Reef safe peaceful wrasse info

rostato;279218 wrote: Am I reading correctly that I should keep at least different male species of flashers so that they keep their colors?
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I actually would recommend you get a bunch of females of the same species. One of them will turn into a male. This way you'll eventually get the spectacular nuptial flashing. He'll do the territorial flashing regardless of whether other males are present. They do that towards other types of fish or even to your scary face pushed up against the glass :).
 
ace1204;279225 wrote: Darn guess i wont be getting one in my barebottom lol

edit: after i read that i realized how bad thats sounds lol
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Lol. Indeed. You sound like the Richard Gere of the reef world... :)
 
What about keeping them with Tangs, like a foxface, or mimic tang, or regal tang? Are these smaller wrasses a little to timid to be with fish like these?
 
Man you're just full of questions!

The faeries won't be intimidated by any tangs or rabbitfish. They're smart enough to know what a predator is by looking at it. The flashers can be a little more skiddish but mine are always out and about with the tangs as well. They always seem more ready to dive for cover though and never quite as relaxed as the bigger faeries. They might just be scared though because I had a trigger who started picking of flashers once he got big enough. The flashers became a lot bolder after he was gone but they're still not the boldest of fish.

Atreyu - mckoskers rock. They are uber beautiful when they flash and they tend to do that often imo. My favorite of the flasher wrasses that are available in the trade. There are some awesome looking flashers though that are never available... maybe one day...
 
Yah go for it. If its flashing in the store then its pretty confident and pretty healthy. Make sure you ask them to feed them for you as well to make sure its eating.
 
Thanks so much for the info. I am really likeing the longfined fairy wrasses, and the carpenters flasher wrasses. I figured I would start with the cheaper ones.
 
rostato;279334 wrote: What about keeping them with Tangs, like a foxface, or mimic tang, or regal tang? Are these smaller wrasses a little to timid to be with fish like these?
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Fish behavior is so weird sometimes. I have two male flashers. The linespot is dominant over the McCosker's. However, the linespot will hide when the mag fox comes near his island, while the McCosker's will snatch food from right under the fox's nose.

When the linespot flashes it is amazing, like a flourescent blue/purple.

Don't forget the Thalassoma's Jin! Beautiful colors but not reef safe. If I ever have a predator tank, one from this genus would be a must for me.
 
So I should start with like 3 females of each species so that one becomes the male and then has two females to hang with?

Man I wish we had some stores in this area that could get me some decent fish. Ordering online gets expensive!!!
 
KernelPanic;279450 wrote: Fish behavior is so weird sometimes. I have two male flashers. The linespot is dominant over the McCosker's. However, the linespot will hide when the mag fox comes near his island, while the McCosker's will snatch food from right under the fox's nose.

When the linespot flashes it is amazing, like a flourescent blue/purple.

Don't forget the Thalassoma's Jin! Beautiful colors but not reef safe. If I ever have a predator tank, one from this genus would be a must for me.
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I love the linespot and have been looking for a good one. Where'd you get yours?

You're right about the Thalassomas... I totally forgot to write about the Leopard wrasses as well. Oh well :). It was on the fly.
 
rostato;279464 wrote: So I should start with like 3 females of each species so that one becomes the male and then has two females to hang with?

Man I wish we had some stores in this area that could get me some decent fish. Ordering online gets expensive!!!
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2 females at a minimum for each male flasher for nuptial flashing is what I've been told. I've seen it before with less but its more common with more females apparently.

Females are hard to come by as the males are so much more colorful they're the ones that make it into the trade more often than not. Id'ing females is also a lil tricky as many of them look alike...
 
FutureInterest;279745 wrote: I love the linespot and have been looking for a good one. Where'd you get yours?
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Diver's Den. There are a lot of flashers in the den right now. carpenters mccosker, blue, filaments, yellow fins and red tails. A really good selection. Makes me almost wish I waited. Glad I pulled the trigger when they had a linespot.

Have you experienced aggression with adding a new specimen or specimens to an established bunch?
 
I have experienced all sorts of aggression in my tank. Right now everything is cool though :). I like to qualify aggression into two general types. The first is initial aggression which is the "wtf are you doing here aggression" and the other is more of a sustained territorial aggression which is more of a "I will not rest until you area dead." They're different sides of the same coin really but the former is treatable to some degree and the latter is not.

That initial aggression will typically last a few days or so and its common for a lot of fish to have issues and attack the newcomer. Simon Kruger of local lore and fish keeping fame actually first suggested the picture method of taping pics of fish to the glass to confuzzle the resident fish when you add a newcomer. I found it best to use pics of both the new fish and also the pics of the resident fish that are being most aggressive. I like to blow up the pic of the resident fish a lil bit so that its bigger than the peeved fish. This way the resident angry fish has both more targets and will also become a little meeker in the presence of larger versions of itself. As days pass by you start taking down the pics one by one and eventually everyone is hunky dory. So far its worked like a charm everytime.

Sustained territorial aggression though is a no win situation from my experience. This is where the resident fish will not stop harassing and attempting to drive off or kill the newcomer. This kind of aggression can happen suddenly after months of peaceful coexistance. I see this spontaneous occurance a lot more frequently with wrasses for some reason. When they reach a certain level of sexual maturity, something clicks and they start attacking other fish they simply don't want on "their" turf now. You'll see this happen with lined wrasses, hogfish, clownfish, many other fish, and even some of the faeries. The only thing you can do in this situation is to remove either the aggressor or the aggressee. Or it will all end in heartache :sad:. It also doesn't have to be spontaneous as the sustained territorial aggression can and will occur when you add a new fish. This is when the resident fish just won't let it go and it happens fairly often especially with certain types of fish.
 
twistoflime;279800 wrote: Do leapord wrasses get along with fiary and flasher wrasses?
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good question. leapord wrasses are awesome looking.
 
They are gorgeous and get along just fine with faeries and flashers. They do sleep in the sand and are very proficient at hunting the rockwork for pods. They are considered "expert" because of their very high metabolism and were difficult to keep alive because of that. I personally think PE mysis makes it easy to keep these guys alive. PE has such a high fat content in comparison to other types of frozen food that they get a lot more caloric intake and thus have a higher chance of survival.
 
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