Fish ID Help

[Jason McK]

Please take a look at the link from Fish Base.

They are IDing this fish as a black Leopard Wrasse. I don't buy it I think Fishbase is wrong.

What do you think
Leopard Wrasse (http://www.fishbase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=13141)

[Tangman]

The fins and mouth look right but the color and scales sure don't.
But remember not all species are typical of what they should look like, as I am sure you already know...
bad demo. picture of a leopard wrasse

[Johnny Reefer]

FishIndex appears to agree with FishBase....

http://species.fishindex.com/species_4474macropharyngodon_kuiteri.html

I think the key word is Black Leopard Wrasse, as opposed to just Leopard Wrasse.

[Jason McK]

So to Quote my Wife "Then Why the Hell is it white and Orange.

This is mine
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g293/Jasonmck/DSCF0009Medium-2.jpg

And he is picking on
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g293/Jasonmck/DSCF0004-2.jpg

[Johnny Reefer]

So to Quote my Wife "Then Why the Hell is it white and Orange.
:lol: Ya, who know's where alot of the names come from. Maybe it has something to do with that unmistakeable black spot behind the gill plate.

Cheers,

(BTW....nice fish).

[Jason McK]

So It's been about 29 hours. An so far the Black Leopard is still not letting the other smaller Leopard to freely swim the tank. what are the odds they will become a little more friendly
BTW they are in the 370G tank
J

[Ruth]

I don't know if they will ever start to get along - but looking at the last picture you posted and knowing that you have a lot of SPS coral in your tank I am going to predict a divine intervention that will stop the fish from picking on anything or anybody else in the tank.:mrgreen:

[christyf5]

It could be juvenile coloring? I'd say you're probably right though, I looked on wetwebmedia and they have listed Macropharyngodon negrosensis as the black leopard and M. meleagris as a "regular" leopard wrasse.

Oh and just in case you haven't read this: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/hcs3/index.php

[Jason McK]

Thanks Everyone. Not sure I'll be able to keep the new one. The problem is getting him out.

[Delphinus]

I'll try to remember to look it up in my book on wrasses when I get home from work tonight -- but (and Christy beat me to this point), it could be a case of juvenile coloration versus adult colouration. There can be some significant differences between juvy's and adults in the wrasse world (well, I guess that's true of many kinds of fish).

[Delphinus]

Ooops, sorry, missed a point.

In my (very limited) experience with new fish not getting along -- it seems to take WAY longer than a day or two to figure out if they're ever going to get along. The last two fish I bought, it took at least a week before I started to see any signs that the territoriality/aggression would slow down. Both times, at 29 hours I was still certain that I'd still have to remove someone.

However wrasses can be... well .. wrasses. The aggression of my tang towards my CBB abated after a week but it was way longer than that for my sixline towards my potter's angel. Although things are fine now and they get along fine and all nipped fins are totally healed .. I was actually surprised. I thought I was going to have to remove my sixline for sure. I still don't quite trust him 100% but it proved too difficult to remove him without a tank teardown and since he's acting better he can stay.

But leopard wrasses may be a different story, they may be too aggressive. I don't know. Best of luck with it.

[Tom R]

Hi Jason

I am having the same problem between the new Mimic Tang and the old Chevron Tang. The Chevron is not chasing the Mimic, he is just restricting the Mimic Tangs use of the tank. As long as the Mimic Tang stays behind a pile of rock every thing is fine. As soon as he wants to move freely around the tank the Chevron comes over and he returns to the back of the pile of rocks.

Tom R