thinking about wrasses

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cherubael

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 7, 2008
67
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australia
hey guys i was at one of the lfs near my house yesterday just checking out the stock they had (they have more eels than anyone else around here) and i came across a very very very beautiful dragon wrasse in one tank. Now i think i need one of these guys for my new 120g tank (that should be ready this week, unless something else goes wrong) and i want to know what they are like to keep? and are they ok to keep with lions and eels?
cheers
 
Well see, a lot of the answer depends on a few factors

Size - These guys are aggressive by nature, but until matured, can fall prey to other aggressive carnivores. Likewise, when matured and fully grown, being that they are known bullies, they can pick on smaller tank mates - even eels, should they be smaller than the wrasse.

Tankmates - Since these guys are carnivores, anything they can eat - they will. This includes animals such as crustaceans, snails, shrimp, starfish, smaller fish, worms, and other invertebrates. So if you currently have a nice cleaner crew, you can pretty much kiss it goodbye as these guys grow.

Decor - These guys get big. With that, they need space, and all items in the tank must be secured, as another nick-name for these guys is "Rockmover" - which they do very efficiently. They will move corals and rearranges the rocks in the aquarium to find food, so it's usually not advised to have a reef tank when investing in these guys.

When keeping them with eels, that depends largely on what type of eel and how big they both (eel and wrasse) are. Eels are canivores and opportunistic. The aquarium should also have a tight-fitting lid to prevent it from jumping out - which would happen as it's mode of "Flight" from a predator.

What eels are you looking into, and what all do you have planned for your tank?
 
how big was the fish you fell in love with? the appearance of a dragon wrasse is markedly different between juveniles and adults.
 
@waterbaby: two eels eventually a zebra moray first and then a snake eel if i can source one from somewhere if not a ribbon or ghost but not for quite some time, the wrasse will probably be put into the tank before either eels but def before the second one. Also ive been told to forget a cleaner crew as the eel will eat them as will the lion fish apparently. Also im thinking i might epoxy the live rock together so the eel wont move the rocks so i think i have that sorted...(still need to work out an epoxy that is safe), and its a 120gallon tank (4'x2'x2') so its pretty big. at the moment the only other definite fish going in are some large clowns (black saddle i think), long horned cow, and the zebra eel, and maybe a voltain lion.
think it will be ok?

@alcho: not that big probably 3inches, very nice markings, like dragon scales and i just checked google images it looks like the very cool spiny dragon wrasses, i think it was greeny and i found out that they go brown but it would still look cool.
 
I'm thinking about a dragon wrasse myself. They get ugly when there fully grown, and they get big. Good luck if you decided to get one
 
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