Dragon Wrasse

[arbados]

These are some strange fish I bought one for my 55 gallon tank just two days ago. When first introduced to the tank he swam all around the tank taking a look at the surrounding live rock and kindly introducing himself to the maroon clownfish and the copperband butterfly.
Next morning he was gone! I heard that they will sleep beneath the sand, but the lights went on the tank at about 10am and he still could not be spotted. Finally at about 8pm he just popped up! Boom, out of nowhere. I fed him some frozen brine shrimp and he ate well.
At about 9pm the lights went out, all the while swimming around the tank nibbling on bits of left over food. After about 15 minutes of the lights being out I took a peek to see what he was doing. I saw him with 3/4 of his body submerged in the sand with just his head popping out. Looked kind of creepy.
My curiousity got the best of me so I turned on the lights to see what he would do. He jumped out of the sand in seconds. I again turned off the lights and he swam around for about a minute and then with lightning speed dove into the sand and completely disappeared!
Has anyone else had any experience with this fish? Any tips? How do the stay completely submerged in the sand? How do they breathe (must be pretty tough, no)? Strange fish!

 

[polarpooch]

You have a Dragon Wrasse...that is so cool! I love those fish. There is a gorgeous one at my favorite LFS...don't have a place for it, though. Last summer I saw a giant Dragon at a show aquarium near Chicago. What a spectacular looking fish it is
Dragons and some other kinds of wrasses do bury themselves when the lights are off. My Christmas Wrasse does the same thing.
Can you post a pic of your Dragon??? I'd love to see it.

 

[mistylab]

They tend to be shy as juveniles and aggressive as adults

 

[fishtanknewbi]

they are nioce lookin fish but beware. I bought one and the guy at LFS did not tell me they have cravings.:mad He started to flip my blue legged hermits over and ripping off there legs. So back to the store he went and i pissed and moaned that they gave me double credit a whole $30 bucks. Pet supply plus . They are nice but invert hungry.

 

[lesleybird]

Hi,
I love the look of the dragon wrasses but I read that they get to about ten or more inches, so I won't buy one. Did you know how big they can get? Probably too big for a 55 gallon tank in the long run.
Lesley

 

[stacyt]

I'll also add that they like to rearrange the LR. Make sure your rockwork is stable. As far as his behavior this is very similar to the behavior of my lunare. He doesn't bury in the sand, but hides in the LR.

 

[mistylab]

Hope ur planning to upgrade, they do get big like lesley said and they need their space, and don't pile rock too much, they are like triggers if you've ever had one. BTW, he will lose a lot of his color growing

 

[squidd]

I've got a Dragon Wrasse, Green, about 2" long (he was about 3/4"when I got him from the LFS two months ago)
He's in my 20g. SW Hotel (soon to be nano reef) tank now waiting to grow till he's big enough "NOT" to fit in my Lionfish's mouth
It's lights out now so I'll have to wait till tomorrow to take and post a pic. (He's burried, gone, tank empty) Freaked me out the first couple times he did it. I looked everywhere on the floor, behind the tank, overflow, down in the "fuge" Next day HE'S BACK
They are the coolest fish always active, swimming up and down, diveing in the sand, a little "wake" of sand flying in the water across the tank, "Pops" out on the other side. Real fun to watch.
Good eaters, from what I've seen very hardy and easy to keep,
BUT, (there's always a "But") all that "activity" is them hunting /eating food. And they "Like" inverts, crabs, bristle stars, shrimp,pods,etc.. dosen't seem to bother the snails though.
And he's got really cool antenna and frills and stuff, although they lose those as they mature to adult coloration.
I have seen some pictures of adults though, and they are not that drab that I'd want to get rid of him, compared to some adult angels

 

[squidd]

Here he is

 

[arbados]

Hey Squid cool picture!!! He looks just like mine. I don't have a digital camera yet so I can't take a picture. I was told at my LFS that they would eat shrimp and such, but I do not have any so no problem. He has been getting into a much better routine and now stays out for a good part of the day only to disapper at night and through the morning.
They are very active swimmers. He swims all around the tank taking in everything about. If he gets to big for my tank I will probably have to trade him in to the LFS or with another person who may have a larger tank.
By the way, how fast do these fish, or just any fish like tangs, in general grow? If my Dragon Wrasse is 2 inches now how big will he get in a year? (4", 6", 8", 10"). Curous so I can get an idea of how long I can enjoy this fish.
I hear many people say that certain fish should not be placed in certain sized tanks because they will eventually outgrow them. However, if you plan on trading in these fish as they get larger is there something wrong with buying a small specimin for your tank? I know that certain fish need a larger tank not because of their eventual growth size but because they require ample swimming room, but what of the one,s which do not require this?
Thanks!

 

[squidd]

I really can't say for sure how fast certain fish grow, I haven't been in this hobby long enough to give you a fish's lifetime growth patterns, and a lot of fish grow at different rates and of course it depends on alot of variables like how much you feed, how often, tank size etc.
But,(and theres always a but) Based on what I've seen of this Wrasse and a couple that my fish buddy/mentor has, I would say (JMO) about 3/4" a month. The books say they "can" get to 12", but I haven't seen any much over 8" or so. <Others experiance may vary> and thats about what I expect from this guy in a year or so.
Right now I'm feeding him a couple times a day (small amounts) in order to acelerate growth to put him in my main tank. Then I'll cut back to once a day like everyone else (in my tank).
I feed small frozen cubes, 1/3rds, of brine,mysis and marine cusine. He really hasn't taken to the squid and a whole Krill is too big for him to grab, but he'll eat it if I break it up.
I don't want to venture too deep into the tank size vs fish size vs number of fish debate. But, (as usual) I know my Shark, Lionfish, and a couple of Tangs are going to get big and need lots of room
so I went into this knowing I'd be up grading to a 300gal, which I'm working on now.

 

[iswimnotchoke]

dude ur fish is beast, ive always wanted one of those to spice up my tank but when i get hired ive been saving up money for my new 150 gal tank on lay away

 

[psuguy]

I purchased a dragon wrasse this past Sunday. He spend the first two days swimming all over the tank, eating, and looking great. Yesterday he went missing. Did not see him at all. Still no sign of him this morning. Will they stay buried for that long? It is a 60 gal tank with a yellow tang, clown, firfish gobie, 3 damsles and a bi-color goatfish. BTW, the goatfish is AWSOME.

 

[psuguy]

Got home yesterday and he was out and swimming around happily. Guess he found a comfy spot in the sand. He was "gone" again before I turned off the lights for the night.

 

[mr. limpid]

Just make sure all your LR is resting on the bottom of your tank. This way he can't go under it and get crushed. Fish will double in size the first year and if you think you can stunt there growth by feeding less will result in sickness. So enjoy them while you can or better yet upgrade and enjoy them for there entire life.