Added sixline wrasse - Crazy Story!

[rob_ou]

So I went to my LFS last night. They had told me they were getting a new shipment of goodies in, but didn't exactly know what was going to be in it. I wound up leaving with the most beautiful sixline wrasse I'd ever seen. He's brightly colored, and looks even better than most pictures on sites like this one.
So I get to the point in the acclimation process where I actually put him in the tank, and he immediately swims behind the live rock. "No big deal," I think, "he's just shy." Anyway, I don't see the rest of the night. I wake up this morning, and I still can't find him. I put a little food in to see if I can entice him out of hiding, and I still don't see him. About this time I'm wondering if he's dead, so I start sifting through the LR, but I don't see his body. I then start looking on the floor (yes, my tank is covered, but stranger things have happened). STILL can't find him. I finally notice a hint of color on a LR that's mostly white.
He has stuck himself INSIDE the LR! Not in a big hole either, no the opening was about 1/2 inch in diameter. I have no idea how he got in there. He'd been in there so long that he had almost suffocated himself because there's not much water flow inside the porous rock. It took about 10 minutes to coax/scare/push him out. He seems to be doing fine now, he's exibiting the curious nature that all the articles say he's supposed to have. Is this something I'm going to have put up with all the time?
Is there something like an epoxy or whatnot that I can use to fill the pores in the rock? I've removed that rock from the tank, and inspected the others. I don't see another hole like that one.
It was the wierdest thing, I thought my fish had literally vanished!

 

[rob_ou]

AHH!!! I've lost him AGAIN!!! I don't know what to do!

 

[murph]

Just leave things be. Those holes in the LR could be quite deep and the fish will not suffocate itself. He is simply laying low until he is sure there is nothing in his new surroundings that is going to make a meal out of him. The last thing you want to do is stress him out more with a lot of commotion.
If your other fish are out and calmly swimming about and eating he will soon get the idea.

 

[wax32]

I had a large fairy wrasse that could jam himself into holes in my rock that I didn't realise were any bigger than a dime. Don't worry about him.

 

[tormented]

I have a flame angel that gets into one rock with openings much too small for him, about nickle size. I have never seen any bigger holes that he must use, no way he fits through a nickle.

 

[promisetbg]

All wrasses disappear at night,in fact the sixline generally makes a cocoon to sleep in to protect himself.Leave him be,he will be fine.They are wily little fish.

 

[rob_ou]

I know what you mean about a "cocoon". When I find him in the rocks, he's always got a stringy, slimy substance on him.
Also, he's not really eating well, I've offered frozen brine shrimp and flake food. Any suggestions?

 

[promisetbg]

Mysis shrimp...add a bit of garlic extreme to entice him.

 

[rob_ou]

the new sixline wrasse just died. I never saw him eat, and he NEVER came out of the rocks. He cost me 21 bucks, too...I'm more mad about the money b/c I didn't have time to get attatched to him.

 

[zanoshanox]

I'm sorry, will your pet store refund him? Some do, some dont. You could at least get store credit perhaps...

 

[rob_ou]

I don't know if they'll refund him or not...he wasn't sick when I bought him. I can always ask, but if not, I won't be that upset. I won't be trying a sixline again, at least not until I'm positive I know how to care for them.

 

[adrock16]

I have had a sixline for about 3 months up until two days ago. I cant find him anywhere. How long will the will these fish hide for? This is my 3rd sixline and this is there last chance. No more after this.

 

[rob_ou]

Mine would hide inside the holes in the live rock for up to 36 hours at a time...but then again, mine obviously wasn't very healthy, either.

 

[stang66200]

Hi Rob - Sorry about your lose. It sounds like you bought this fish right as it arrived from shipment. In the future, it is probably best to let it live in the LFS for a few days and have them show you it eating before you buy it. You would not believe how many fish die within the first 24 hours after the store gets them.

 

[luvtangs]

This is weird, my sixline is VERY ACTIVE. He swims at the top mostly with my clown.He's NEVER hidden.

 

[rob_ou]

I've been having ph problems, that's probably what killed him. Check out my new thread if you want to help me with my crazy swings in ph.

 

[tree]

My sixline also swims everywhere in the tank. It hangs out with the clown fish quite frequently, plays in the current from the closed loop, and often plays a game of chase with the orchid dottyback. The dottyback usually does the chasing but the sixline will slow down & check to make sure the dotty back has almost caught up

My sixline really likes cyclop-eeze but will eat flake food and homemade food as well. I've had the sixline for almost a year now. The first one I got died within a couple days for unknown reasons.

 

[ophiura]

This is JMO, but never ever buy a brand new fish. I agree with Stang- Always make sure it has been at the store, AND is eating (make them show you) for several days (>72 hours if possible). We would never sell fish on a shipment that arrived that day. And most mortality occurs 48-72 hours after arrival. IMO, this is especially true of things like sixlines. Pretty hardy once established, but the first few days can be tough.
But also you don't want to try to coax a fish out like that, it is more stress on it. It is normal for them to hide.

 

[milomlo]

Well i actually had a green chromis get stuck in a hole and die. He crammed himself in this hole and I couldn't get him out.

 

[1journeyman]

See my thread under the new hobbyist thread for my weird Wrasse behavior.
Beautiful little fish, sorry for your loss.