What Do Sixline's Eat???

[ronj]

i got a sixline wrasse today.. what exactly do they munch on???

 

[Sparks]

copepods, baby worms, brittlestars...all the small "bugs"
and once they're acclimated, generally everything besides algae based foods.

 

[Jim Hart]

little bugs....

 

[loohunter]

fingers and fish fins

 

[roscoe]

well if you have bristle worms they love to hunt those down.

 

[snobanker]

I should put one in my fuge then...tons of worms and pods in there.....actually I was wondering how much competition would they give my mandarin if I put in my main tank, been wanting to get one, but I don't want to short the mandarin...hes pretty fat though

 

[NC2WA]

if you are keeping clams they are a great addition as the eat all the forementioned creatures (ie, worms, snails) that could potentially harm a clam.

 

[ronj]

i have tons of pods and bristle worms... should i still get some sort of additional food???

 

[Brenden]

Ron mine eats about anything. Mysis, frozen formula,brine, etc

 

[DisturbedReefer]

I should put one in my fuge then...tons of worms and pods in there.....actually I was wondering how much competition would they give my mandarin if I put in my main tank, been wanting to get one, but I don't want to short the mandarin...hes pretty fat though

Major competetor for pods. How big is the tank?

 

[NC2WA]

Agreed with Disturbedreefer. Both fish will be fighting for pods.

How big is the fuge??

 

[chadmace]

Also dont add a Royal Gramma, they eat those too. (Wont actually eat one, but will kill one.)

 

[Sparks]

yeah there's no way to have a sixline in a tank with a mandarin. Sixlines do the pick,pick,pick,pick,pick on your rock constantly looking for pods, like a quick little hummingbird. Once your sixline decimates the pod population(and he will), then he'll start eating frozen food, the mandarin you may have a harder time with getting to do that.

and sixlines will keep the population of small <1" brittleworms down, which is great to keep them from spreading, but i've had a sixline in with waay too many larger brittleworms for months, and he just didn't/couldn't take em down.

 

[rats4jacks]

You are so smart. I think we should meet... xoxo

 

[mmkeeper]

I heard they love Tangs of all shapes and sizes. Dessert!!!!!!

 

[OmarD]

Mandarin and Sixline peacefully co-exsist in my tank. The sixline mostly eats whatever else all other fish getting for the day. Bothers nothing else...

Sixline Wrasse​

Scientific Name: Pseudocheilinus hexataenia
Family: Labridae

(repost)

Besides its incredible beauty, it is great fun to watch whizzing around tank, playing in heavy water current and "schooling" around with other fish.

It is a fish with wonderful characteristics.

It will eat flatworms, bristle worms, small nuisance snails (esp. those that prey on clams) and is known to act as a "cleaner" to other fish that might be afflicted with some parasite such as Ick.

I often see it carefully inspecting my larger fish, which will hold still for it to do so.

While it does carry a bad rep for being overly aggressive, mine is the most docile, mellow and fish friendly in the tank. The reason being it was the last fish to be added to the population, other then my flame wrasse, which it does not bother at all. It seems to be that they will not tolerate new fish.

He has lots of personality and fun to watch him following around my coral beauty which his best friend.

The only downside that I have heard of, is that it also loves copepods which will put it in competition with other pod eaters, such as mandarins. But my mandarin is a fat little sausage so does not seem to be a problem in my tank.

So for a cheap, colorful and playful addition to a already established fish population, consider adding a sixline wrasse.

It is the perfect reef fish.

I love mine.