A few new additions

Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum

Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:

Joined
May 16, 2006
Messages
9,680
Location
Spokane, Washington, United States
Figured I'd update with some pictures, including 3 new additions. Sorry for the quality of the pictures. I really need to clean the glass!!! We got the Purple Firefish, Nemateleotris decora, almost a week ago. It hid for the first couple of days. Towards the end of day 2, I was able to entice it out with some frozen Mysid Shrimp. Since then, it's almost always out and about.
3202259871_7b75a4c005.jpg


3203095854_8468b4c1c7.jpg


3202235709_c4574bc7ef.jpg


Next we have our pair, yes, male and female, of Vermiculate Leopard Wrasses, Macropharyngodon bipartitus. We got this beautiful pair today. Several species of Wrasses bury themselves in the sand at night, or if stressed or scared. This species is one of them. During shipping, which as we all know, is very stressful, they have no sand. While attempting to bury themselves, it's common for them to rub against the plastic bag so much that they rub sores onto their sides. You can see these sores in the pictures of the male. After an iodine treatment, during acclimation, I released them. The female immediately started swimming around, inspecting her new digs. The male swam straight to the bottom, where he laid on his side for a couple of minutes and then buried himself in sand. One of the common problems with Leopard Wrasses is getting them to eat. Just to try, I fed frozen mysid shrimp, and a good quality frozen food called Rod's food. The female immediately started eating!!! :D

About an hour later, I noticed the male sticking his head out and scoping things out. A few minutes later, out he came!!! That was a relief!!! I was a bit worried about him. So, I fed again, yeah I know, the tank got overfed tonight!! He watched all the fish go into their typical feeding frenzy. I made sure some food made it to his nose. He slurped it right up!!

Anyway, here's the pics!! Oh and I must say...Barbie's been getting some COOL stuff in lately!!!! We happen to show up about the time she's unpacking her stock lately!!! LOL

Female Vermiculate Leopard Wrasse
3202278007_98be535290.jpg


3202277249_1f031d6d3c.jpg


Male
3202363253_e72605bf0d.jpg


3202360403_9f82d7d984.jpg


The Happy Couple
3202360963_966b500e7a.jpg
 
MOST PRETTY SID!!!!I also feed ROD's FOOD good stuff!
Those things are why I'm putting sand in my 125 when it's set up!
And clams!LOL

DANG, ??? is it because you have bare bottom tanks???
 
I've been considering a pair of those wrasses. They are beautiful fish.
Your male wrasse is a very similar color pattern as my melenarus wrasse, wonder if there would be a problem?
 
Dang, I never even noticed while I was there. Is your tank Bare Bottomed? If you have sand, I see no reason you couldn't keep them. Your tank is definitely mature and healthy enough!! If you're bare bottomed, put some pants on...j/k. I will say that if you do have a bare bottomed tank, that's a huge plus for those with bare bottomed. Most people say it doesn't look good. However, I didn't even notice in your tank!!!

Finn, everything I've read about the Leopard Wrasses says they will co-exist with other wrasses, including other species of Leopard Wrasses, as long as there's only one male Leopard Wrasse in the tank. Now that doesn't mean that all other wrasses will accept a Leopard Wrasse. However, reading up on the melanurus, it also seems to be a quite peaceful Wrasse. In a large enough tank, I bet it'd work out just fine. I know it doesn't look anything like it, but my 6 Lined Wrasse totally ignores the Leopards...so far.

On a side note, in reading up on your wrasse, I did learn something new. It's supposed to be one of the best "utility" fish to use against Planaria, and will make short work of them!!
 
Last edited:
Aye I have planarian somewhere in my tank, but I never see more then one or two. My leopard and mandarin make short work of them.

All three of your fish are beautifull! I wish now I had gotten a pair of those cool looking leopard wrather then the normal one I got, oh well!

Peace,
Jesse
 
Back
Top