Do you have to have a sand bed for an Ornate Leopard Wrasse?

[megs_clark]

Hi. I have a 90 bare bottom tank. I wanted to buy an Ornate leapard wrasse but read that they like sand. I was wondering if the sand is a must for that kind of fish? Can it live in a bare bottom tank?

[turkleton]

Yes, I'm afraid an adequate sand bed is a must for this type of fish. Since they burrow into the sand bed to hide when frightened and to sleep, the lack of a sand bed results in long term stress which can affect their health in a multitude of ways. That being said I have spoken to people who have had success keeping these wrasses in a bare bottom tank, so long as there is a large Tupperware container filled with sand in the tank along with them. I don't know the long term effectiveness of this solution as the fish reaches an adult size, but for the short term it seems to work fine. I should also mention that with the Tupperware method it becomes quite a challenge to keep any more than one of this species since the sand becomes a prized piece of real estate and they apparently become fairly territorial.

[megs_clark]

Aww to bad. Thanks for letting me know!

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Perhaps you can place a tupperware container of sand in a hidden back corner (with a larger empty container underneath to catch thrown sand) for the wrasse. I've done this in the past with good success.

[FitoPharmer]

I owned one in a BB tank for a long time. He just found a hole in the LR to sleep in every night. I had a dish of sand in there for a while but he either did not see it or want to use it. It was just the standard leopard though.