Leopard Wrasse
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That is definitely a fish for an experinced reefer. Not only are they suited for a deep sandbed(not course sand) since they burrow like other wrasses, but their eating habits are very limited to foraminiferans and amphiopods on very established LR within a stable system. Good luck...looks like it's one of those "gambles"!
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I've heard that they are very hard to keep. Doug has one and they are great looking fish, his seems very happy in his tank.
Is it eating.
Where did you buy it, and for how much? I'm looking for one myself.
Is it eating.
Where did you buy it, and for how much? I'm looking for one myself.
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:bash2:
Ya this wrass has little chance of survival in your tank.. When they say expert only, that is what they mean. Ususally that means the fish (or invert or coral) has very specific needs for survival. In this case that is exactly what it means. A tank with crushed coral is not going to provide it a home and most store bought livesand is med grain which might not work for him. Second, he eats live food that is not found within a tank in great numbers unless the tank have been established a while and has some sort of protective area for the live food to breed (ie a fuge). Third you do not have the set up to culture the live food off site and buying live food for such a wrass is most likely cost prohibitive.
I am going to be the jerk here and give you the golden rules to reef keeping. 1)Learn to research BEFORE you make a purchase. It will save you a lot of money in the long run because you are wasting it on fish like this (and the foxface and blue tang), 2)Take things slow in the reef tank, you can not add too much too fast or change things too fast. It is an ecosystem and everything has to work together.
Ya this wrass has little chance of survival in your tank.. When they say expert only, that is what they mean. Ususally that means the fish (or invert or coral) has very specific needs for survival. In this case that is exactly what it means. A tank with crushed coral is not going to provide it a home and most store bought livesand is med grain which might not work for him. Second, he eats live food that is not found within a tank in great numbers unless the tank have been established a while and has some sort of protective area for the live food to breed (ie a fuge). Third you do not have the set up to culture the live food off site and buying live food for such a wrass is most likely cost prohibitive.
I am going to be the jerk here and give you the golden rules to reef keeping. 1)Learn to research BEFORE you make a purchase. It will save you a lot of money in the long run because you are wasting it on fish like this (and the foxface and blue tang), 2)Take things slow in the reef tank, you can not add too much too fast or change things too fast. It is an ecosystem and everything has to work together.
Did you get this from Nemo also? Whomever sold it to you should have discouraged this selection if they knew how it would be housed.
(HINT: as a chronic impulse buyer from way back, I'll offer you a tiny bit of advice: <u>when you find a fish @ the LFS and fall in love with it, leave it there and do research first</u>. If I bought all the fish I fell in love with over the past 2 months, my tank would be a disaster.)
(HINT: as a chronic impulse buyer from way back, I'll offer you a tiny bit of advice: <u>when you find a fish @ the LFS and fall in love with it, leave it there and do research first</u>. If I bought all the fish I fell in love with over the past 2 months, my tank would be a disaster.)
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Bradon if you go to nemo seriously give them your thoughs because one thing is selling fish that do not have enough space to live but another is to sell a fish that needs an aged tank and a very experienced reefer if i could go with him i would but i cannot drive yet and put a stop to this
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And the fact that he needs a 50 gal tank... if for nothing else just so he can have enough food.
I had that problem too, with corals as well. My eventual solution: I finally got one of the small guides to marine fish and keep it in my car. Many of the stores also have them available and should be more than willing to let you look up any potential purchases. I doubt they would volunteer that recommendation, not because of the "buyer beware" thing but because it would not sound good to say: "Just go look it up over there" (not a great sales tactic!
)I have learned a lot that way... While at the Fish Store and More this weekend, they have a number of store-copy references I dug through to find info on 2 fish I eventually bought. In one case (Tomini Tang), I wanted to verify it was really what I had thought it was, and in the other (Fiji Foxface) I wanted to see if it would be a good alternate to a Magnificent Foxface. Saved them time, and made me feel a lot better about the purchases.
-Mike
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Linda Lee;66100 wrote: You're in Lawrenceville? Ask Brandon to go with you next time you go to Nemo.
Ya LFS do not like to see me because they know I turn away people from buying things they want to sell but are not proper for the person buying them. But I am usually available to go with a MEMBER and give my honest opinion about a LFS and a fish that is being looked at for your tank.
Ya, I have already been banned from one LFS, I do not think I need to be banned from another. Come to think of it, I do not like most of them anyways so being banned is no skin off my back! Keeps the wife from complaining that we are always stopping at them!
My advice is to start a post under the sponsors area and let them know about your experience, others can chime in and give the LFS a heads up about their actions. I can move your two threads (this one and your foxface thread) into one and put it there for you.
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petland duluth has a good selection of research books that they offer but you cannot take them home that is one thing that i liked about petland duluth but i do not know if that is normal for every petland
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Agreed, simon could give it a good home!
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What a beautiful wrasse. I researched them quite a bit and considered putting one in my tank. They're described as expert because they have high mortality rates in captivity. From my understanding the primary cause of death is simply starvation. These fish have extremely high metabolisms, on par or greater than some of the most active anthias. They need to be fed often and constantly with high nutrient food i.e. the dry stuff. The frozen foods are mostly water and don't pack as many calories as the flake or pellet foods.
Anyways, they do require substrate for burrowing. Crushed coral might be alright, I've seen burrowing wrasses do just fine with it. Although, the finer it is the better typically. It should go into an established tank with few pod hunters simply so it can sustain its high metabolism by snacking all day between its many meals. Basically I would not recommend this wrasse unless you mind feeding your tank a LOT, and can handle the excess nutrient load it requires. If you choose not to feed it a lot then it may survive, but more likely this high metabolism fish will start to starve to death. Once on the downtrend, its hard to reverse. Anyways, its a beautiful fish, and it can be kept in captivity... but I felt it wasn't worth the trouble and should be left in the wild.
Anyways, they do require substrate for burrowing. Crushed coral might be alright, I've seen burrowing wrasses do just fine with it. Although, the finer it is the better typically. It should go into an established tank with few pod hunters simply so it can sustain its high metabolism by snacking all day between its many meals. Basically I would not recommend this wrasse unless you mind feeding your tank a LOT, and can handle the excess nutrient load it requires. If you choose not to feed it a lot then it may survive, but more likely this high metabolism fish will start to starve to death. Once on the downtrend, its hard to reverse. Anyways, its a beautiful fish, and it can be kept in captivity... but I felt it wasn't worth the trouble and should be left in the wild.
