Wrasse flashing?

[Grossman90]

First time posting since I couldn't really find an answer on the internet. I have a yellowtail tamarin wrasse who flashes a few times on my live rock when it eats. The weird part about it is that he only ever flashes during feeding. I have observed him many times throughout the day for 10-15 minutes and he never does it. My fish store said it's not flukes or anything if its during only feeding time most likely. Would like to hear if anybody has witnessed this happen with their wrasse. Thanks

 

[jay0705]

Its him flashing during feeding to ward off other fish from his food

 

[Grossman90]

Its him flashing during feeding to ward off other fish from his food

Rubbing/flashing against live rock after eating a couple pieces of food? I hope so.

 

[jay0705]

Rubbing is different from flashing. Flashing is normal. If its rubbing it could be a skin issue. How long have u had it?

 

[Grossman90]

When I look up flashing tang its them rubbing against a rock in a quick motion. Thats what my wrasse does but only when i fed it. Would do it 2-3 times and not again. I watched it today and didnt see any sort of rubbing on the rock when i fed my fish. I have had the fish for 2 months.

 

[jay0705]

Tangs and wrasse r totally different. A wrasse just flashing is normal. Rubbing wouldn't be

 

[lmforbis]

Rubbing against a rock is called flashing.
Wrasses have another behavior also called flashing (especially flasher wrasses) that is male wrasses displaying for females or in the case of mine displaying for a Firefish. Flashing on rocks is usually a bad sign. It is essentially scratching an itch. It cold indicate a parasite of some sort.

 

[Grossman90]

I haven't seen him do it at all today. I found a thread where the person had a wrasse who would also rub/flash against his live rock during feedings for many years and never had anything wrong with it. Thanks for the input. Hoping to it being nothing.