wrasse compatibility ?

S

somosomo

Member
I have had a 75 gallon up and running since mid december. The only two inhabitants are a lawnmower blenny and a six line wrasse. I am getting to the point where I would like to add a few more fish.

I have heard that six line wrasses can get aggressive and I was wondering what peoples experience with them have been. I have had mine for 5 years and he has been through three moves and an upgrade so I would hate to get rid of him. He got along with my fire goby and a green mandarin for three years.

I am thinking of only getting smaller fish -no tangs or pygmy angels.


These are fish I am considering.

A pair of flasher wrasses-since they and the six line are both wrasses this is my biggest question as far as compatibility goes.
or a
A pair of pink skunks or Clarkii clowns and a BTA

A twinspot goby
pearly jawfish

and a mandarin down the road

the reef is 75 gallon mixed( softies, zoos, mushrooms, galaxea, tongue, & candy cane coral , and 4 or 5 sps frags that are doing growing slowly but steadily with about 100lbs of fiji rock - approx 40-50 lbs that came out of my 4 year old 29gallon. 260 watts of current PC-130 watts actinic, 130 watts 10k. 2 koralia 2s and a koralia 1 for current, a red sea reef prism pro HOB skimmer and a skilter( more as a mini sump to add media/ supplements too).

thanks
nate
 
the flashers would be alot less aggressive then some of the others you named(clowns,jawfish) so i would think they would be fine with your other fish.normally agression with fish becomes worse when space is getting thin and there is no where for the new guys to hang out where someone else didnt claim that terrority.all fish are different so its always a gamble but i think you will be fine.
 
I have not had a 6-line, but if he was OK with some other non-aggressive fish, like the goby, that's a good sign. If you have plenty of room, you will probably be OK (of course YMMV). And you are not packing the tank in terms of # fish, so there should be enough territory for all.
 
I think you will be fine with the 6 line and all fish with the exception of my explanation below. Only you know the personality of your six line, being a smaller fish, and in the cleaner/browsing family of wrasses (not like the fish only versions of wrasses) picking at fish is most likely normal to some degree and you will know how he is from past experience. Wrasses like Tangs, do better with fish that are of a different species group.

Clarkii Clowns*

Oh my, where to begin... They are great when small but as they grow they get very stubborn and as a pair they can be brutal. I have a pair of marroons (morons) that I would love to fry up right about now. There is half a tank I can not put my hand in. They are laying eggs every week or so now and the female is quite the little meanie. I thought I broke the glass last week with my hand jerking from a hard bite ;) In this case over time I would worry about the 6 line instead of the clowns being ok.


* "my" explanation of wrasses*

The flashers may or may not be compatible with the 6 line. Wrasses are like tangs and do not tolerate others well, that is not a standard nor the norm, but it does happen. Just like people; some just do not get along. I do want to mention that the flashers are definitely not the same species of wrasse as a 6 line.

6 line is Pseudocheilinus hexataenia
and flashers are not- Paracheilinus sp.
and fairy wrasses (my fav)- are Cirrhilabrus sp.

So that should be a benefit. I do have 2 different species of Cirrhilabrus in my system so far though.

I say this with caution and with 2 fish hanging in the balance currently. I have an exquisite wrasse and a blue sided fairy wrasse. There is a small explanation in order though. I thought the blue sided died or jumped so I got another wrasse and the same day I found the blue sided wrasse in the overflow. LOL

So far so good. They were both introduced/reintroduced at the same time/period (you get the point I am sure). That isn't to say that once one becomes more comfortable than the other or has a bad day that they wont start fighting. If I am lucky one will be male and the other female which would also help.

If you are going to do the pair of flashers, its good to do them both at once and as a pair. The pack thing applies here, the more the merrier(stronger) and will be able to ward off said beast of a 2 inch fish. hehe

I hope this helps a little. LMK what you decide and how it works out!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14250777#post14250777 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rickyfins



I have a pair of marroons (morons) that I would love to fry up right about now. There is half a tank I can not put my hand in. They are laying eggs every week or so now and the female is quite the little meanie. I thought I broke the glass last week with my hand jerking from a hard bite ;) In this case over time I would worry about the 6 line instead of the clowns being ok.


Click to expand...


:lol: I told you !!! :lol: Hurts doesn't it :lol:
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14251248#post14251248 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rickyfins
What are you some kind of Stalker? You follow me everywhere ;)

Yea it does hurt! Thanks!
Click to expand...


