Yellow Coris Wrasse pair in 150 gallon?

[lespaul339]

Looking for people with experience on keeping multiples of this fish together. Will there be any aggression if I get two of these and keep them together in my 150 gallon tank? Looking for that bright yellow since my Yellow Tang died. Wanting something that pops in yellow but doesn't get too big. I had one of the Coris wrasse before for a couple weeks, but unfortunately it didn't survive quarantine/ tank transfer ich treatment. Was thinking about ordering two this time around.

 

[scooter31707]

I think if you got a female and male, they would be ok. Don't know about male and male.

 

[CoralNerd]

I have two in my 120g, and they get along great. Get the smallest two you can find.

 

[scooter31707]

oh cool.

 

[lespaul339]

I haven't decided on a pair just yet, but cool to know they get along. Thanks!

 

[jmm]

I put two tiny ones in my 210 gallon tank. And I do mean tiny. They got along quite well, nearly always swimming together. Fast forward a year. They're no longer small but they are definitely a pair. The male is larger, stronger, and has some slightly different markings on his head. He's a pain in the you know what to other fish. He charges them, causing them to flare up and he bullies them into taking shelter. He eats hermits and snails and is always full. I hate him.

Fast forward two more years to last week. He jumped out while I had the top open for feeding while I was attending another tank. When I saw him I scooped him up and put him in a different tank that had only a harlequin tusk of about the same size. He was chased by the harlequin and buried himself in the sand. I haven't seen him but once in the last week. Today I saw the harlequin (who I now keep occupied with a mirror) charge at the sand. I can see the yellow coris wrasse in the sand, still breathing but he doesn't risk coming out to eat.

So yes, they do get along with each other, but not necessarily with other fish. The female, still in the reef tank, doesn't have the obnoxious habits the male had and doesn't seem to miss him (though I don't know how I know that).

 

[lespaul339]

Wow, that's the first I've heard of this fish being aggressive towards other fish. I always thought they were considered a peaceful fish. Thanks for the heads up. I might reconsider even adding this to my tank.

Anyone else experience aggression with their yellow coris?

 

[jmm]

The female was not aggressive, still isn't. And the male never bit or hurt anyone that I was aware of, but he annoyed them, especially the long nose yellow butterfly (my favorite fish). He would head them off whenever they were swimming, flare up and cause them to be defensive and cause them to go elsewhere. He couldn't be scared off when he was in this mood and was not afraid of me. I tried to trap him a couple of times but without success. During feeding he would dart back and forth, scaring the other fish.

One fish he never bothered was the emperor angel. I suspect that's the one that probably scared him out of the tank.

 

[scooter31707]

Most hobbyist and vendors label the Halichoeres as peaceful, but I think they should be considered semi-aggressive. My melanurus, not as bad as JMM's, but did have his moments sometimes of being a jerk to equal or smaller fish.

 

[TangingOut]

Wow, that's the first I've heard of this fish being aggressive towards other fish. I always thought they were considered a peaceful fish. Thanks for the heads up. I might reconsider even adding this to my tank.

Anyone else experience aggression with their yellow coris?

My small mystery wrasse knows to give the yellow coris a 6-8" berth, otherwise it gets a quick chase away. The yellow coris is fine with everyone else though, including a melanurus.

 

[anbosu]

I have a supermale yellow with a sub male or female yellow and purple wrasse in my 360. They get along fine - I was worried when I initially introduced the small yellow and purple.

 

[rvlcf]

I have a yellow coris and a melanarus. No aggression at all. The only aggression I see comes from my bangai cardinal

 

[GSM23]

Should be fine. I had yellow wrasses with plenty of other wrasses, including some of the smaller fairy wrasses. Never had an issue. Never had two, but there should not be any problem. Just cover the tank and you should have no issue with raising them.

 

[lespaul339]

I think I'm just going to stick with one, instead of going with two. I appreciate everyone's input.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Yellow coris wrasses are among the most peaceful Halichoeres species, so aggression described earlier is not common for this species, but not impossible.

 

[lespaul339]

I suppose with any peaceful fish species there are some "bad apples" in the bunch.

 

[starkii]

I had two in a similar sized tank and they were fine for a couple of years until the terminal male took exception to the other one (which I presume was trying to turn) and kept chasing it. This kept on for a few months where they were fine most of the time and then would have this mad chasing. It got worse and became constant and the smaller one was kept in the sand by the other and had to be moved out.
During all that the other halichoeres were not effected and they included a silver belly. I then researched a lot and saw this is very common and that it's definitely easier to keep them singly or enjoy the interaction when young and split them up when you need to.