[Groovebox303]

Hi,
I brought a Melanarus wrasse a week ago. I have an 80 gallon with a blue tang, flame angel, midas blenny,couple of anthias and a couple of clownfish When i acclimated him the first day the flame chased him a little and he disappeared into the sand. Now everyday in the morning it comes out to observe the tank but is gonein the sand by the evening when the lights come on and i come back home. I know this because i saw it out looking at rocks in the morning on th e weekend. I feed the fish at night, I havnt seen it eat in a week.

I didnt try to dig it out of the sand because i didnt want to stress it out but now im worried since i am leaving to go out of town in two days for 4 days. I have an auto feeder so the rest of the fish will be fine but im not sure the melanarus wrasse can survive if it doesnt come out at night to feed? Should i dig him out so he can out at night and eat when i feed the fish? im stressing out about this, any feedback based on experience with wrasses similar to this would be appreciated

 

[skimjim]

is your lights on a timer?

if not, they really need to be. the fish need to have their internal clocks set by what's daytime and what's nighttime. No different from us human if asked to work 3rd shift, we'd struggle for a month or so.

get your lights on a timer so the fish know to when to wake up and go to sleep....then the fish will come out based on how you setup the timer so you have a set time to sit and watch the tank.

HTH

 

[Groovebox303]

Lights Timer

Yes,

The timer lights on my tank come on every day from 5pm-12am. Its been the same since its been in the tank.

 

[skimjim]

then it sounds like either the hoven wrasse is still adjusting to your light cycle (which could be a month)...... or its being bullied by the flame, who sounds like manages where fish are allowed to be in certain territories.

hovens eat mostly pest in and around your live rock, from worms to copepods. if you have a mature enough tank, chill.... bc he'll eat most of daily diet at night eating the pest within your tank while the flame is sleeping. and he probably "flips-off" the flame while eating at 3-4am. LOL

 

[Groovebox303]

ok, but my concern is will it be able to survive for 7-10 days by just eating stuff off of rocks? so i shouldnt try to dig it out of the sand? just let it be?

 

[OneDummHikk]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1379+2285&pcatid=2285

Reads as if he will be fine if you have enough of his preferred diet in the tank. Have anybody that will be around that could come by every 2 days or so and feed it some ghost shrimp to make sure it has food?

 

[Brassaxe]

Just let him be.. If you dig him out he might get frightened and stay in there longer.

The worst time to mess with a fish is when they are new. Just calm down, some people don't see their fish for weeks.. I personally don't even see all of my fish on a daily basis. And a few of mine hid for a long time when I got them. Let the fish do what it wants. If it ends up being to sick or scared to survive then that's just the way it is. I know it may sound terrible, but its better to let them be and just wait.

And try finding a food he'll come out for.