:rolleyes: you wish... :lol: just noticed you were on... checking pm's and your on my buddy list- tried to tell ya I was going to sleep and hopefully get rid of this stupid headache- but your IN BOX IS FULL :p
 
I also feel I should warn you that should you buy a 6-line wrasse he might DECIMATE your pod population and make things miserable for your mandarin purchase "down the road."

I was lucky enough to have a mandarin BEFORE the 6-line that got used to eating brine shrimp before the 6-line got in there and between the two of them reeked havoc on the pod world.

I don't have any personal experience on the other stuff in your list...I've owned skunks that loved my anemone, but that's all. I don't know how pod-carnivorous the flasher are either...so this is just a warning for you wanting a mandarin!
 
Another option when adding new wish and worrying about aggression is to bag up the aggressive fishh. Rearrange the rock work. Intrduce the new fish, let him get all cozy-like. Then, unbag the aggressive fish and make him settle into his new role in the pecking order. Sounds like a lot of work, but it does work with aggresisve fish.
 
Thanks for all the input!

Yeah my six line is fairly peaceful. Like i said he lived in my 29 with an orange fire goby and a mandarin for three years with out problems.
Now with just him and the lawnmower blenny in a 75 I think they hardly see each other.

I was thinking that if i put a pair of the flashers wrasses in that their might be a strength in numbers in the event of a dispute. It was a good idea to maybe rearrange some of the rockwork at that time.

I have been reading up more on clownfish. Sounds like the pink skunks might be a better choice then the Clarkiis if it comes to that. Seems that they are one of the more docile clownfish.

As far as the mandarin goes. I didnt have any problems keeping my 6 line with one for 3 years. But both of them ate frozen mysis and brine shrimp without any problems. I guess that is a bridge that I will cross later on. Been thinking about making a small pod raising setup. That might be the solution

thanks
nate
 
DT's has come out with a subtropical species of Copepod. They should be in local stores shortly.

These will live in a reef tank/refugium setup as well. With these you can actually grow them in the bottle they come with and need not be refrigerated. You just feed the bottle about 1 drop of phyto a day and they will multiply right in the bottle!

This is probably cheaper and more efficient than doing a whole setup.
 
Thats pretty cool!

I hadnt really planned out the pod grow out system. I was thinking along the lines of a 5 gallon tank with a chunk of live rock or some old two liter soda bottles

Right now I have an old skilter hooked up to the tank that I use as a mini sump. Its loaded with pods, sponges, tubeworms, and limpets. It was my primary filtration in my 29 for 4 years. About once a month I take the carbon insert out and watch the pods shoot into the tank. I used to do it with the old tank. The wrasse and the mandarin loved it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14261951#post14261951 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rickyfins
DT's has come out with a subtropical species of Copepod. They should be in local stores shortly.

These will live in a reef tank/refugium setup as well. With these you can actually grow them in the bottle they come with and need not be refrigerated. You just feed the bottle about 1 drop of phyto a day and they will multiply right in the bottle!

This is probably cheaper and more efficient than doing a whole setup.
Click to expand...

Hey Ricky, do you have a link to the pod product?
 
No I dont, the product is so new that Dennis hasn't had time to update the site, but I will have info for you at the swap if you want!
 
in case anyone was still interested I picked up a pair of lubbocks fairy wrasse, a pistol shimp and red barred shrimp goby at TFP this weekend. Brought them home and took all the rocks out so I could re-aquascape, managed to catch the six line and bag him, and then rearranged all the rocks and coral. By then it was past lights out so I added the fish. No problems everyone settled down.

Sunday Morning when the lights came on the six line went ballistic. So I had to take everything down again to catch him. Off he went to the pet store..but not before he managed to force the shrimp goby to leap out of the tank-this apparently happened while I was getting my tubs and buckets together-because i found him on the rug when i came back from the basement.

Guess he just didnt want new room mates
 
Thanks for the update, sorry to hear it did not go well.

To update you, my two wrasses are tolerating each other. They "flash" each other and then go their seperate ways. They seem to be fine so far, but one is much bigger than the other and his temperment may change once he realizes he is so big. LOL
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Z
Wrasse compatibility
Replies
0
Views
139
ZanaZoola14
Z
Z
5.7ft tank stocking
Replies
7
Views
246
ZanaZoola14
Z
S
New tank inhabitants introduction order?
Replies
15
Views
269
Sermanley
S
LobsterOfJustice
Any reason I shouldn’t get a melanurus wrasse?
Replies
3
Views
267
Reefing102
Reefing102
T
75g 4’ stocking
Replies
6
Views
301
Toolfan333
T
Back
Top