female black bird wrasse....

EvilFishes · 03-01-2005, 03:50 AM

i have looked and looked and looked these fish up.... lots of places say they arent reef safe, but all the eat are crustaceans.....if i keep her well fed enough will she be ok. oh yeah i already bought her and she is swimming happily in my 125. was too cute for me to say no. please get back to me on this cause if she will be a problem i will try and return her.

ron popeil · 03-01-2005, 03:54 AM

id imagine your corals will be fine, but any ornamental shrimps you add will be consumed. potentially crabs as well. maybe even small fishes. but i doubt clams and corals will be picked on, soft and stony alike.

EvilFishes · 03-01-2005, 04:11 AM

small fish wise...will he bother my pink spotted shrimp goby? it is about 20 or 3 inches, and spends most of its day hiding from me, or the cats who like to stare at the tank all day. and i am only using snails anyways so i guess im ok since it ate my only peppermint shrimp today when i dropped him into the tank. was a hungry bugger

ron popeil · 03-01-2005, 04:18 AM

if i remember correctly, this wrasse will take any small fish it can, and if it cant be consumed in one swallow it mashes them against rocks and such so that theyre easier to ingest.

i think most small fishes will be fine, like clownfish, damsels, etc. gobies, chromis, other slow moving small fish such as mandarins....may not work out so well. but different fish do different things in different peoples tanks. so no promises, your wrasse may just work out with everyone.

....except shrimp.

EvilFishes · 03-01-2005, 04:22 AM

well the goby isnt small enough to swallow and he is pretty quick. the wrasse ousted him from his cave but he found a new one. they are alone in a 6ft 125g. i hope they can find spaces of their own.

EvilFishes · 03-01-2005, 04:33 AM

anyone else have any experience with the bird wrasse??? just wanna know wether my goby is safe

DonJasper · 03-01-2005, 10:46 AM

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Spec...iesname=varius

"Feeds mainly on small benthic crustaceans, sometimes on small fishes, brittle stars, and mollusks." You can click on the 'Food Items' for more details.

Main Entry: ben·thic
Pronunciation: 'ben(t)-thik
Function: adjective
Etymology: benthos
1 : of, relating to, or occurring at the bottom of a body of water

As long as the Wrasse is eating I don't think the Goby is in too much danger.

EvilFishes · 03-03-2005, 01:32 AM

so no shrimp no brittles, besides the ones that are already in there, and no crabs.... what about other types of stars...such as a basket star?