Christmas Wrasse? Reef Safe????

harley387

harley387

Member
I have just screwed up royally. I purchased a wrasse from the LFS. He swears it is reef safe. It was suppose to be a christmas wrasse, but looks more like a Lunar wrasse or fiveline wrasse. The damn thing ate most of my blue leg hermits, and I can't catch it to remove it from my tank! Any suggestions would be helpful.
PS. How do I post a photo here???
 
kreach

kreach

Active Member
Here's a design for a fish trap that we used to catch a pseudocromis... might work for your wrasse if he's small enough to swim in.
Take a CLEAN plastic bottle (20 oz should work fine), cut off the top part just below where the bottle becomes cylindrical, turn this top part upside down and push it into the bottle.
Punch a couple small holes in the sides of the bottle a to let air out and to allow circulation. Bait with something tasty. Place in tank. The fish swim in but they (usually) can't figure out how to get out. Only fish small enough to get through a soda bottle neck can get in.
It took about 5 days to catch our pseudocromis. Good luck!
As far as attaching a pic... look below the area where you type your posts and there's a box labeled "Attach file". Click the "Browse" button and choose the pic that you want to attach to the message. When you post your message, the pic should show up in it.
 
phoenixrising

phoenixrising

Member
Your wrasse, as you have already noticed, is NOT reef safe!
A pain in the butt for sure, but you may need to remove your liverock to catch him. There was one in my tank (a christmas wrasse) when it was given to me a few years ago and I had a devil of a time getting him out of there. Fish traps were a joke for this slippery dude. I took out all of the rock and finally caught him. Even without the rock it was hard because he was quick!
ALWAYS pays to do in depth research before purchasing a new additon. Saves you alot of time and losses and aggravation and saves the freaked out fish from the experience as well.
Although there are several LFS employees on this BB that seem to be very responsible and genuinely care about the livestock they sell, MOST LFS's hire folks who haven't a clue about saltwater stuff and will tell you almost anything at all to make a sale. Never trust a LFS opinion on anything until they have proved themselves trustworthy. Remember, they would like very much to seperate you from your money! :)
 
josh

josh

Active Member
Ok, IMO a reef safe fish is one that won't nip at corals or clams....I have had a few wrasses and have been great tank mates, maybe I am just not up on the christmas wrasse, but in general I have always though wrasses were fine. Make sure you feed him well, that might be the problem.
 
vibe

vibe

Member
its a wrasse. wait for it to burrow at night(or when ever) then take the net and scoop him up with the sand, he wont even know what hit em. just a suggestion.:D good luck
 
seaham358

seaham358

Member
I had a Christmas wrasse in my 125 reef for about a week till I caught it. That fish was way to hyper for me, all over the place knocking over corals. It would go into a feeding frenzy when I put flake food in. What I did was buy a real big net and stick it in the tank and leave it for a while. The fish would get somewhat use to it. I would then feed the wrass and he would go nuts. After a while I would then prop open my hood with my hand on the net and I had my wife feed the wrasse and when he was eating I snagged his butt. Back to the LFS he went. Good luck
 
dragonladylea

dragonladylea

Member
If its a Lunare it's definately not reef safe and any kind of shrimp or crabs you have in the tank will be lunch!! Fortunately I found out before I put him in the wrong tank. However we did have to catch him at one time and since he would eat krill from your fingers, I dangled the "bait" while my boyfriend handled the net. It was alot easier than taking the tank apart. Good Luck!:)
 
flydan

flydan

Active Member
Hey,
This is the second time I've read that a wrasse will burrow in the sand. I've had a 6-Line Wrasse for two years now and have never seen this behavior. Is mine weird or is the 6-Line one that doesn't do that?
BTW, my 6-Line doesn't cause any problems in my reef. The only draw back is it really munches the pod population.
Dan'l
 
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