Dragon Wrasse?

[jasondean]

My buddy bought a Dragon wrasse and put it in my 150 and found that my 6line was smacking it around. So he put it in my 50 reef that I just started he wont eat anything hes not suppost to I hope. He was suppost to keep aneye on the fish while I was away. He saw this for $25 and knew I was looking for one. It is only 3" and very active also pretty cool. I just need him to get a little bigger before I can put him in the 150. As long as he don't eat corals or my to clowns all will be good. Any hope of this? Thanks Jason

 

[promisetbg]

Yes he should be eating, what are you giving him? He will eat inverts and rearrange the tank when he gets bigger...and he will get BIG.

 

[jasondean]

I'm worried that he will eat coral once he gets big enough to handle the 6line hell go in there with the fish only

 

[pyro]

I looked into one of these a while ago. I found that they are sadly non-reefsafe and they get HUGE very quickly. Pretty fish though, expecially when younger.
I would consider taking it back =(; your call though.
Good luck either way!

 

[moby]

I love the dragons when they are juveniles. Very neat looking.
I had one for along time and he got almost 5 inches long when he reached adulthood.
Mine was not too terribly distructive, he would move small pieces of rubble around almost constantly. He was not afraid to go toe to toe with darn near any of the other fish but really never picked any of the fights.
I like them alot, but they loose some of their neat markings and coloration when they get older.
Moby

 

[jasondean]

Hopfully he will move into the fish only before he does to much damage. Just watching him he has a lot of character quite funny.

 

[ghettotang]

I would suggest if you have a coral especially soft coral in you 150 tanlk I would not bother putting him into the tank. Dragon wrasse is a bit aggressive especially with inverts like anemone.

 

[moby]

Mine never bothered any of the soft corals or anemones. BUT, he did bite the legs off of several brittle stars and harassed the clean up crew on ocassion.
He was a very curious fish, his behavior was a lot like the 6 line wrasse only he would rearrange small pieces of rubble and irritate the snails.
I put him in my tank last and actually did it by mistake. I never intended him to go in my reef but scooped him up and in he went before I realized he was in the net!
There was no way I was going to be able to catch him in a 125 gal reef full of live rock without taking it all apart so I crossed my fingers and kept a close eye on him. He lived there for over 2 years.
Moby

 

[moby]

Just thought I would add, because you need to know. I would not keep him in a reef tank.
Mine seemed to be the exception to the rule as far as size (He only got about 5 or 6 inches long) but I have seen them get MUCH bigger!
He will cause a lot of havoc when he gets really big. Mine died after a large piece of LR fell on him due to him digging in the sand.

Moby

 

[jasondean]

I'm going to move around some fish and put him in the 150 fish only when he gets a little bigger