goby and a yellow watchman goby. The 6 line is a sweetheart. She (I like to think its a she hehe) likes to hang out with the clowns and swims the with clown goby. She'll swim down to where the watchman hangs out but he chases her away. She swims all around the tank and through holes and is fun to watch. Not aggressive at all, by any means. I added the yellow clown goby last and the 6 line never picks on it. She's my wife's favorite fishie. I e read about the aggression, but I must have gotten lucky. I had a purple dottyback for about 2 days before it killed a firefish and cleaner shrimp, it had to go and what a PITA that was! So yeah, mines not aggressive at all. Good luck!

 

[JC Slater]

Forgot to mention, lol. I had a bristle worm sneak in and that night I went looking for it and noticed a bunch of tiny ones on the sand. The 6 line swam down and grabbed one, awesome :/ I haven't seen any since, so I think she ate them all, I haven't even seen the big one. Owell lol