scotts wrasse questions before i buy???

[prow]

hi everyone. well i have a order on hold right now for 3 scotts wrasses from cook island. i hear i should get 5. but dont want that many. i only really want to get the 1 females and 1 male, or all females and let nature pick who will be the male. anyway, mainly because of the price i am hoping 2 will work, but will get 3 of them if it will help. however i dont want to get have to get 5, just to much money for all them. can anyone give me some advice here. will 2 be cool, and if the male losses its coloration how much of his color will fade? so trying to avoid buying 5, will 3 be good or should just go with one fish. if so and its a female will it change to male with out a female present. these are med fish so most likely they will have already changed into one sex or another. i am not sure but i thought a supermale will not change back to a female, what about the normal males will they change back to female, if i happen to get 2 males? what do you think, buy just one, two or three.

can you tell this purchase is going to send me straight to the funny farm.

 

[steve-s]

A "harem" would normally be 3 or more females and then the male. I would not recommend less or you will be disappointed with the males coloration as it fades over time. With proper feeding and enough females to display to, the more likely the male to retain it's color. If that is not a concern then having less will not inhibit your success of keeping them. Try to introduce all of them at the same time.

Cheers
Steve

 

[curro18]

what size tank are you putting them into?

 

[prow]

tanks is 72X18X20 with about 150lbs live rock and a 45gal sump/refugium. yeah the loss of color is a issue for me. how do you think the color will hold with the 2 females plus i will be getting a male Laboute's wrasse (Cirrhilabrus labouti) no females with him. do you think having another male wrasse of different species will help the scotts wrasse coloration.

 

[steve-s]

I won't say it's impossible but I highly doubt it. The male scott's wrasse will not see a wrasse of a different species as a mating threat. Possibley just a territorial threat and they are not the same thing.

Cheers
Steve

 

[prow]

i was afraid some would say that. how are the colors on them if they do fade?

 

[steve-s]

The colors will still be present and quite distinguishable but nowhere near as brilliant or vibrant. I don't have a visual refence for you. Also not sure if you know but there will be color variations depending on where the fish was collected from.

http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.php?ID=12728

Cheers
Steve

 

[prow]

yeah i am aware of the color variations, why i want the cooks island vairent so much, but looks like i am going to pass on the online buy i was going to do. they will not guarantee i will get any females or males. so if i get 5 who knows how many males i will end up with. too much money to take that chance. would be like watching $100 bills tear eachother up. i hate it when that happens, so will have to put a bug in the LFS owners hear, so at least i know what sex i will get, color too. thaks for all the info, i think it save me a big headache. i have been looking for a female scotts from cook island but have not been able to find one. not real sure what the females look like, i know the australian females look like but most say the cooks looks a lot different. for now there are just too many i dont knows or could be's, (could get all males), stuff like that, this is one fish i decided should be bought from the LFS, just so i dont get some ugly ones or all males. i know no ugly one but still. anyway thank for everything like i said you guys more than likely just helpt me save a few hundred dollars and a big disappointing, frustrating episode. tanks agian.

 

[cheeks69]

The price of the females will be far less then a supermale so the female will be more difficult to find. I have a sub-male Red Margin Fairy Wrasse and I only paid $27.00 for it whereas a Supermale can fetch $90.00+.

This was my Scotts unfortunately it didn't live very long but he was beautiful

 

[plack]

Any clue as to why he died. Was it starvation flipping on the floor or something else? I just love wrasses

 

[cheeks69]

Any clue as to why he died. Was it starvation flipping on the floor or something else? I just love wrasses

I believe it was constant aggression from my Solar and Blue Head Fairy Wrasse. Also Fairy Wrasses don't ship very well so if you have a QT or Refugium I would put them there for a few days to a couple of weeks before adding them to the display.

 

[prow]

no worries there alway QT for 45 days after no signs of anything.