Wrasse Help - Constant hiding for a 1+ weeks

[olive]

Hello, I have not spending much time on this forum much, but I am coming back to seek out help with I wrasse I purchased 11 or 12 days ago. I purchased a McCoskers Flasher Wrasse which had just arrived at the store, he was a beautiful fully colored male who did not look one bit stressed in the bag, despite having just arrived. I know it was probably stupid to buy a fish that had not been at the store for a while but we've all been there. I brought him home and did NOT drip acclimate him as he had been in the bag for a while and I didn't want ammonia build up. I added him into the tank where he quickly went into hiding. I expected that out of a wrasse, and thought nothing of it. Up until now, I have never seen him swimming in the tank, although I see him in a different cave almost every day. He first jumped from the tank when a glass cleaning magnet went past him and I got him right back into the water. He has also jumped into the back chamber when I was doing maintenence and jumped behind the tank tonight when I tried to nudge him out of his cave (stupid, I know, I'm just desperate at this point). I have seen him eat the food that I squirt into his rock. So, is this hiding normal, and I am just being paranoid, or is there something seriously wrong with this fish?

 

Parameters: 

- salinity 1.025

- ammonia & nitrite 0

- nitrates about 15ppm

- phosphates .05ppm

 

Things that could be a problem?

- bullying ( although I have not witnessed it)

- disease (I do not quarentine, but I haven't heard of disease causing this behavior)

- damage from jumping (he seems to swim back to his cave okay though?)

 

Honestly I just feel guilty about taking this fish from the wild and putting him through all this stress. I want to do what is right, whatever that is. Go ahead and shame me for my mistakes, at least I can learn a lesson from this. 

[Tamberav]

Don't poke at him...that will just make him hide more. He may be coming out when you are not around. I have had new fish hide at even the slightest inkling I was entering the room.

 

You absolutely need a tight fitting lid if you keep wrasses. He will jump out and die once he actually starts coming out. Not if but when. No lid + wrasse = $50 dollar french fry.

 

What other fish are in with him? Could be a bully or he just needs time to adjust....can take weeks sometimes as wrasses are basically drama queens.

[Reefer-begginer]

4 hours ago, olive said:

Hello, I have not spending much time on this forum much, but I am coming back to seek out help with I wrasse I purchased 11 or 12 days ago. I purchased a McCoskers Flasher Wrasse which had just arrived at the store, he was a beautiful fully colored male who did not look one bit stressed in the bag, despite having just arrived. I know it was probably stupid to buy a fish that had not been at the store for a while but we've all been there. I brought him home and did NOT drip acclimate him as he had been in the bag for a while and I didn't want ammonia build up. I added him into the tank where he quickly went into hiding. I expected that out of a wrasse, and thought nothing of it. Up until now, I have never seen him swimming in the tank, although I see him in a different cave almost every day. He first jumped from the tank when a glass cleaning magnet went past him and I got him right back into the water. He has also jumped into the back chamber when I was doing maintenence and jumped behind the tank tonight when I tried to nudge him out of his cave (stupid, I know, I'm just desperate at this point). I have seen him eat the food that I squirt into his rock. So, is this hiding normal, and I am just being paranoid, or is there something seriously wrong with this fish?

 

Parameters: 

- salinity 1.025

- ammonia & nitrite 0

- nitrates about 15ppm

- phosphates .05ppm

 

Things that could be a problem?

- bullying ( although I have not witnessed it)

- disease (I do not quarentine, but I haven't heard of disease causing this behavior)

- damage from jumping (he seems to swim back to his cave okay though?)

 

Honestly I just feel guilty about taking this fish from the wild and putting him through all this stress. I want to do what is right, whatever that is. Go ahead and shame me for my mistakes, at least I can learn a lesson from this. 

My main concern is him not eating. Have you been feeding him inverts/clams?

 

[jambon]

He is eating.. into 3 weeks in the tank... he should  be fine.. curious what other tank mates in there..  Something may

be annoying this fish.

 

[olive]

7 hours ago, Reefer-begginer said:

My main concern is him not eating. Have you been feeding him inverts/clams?

 

He is eating reef frenzy soaked in selcon. 

[olive]

1 hour ago, jambon said:

curious what other tank mates in there..  Something may

be annoying this fish.

 

 

8 hours ago, Tamberav said:

What other fish are in with him? Could be a bully or he just needs time to adjust....can take weeks sometimes as wrasses are basically drama queens.

The tank mates are a pair of clowfish (both very small, not territorial yet) and a 1.5" Papuan Toby Puffer. I was worried about it being the Toby so I put him in a breeder box for a few days and saw no signs of the wrasse.

[olive]

8 hours ago, Tamberav said:

You absolutely need a tight fitting lid if you keep wrasses. He will jump out and die once he actually starts coming out. Not if but when. No lid + wrasse = $50 dollar french fry.

Don't worry, I have a 1/8th inch mesh lid that has absolutely no gaps. He only jumps when the lid is off for maintenance.