Reef Wrasses (1 Viewer)

[cliner]

Since rehoming our sixline, we have been wrasse-less. I want to add more than one, but which one? I mainly want the pest eliminating abilities, but there are some really beautiful fish available. Did I mention, I don't want a little pita cruisin the tank causing a ruckus bothering the little fish(anthias, cardinal, gobies, blennies,) What are your thoughts, experience? We keep a 180 gal mixed reef. Would love to see yours?

 

[Diesel]

Wrasses good choice.
I have a bunch of wrasses and love them.
The six line is a pita in your tank to other wrasses good thing you ditch that guy.
I have Hawaii Flame, Labouti, pair of Nahacky's, Yellow corris, Orange-Back Fairy, Golden Rhomboid Fairy,
And coming soon from 3cc Lineatus Fairy, Red Velvet Fairy and the last one on my list to ad to this tank this summer is a blue-striped Tamarin Wrasse.

 

[rlpardue]

I think the fairies are a great group of wrasses in general. I love watching my male Lubbocki display in the evening. Then he'll go chase the female. He's very impressed with himself. Doesn't notice other fish at all, except for the female Lubbocki. I'm not sure on fairy wrasses' pest-eliminating abilities - they may help, may not, just don't know.

I do know that, other than the sixline, the yellow "Coris" (Haliocheres Chrysus) is a good bet for eating unwanted flatworms and nudibranches. I have a pair of these also - the bigger one went terminal phase after I added a little bitty one. It was cool - at first the big one was very shy, a little psychotic, always fleeing under a rock whenever somebody entered the room. After he turned into a male he became much bolder, flitting around with his fins outstretched, displaying for the female. He doesn't notice any of the other fish at all.

If you want a fish similar to the "yellow Coris"/Haliocheres Chrysus, and if you are willing to pay $75 per fish (if you're lucky), then I would suggest Haliocheres Iridis. They're hot. Same general behavior and pest-eating abilities as the yellow wrasse.

 

[toefu]

what the heck kind of list is that diesel? holy smokes.

flame, rhomboid, lineatus, labouti and blue striped tamarin?!?! as nice as fairies are, they suck for cleaning pests. haliocheres is where pest cleaning is at. but haliocheres is a much more timid fish than fairies. When i dip my hand in the tank, the haliocheres all run, but the fairies typically swarm to the surface looking for food.

 

[rlpardue]

I forgot to mention that Halichoeres wrasses (yellow, radiant, etc) are riskier than fairies when it comes to decorative shrimp. I believe most people are fine with the yellow "coris" and peppermint shrimp. Iridis/radiant wrasse is perhaps riskier. I imagine both would be fine with cleaner shrimp. Other Halichoeres, especially ones that get bigger, will be likely shrimp-eaters. All Halichoeres may eat your hermits, snails and such. It's hard to find a wrasse that WILL eat the pests but WON'T eat your CUC. Personally, I'd go with a couple of Halichoeres Chrysus and overstock the tank with snails.

 

[inigomontoya]

The guys summed it up pretty good. Fairies are awesome but not really much at eliminating pests, Haliochere/coris wrasses are great at pests and mellow but "with caution" as they can get small shrimp (pepps and smaller). The reason I don't get a yellow coris is because they can also pick at feather dusters and on top of large feathers and coco worms, I have a sea apple. Apparently wrasses that pick on feathers will also pick on sea apple tentacles which can lead to a nuke of the tank.
You mention you have a mixed reef so just realize the "pest eliminating" can lump in some desirable critters.

 

[cliner]

Thanks for the feedback. Now for a little more reading, we'll see what we come up with.

 

[Diesel]

what the heck kind of list is that diesel? holy smokes.

flame, rhomboid, lineatus, labouti and blue striped tamarin?!?! as nice as fairies are, they suck for cleaning pests. haliocheres is where pest cleaning is at. but haliocheres is a much more timid fish than fairies. When i dip my hand in the tank, the haliocheres all run, but the fairies typically swarm to the surface looking for food.

HAHA, need to be appealing to the eye, right??
Lineatus wrasse is coming soon, Brian is on the look out.
Yeah I know some other stores have them swimming but don't like to have some kind of ugly bad thing happening to the rest.
About six weeks ago I learned my lesson with a LFS, no explanation necessary
The Tamarin is my last fish in this setup, 4th of July present.........will call him Independence

 

[rlpardue]

Lol, call him "mortgage payment"! Those fish are definitely sweet though. It would be the ultimate last fish.

Do any of you guys know whether leopard wrasses (Potter's in particular) take care of pests? Should I take out my yellow "coris" when I add the Potter's?

 

[cacarnold3]

Lol, call him "mortgage payment"! Those fish are definitely sweet though. It would be the ultimate last fish.

Do any of you guys know whether leopard wrasses (Potter's in particular) take care of pests? Should I take out my yellow "coris" when I add the Potter's?

Our Leopard wrasses pick at the rocks all day. They eat pods and protozoa. Not sure if they would eliminate pests. They don't bother the millions of Astrea starfish in the tank.

 

[toefu]

my potters picks at things all day, i have no idea if he eats pests as by the time I bought my potters, i had no pests. My yellow coris (female) has never given my potter any trouble at all. The only fishes that ever attacked the potters was my Haliocheres melanarus and my tiny six line wrasse. I bought the smallest possible six line I could find and he still occasionally chases the potters around.

Each fish will have their own personalities, but my yellow coris has always been timid and peaceful. If you know your yellow coris is a bully, you should probably take some minor precautions as I've never seen my potters attack anyone, even fish smaller than it is.

 

[rlpardue]

My yellow coris is pretty tame but I think I'll take him out anyway just to be on the safe side. I'll replace him with a teeny little yellow coris so my current female can spend some time as a male lol. Do you guys think my Lubbock's male would cause problems for a Potter's?

 

[Diesel]

Our Leopard wrasses pick at the rocks all day. They eat pods and protozoa. Not sure if they would eliminate pests. They don't bother the millions of Astrea starfish in the tank.

Yep, true.
Saw that 90 gallon today and the leapards are grazing the rocks.


Mortgage payment......what's that?
Oh yeah the house bill, well that's paid off.

 

[rlpardue]

Hahaha, nice. I really wish I'd started this hobby when I had my house paid off rather than when I'm just getting going lol.