Fairy Wrasse

Hermit · 10-23-2001, 10:33 PM

I was just thinking/dreaming about the next tank when I ran across a picture of a fairy wrasse. Sure is pretty, but the book didn't give any info on it.

Can anyone tell me something about this fish? Is it aggressive. I know some wrasses are hell on snails. Is this one of those?

Just wondering,
Kris

TroyF · 10-23-2001, 11:04 PM

Kris, there are a variety of Fairy Wrasses. I've never kept one so I can't give you personal experience. I've only seen two species in stores here in Canada and they've been expensive. They are, according to Scott Michael, for the most part, ideal reef inhabitants. Generally it is only good to keep one male with a few females in larger tanks. I've heard people on the boards having difficulty maintaining the fishes colours when kept singularly (males are the colourful ones). They don't get very big, Scott's Fairy Wrasse is the largest listed at 5.1". They may pick on other mid-column planktivores. They are jumpers.

Wrasse Man · 10-24-2001, 09:22 AM

Hi Hermit!

In my humble opinion, you really can't go wrong with fairy wrasses. Troy's obervations about coloring are correct, but I think some of the female colored fairies can be very pretty as well. My only hands-on experience with fairy wrasses is the velvet multi-colored, but much time spent reading up on the smaller wrasses. Most are mid-level planktivores, but I have never had a problem with getting wrasses to readily and greedily accept prepared foods.

As far as snails go, a hungry wrasses will not turn a flipped-over snail back over

, but I doubt that many of the fish we keep would be considered good samaritans. I have a yellow tang that will go after flipped snails.

I would love to have a large a reef tank with a school of scott's fairy wrasses or some other fairy wrasse, but my single velvet multi-colored will do for the time being.

OodleyBoodely · 10-24-2001, 10:45 AM

I've been looking at the fairey wrasses lately, too, and they are gorgeous fish. Check out Cirrhilabris lineatus at themarinecenter.com. All the Cirrhilabris wrasses are supposed to be reefsafe. BTW, Scott's fairey is one of the less hardy ones according to the marine center.

nisom88 · 10-24-2001, 11:51 AM

I love the idea of a reef safe wrasse...i love their swimming movement and the coloration of course. I've only seen two or three in the stores, a carpenter's wrasse and a couple of others. From what I've read they can be very shy though. Anyone kept one? Are they shy?

Wrasse Man · 10-24-2001, 12:44 PM

nisom,

There are quite many types of wrasse that can be kept in a reef tank. The main exception (generalizing here) is the parrot-beaks. They love to crunch up corals.
When a wrasse is stressed due to shipping, or being in a LFS, they will be shy and skittish. I think that is why most LFS people say that you will never see a wrasse. Once acclimated, and assuming no aggresive tank-mates, wrasses become very gregariuos. My carpenter's and velvet-multi-colored fairy will push all the other fish out of the way when it is time to feed.
When most wrasses are introduced to a tank, they will hide. Sometimes for days on end, then *poof* there it is!
Some wrasses like the thalasoma's will sleep in the sand, or dart into the sand when they are spooked, so I would caution against them if you are using a plenum or are very particular about your DSB. They can burrow pretty deep, when I had my thallasoma, I could sometimes look at the bottom of the tank from underneath, and there he was staring back at me, under 6 inches of sand. Next morning he would worm his way back up.
I know that 6 and 8 line wrasses are nice additions also. The way you can watch their eyes pivot around is very cool.
Some wrasses like the creole and leopard can be harder to keep, since they are primarily planktavores.

Hope that helps a little.

Hermit · 10-24-2001, 06:16 PM

Wrasseman,

When you say aggressive tank mates are bad, how about active tank mates. I have a hippo tang that is very active. Will this scare a wrasse or keep him skittish. I have never seen my h ippo attack anything, but he has been known (nightly) to zoom around the tank.

nisom88 · 10-24-2001, 07:23 PM

thanks wrasse man. I guess I should know better than to assume that behavior in a LFS tank is an indicator of normal behavior! I've got a small 6 line wrasse in a 10 gallon...he's one of my favorite fish by far-really colorful, always darting through small holes in the live rock, hunting coepepods and what not, I love his eyes too. I'm looking for something a little larger for the 55g. Hermit's got a good question though, I've got a fairly active yellow tang that's always on the move...not aggressive, just busy. Would this be a problem?

Wrasse Man · 10-25-2001, 08:46 AM

Hey guys!

Assuming that the wrasse you choose is healthy, a tang won't be a problem. I have noticed that 'active' fish don't really bother the wrasses I have now or have had. What I mean by aggresive would be territorial fish like damsels and some clowns that may have adopted the whole tank as their territory. I can't really give a definitive answer on territorial fish though, I only have a small false perc that has adopted a torch coral. Any fish (tang, wrasse, blenny) that comes too close just gets chased away.

The only problems I have noticed is when the wrasse is introduced to a tank where the other fish have been in there for a while, but that is pretty much a normal dominance thing. After a couple days of chasing and fin-flashing, everybody settles down once they realize that they will not be killed by the new fish, and they will still get enough food.

nisom: for a 55 I would recomend fairies and smaller. In my opinion thallasoma's (lunar, solar, checkerboard etc.) will get too big very fast. I love my carpenter's wrasse, but he is a little more apt to hide than some others. I wouldn't call him shy, he just doesn't like fast movements around the outside of the tank. He will dart into the rocks, then come out about 30 seconds later when it is clear the world is not ending. This is the first carpenter's I have kept, so I don't know if that is a standard traight or not.

HTH

dbman · 10-25-2001, 11:26 AM

While we're on wrasses, can anyone identify this little guy? I've had a hell of a time figuring out what it is - LFS called it a Sunshine Wrasse but no other source seems to use that name. He's a great character, has bright green eyes, similar body shape to a six-line.