HingleMcCringleberry Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 Hi all. ive been trying to plan fish for my 32 gal bio cube. I think a leopard wrasse would be awesome but some places say they’re really hard to care for. Why is that? Do they eat pellet/flake food or need live pods? Also some places say they’re listed as difficult because they struggle to survive shipping. Are they hardy once acclimated? Quote Link to comment
Humblefish Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 They can be difficult to get eating. Some will only eat pods. If you can overcome that obstacle, they are usually good to go. I've had the best luck with Ornates & Blue Stars. 3 Quote Link to comment
HingleMcCringleberry Posted March 19, 2019 Author Share Posted March 19, 2019 3 hours ago, Humblefish said: They can be difficult to get eating. Some will only eat pods. If you can overcome that obstacle, they are usually good to go. I've had the best luck with Ornates & Blue Stars. Ok good to know. Thanks! Quote Link to comment
Jesterrace Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 A Biocube is really a poor choice for a Leopard Wrasse as well. They really do need horizontal swimming room even when they are only 2-3 inches in size. I have a Blue Star Leopard Wrasse in my 90 gallon and it makes full use of the space in it and it's between 2-3 inches in length. If you had a 30 or 40 gallon long that would work, but they do need horizontal swimming space. With Leopard Wrasses it's not just that they are picky eaters but are notoriously poor shippers to boot. My personal opinion is that the best way to select a Leopard Wrasse is to wait for your LFS to do a bulk order of them and then wait for a couple of weeks and see which ones are active and eating well. This helps ensure you have a heartier specimen. This is the method I used with my Blue Star Leopard Wrasse nearly 8 months ago and it is doing well to this day on 2 small daily feedings of reef frenzy and a bit of seaweed as well. When my LFS placed the order 3 of them didn't make it 2 weeks, 2 were sold and I had no idea what happened to them and mine was super active and feeding a couple of weeks after it came in. It has proven to be a very hardy individual. So with Leopard Wrasses it's literally a case of picking the right fish. I definitely DO NOT recommend ordering them online for this reason since you can't observe them before you buy them. For a Biocube though I would say you are limited to the Possum or Pink Streaked Wrasses. 1 Quote Link to comment
WRJEcoTechnician Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 On 3/20/2019 at 6:40 PM, Jesterrace said: A Biocube is really a poor choice for a Leopard Wrasse as well. They really do need horizontal swimming room even when they are only 2-3 inches in size. I have a Blue Star Leopard Wrasse in my 90 gallon and it makes full use of the space in it and it's between 2-3 inches in length. If you had a 30 or 40 gallon long that would work, but they do need horizontal swimming space. With Leopard Wrasses it's not just that they are picky eaters but are notoriously poor shippers to boot. My personal opinion is that the best way to select a Leopard Wrasse is to wait for your LFS to do a bulk order of them and then wait for a couple of weeks and see which ones are active and eating well. This helps ensure you have a heartier specimen. This is the method I used with my Blue Star Leopard Wrasse nearly 8 months ago and it is doing well to this day on 2 small daily feedings of reef frenzy and a bit of seaweed as well. When my LFS placed the order 3 of them didn't make it 2 weeks, 2 were sold and I had no idea what happened to them and mine was super active and feeding a couple of weeks after it came in. It has proven to be a very hardy individual. So with Leopard Wrasses it's literally a case of picking the right fish. I definitely DO NOT recommend ordering them online for this reason since you can't observe them before you buy them. For a Biocube though I would say you are limited to the Possum or Pink Streaked Wrasses. Very good comment. If you can find one at your LFS that is super fat and hardy and eating frozen food. 32 gal is the smallest id ever think about putting a Leopard Wrasse in, and it better have tons of live rock and sand to keep busy. Also, letting your tank cycle and get it pods really over populated will help and having a species oriented small tank helps a lot. Don't over populate with fish you want, find 1 fish you love, and build the tank and the tank mates around that species, otherwise you will have half thriving fish (my take on small tanks less than 55gal) Quote Link to comment
WRJEcoTechnician Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 For reference, I have a 32 gal biocube, (a 15-20 gal eshoppes sump fed by siphon), only fish in the tank is a leopard wrasse, (tank only about 1.5 months old.......but saw this one at the store and was too good to pass up) been there for a month, and still only uses about 1/2 of the tank (hasnt really gone and started searching out food in the back caves and base rock). The 32gal biocube (man i wish they made a 45-55 gal, kept it same depth and width and just made it longer, also drilled with integrated sump). Anyway, if you want a fish like that to thrive, a sump is almost necessary on a 32 gal. I wouldnt even do it on the 29 biocube, as i would have had to downsize the sump underneath. Also, feed cyclops!!!!! Frozen Cyclops soaked in Selcon. My leopard doesnt even look at the mysis since i added the cyclops. So now not even feeding mysis, just Coral Fenzy and Cyclops soaked in Selcon for 5-10 minutes. Each serving feeds the tank 2-4 times over 2-3 days. The wrasse absolutely smashes the cyclops and she is a total character! Cant wait to get the other additions to the tank, but want the system to really take hold before i add anything else. At least another month of cycling and letting it stabilize after the wrasse addition. 1 Quote Link to comment
Arlen.nemeth@gmail.com Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 On 3/25/2019 at 1:55 PM, WRJEcoTechnician said: Very good comment. If you can find one at your LFS that is super fat and hardy and eating frozen food. 32 gal is the smallest id ever think about putting a Leopard Wrasse in, and it better have tons of live rock and sand to keep busy. Also, letting your tank cycle and get it pods really over populated will help and having a species oriented small tank helps a lot. Don't over populate with fish you want, find 1 fish you love, and build the tank and the tank mates around that species, otherwise you will have half thriving fish (my take on small tanks less than 55gal) Leopard wrases in the wild only has a diet of 1.4% copepoda and amphipoda the rest is mainly crustaceans Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 Phylum Arthropoda > Crustacea > Hexanauplia > Copepoda Similar for amphipods, but under a different Class of crustaceans. That said, which non-copepod/non-amphipod crustaceans are they supposed to be focusing on? Crustacea is a biiiiig group after all: Quote The 67,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at 0.1 mm (0.004 in), to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span of up to 3.8 m (12.5 ft) and a mass of 20 kg (44 lb). Quote Link to comment
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