Mixing wrasses

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Snappy

I personally believe the tank size has a lot to do with them fighting and jumping. They need room to flee if threatened and the best option it for them to have space to swim out of harms way horizontally and not vertically because they often can't stop when they reach the surface.

In principle, I agree, but my Blue sided Fairy lives in a 210g 6' x 2' x 29" tall reef tank with lots of hiding places & it still chases other wrasses (besides the Canary) relentlessly out of the tank.

Sometimes you just end up with a b@st@rd fish

[ponokareefer]

My dusky wrasse picks on my whip fin a lot, along with my clownfish for some reason. So my experience hasn't been so great. My new little trigger has put him in his a place a few times though.

[my2rotties]

Just don't add a Banana wrasse to your tank. Mine is quite unpredictable at times. He will be fine with something forever and then just suddenly kill. He is a hunter of the tank, and reminds me of a Mako shark. Beautiful fish though, I would not part with him for anything.

[Ryan]

How are fairy wrasses? I recently purchased a McCosker and want to add 3 or 4 more in a 75G. Was also thinking of adding a trio of Blue Flashers.

I had this McCosker in a tank with the Blue FLasher at work and they were fine for days, then I bought the McCosker. Maybe it was just these 2 fish I am not sure.

If a 75 wont work for the 2 species or even for the small group of McCoskers what would be the recomended size? 150G?

[edikpok]

I found that if you add several wrasses at the same time while they are still small, they grow to tolerate each other.... but don't add more later. Yellow coris ar quite peaceful too...

[justinl]

There's a few things you can do to reduce the chance of carpet surfing. stick with peaceful species like most Halichoeres; research compatability of fairy wrasses if you add more (they can be jerks to each other depending on colour); stay away from genus Thalasoma. Give them space in a big tank.

In the end though, ALL wrasses are prone to jumping. maybe not now or for several years, but the statistics work against you if you don't have a canopy or tank lid. imo, no wrasse tank should ever be without some kind of protection against carpet surfing.

[my2rotties]

I second this, my Banana wrasse would kill anything that looks like him easily. He still gets in a rage over fish he lives with and chases them into the rock work for no apparent reason at all. I have seen him bite other fish and he tears off chunks. If he sees something in the rock work, he will bite off chunks of rocks to get at it... pretty nasty predator.

I love him though, even though he is a wrassehole.

Originally Posted by justinl

stay away from genus Thalasoma. Give them space in a big tank.

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

In principle, I agree, but my Blue sided Fairy lives in a 210g 6' x 2' x 29" tall reef tank with lots of hiding places & it still chases other wrasses (besides the Canary) relentlessly out of the tank.

Sometimes you just end up with a b@st@rd fish

Agreed many fish are hit & miss and some are just plain bad. Wrasses are no exception to this rule. I do think it is important to have plenty of swimming room and not just at the top. In my tank I have a lot of space for the wrasses to swim in the lower regions. In my experience the wrasses that like to hang near the top area of the tank are the most likely jumpers. In the year I've had my 400 going I have had only one wrasse jump and it was a flasher who always hung out in open water in the top 1/3 of the tank.

[kien]

I have a fairy wrasse, leopard wrasse and a six line wrasse. They all get along fine and don't bother anyone. Sometimes they travel In a pack and hunt down pods and bugs together. The fairy is a bit skitish and will dart if there is sudden movement in the room but he's starting to get over that now.

[Nihoa]

i tried to add a blue flasher wrasse into a 54g with a twinspot hogfish in it. twinspot killed it good. thinking that the issue was that the blue flasher was quite tiny and didnt stand a chance i added a large mystery wrasse. not many hours later the mystery wrasse was lying on his side, no fins, blood coming out its mouth. the twinspot went to another tank and thankfully the mystery healed up 100%.