lunare wrasse question

[shaunda]

I have noticed my lunare wrasse looks like he is eating something off of my flame angel and hippo tang. My tang does have ick and that is slowly getting better but I don not see anything on my angel. Do you think the wrasse is just trying to clean something off of them or is he picking on these fish?

 

[shaunda]

I also notice that the tang lies on his side when his is near the wrasse. The wrasse will pick on him and every once in a while the tang gets mad and chases the wrasse. Any ideas?????

 

[aw2x3]

The Wrasse is picking on them. That's probably the reason your Tang has ick.
The Tang, laying on its side when the Wrasse is near, is a submission thing..."Hey, please dont bite me".

 

[scsinet]

Lunare Wrasses are not the peaceful fish they are made out to be. Unless they are housed in a very large, underpopulated system, they will bully your other fish.
I had to remove one because he would not leave my Hippo and Sailfin alone. In fact, he drove my hippo so nuts he got an ich infection, exactly like AW2 said.
If you want a similar sized, less aggressive wrasse, try the Red Coris or the Formosa. Both are gorgeous and relatively passive fish, but are tougher to keep alive than the Lunare.

 

[aw2x3]

Yeah...so many people buy them because they are really nice looking fish, but not so many people know how aggressive/territorial they are. I've seen fish that were two to three times the size of the in house Lunar, that were just torn apart. They're extremely fast fish, so they can hit and run without having to fear the picked on fish fighting back.
Red Coris Wrasse are one of my favorite fish...one of the first fish I ever bought...and they're absolutely gorgeous! Mine grew from 8" to close to 12" in the course of a 1.5 years...not fast growers.
They will absolutely decimate any hermit/snail/shrimp/crab population. Mine ate over 40 small hermits, it's first night in the tank. He used to pick up softball sized pieces of live rock and carry them around the tank...just playing around. I would put 4" x 6" pieces of egg crate in the tank for him to play with.

 

[shaunda]

Thanks, I was afraid of that. He is starting to pick on my maroon clown now and my flame angel is staying in hiding. Not normal for her. I guess it is time to get the lunare out. Great, this is not going to be an easy feat. He is the most definately the fastest fish in my tank.