Leopard wrasse {Anyone}

[BucNtears]

Anybody have any pics and had luck keeping one of these..?
I discovered this wrasse at one of my lfs.
I've had my 75gallon up and running for about 1 year.

Thanks

[nxma14]

I ordered one from drfostersmith.com and the fish I put in looked pretty neat. I watched it swim around for a few hours and never saw it again. It's been a month now. Everything else I put into the 125 gallon does fine. Water is perfect.

Good luck.

[BangkokMatt]

They are a great fish if you can get them eating. By far the best thing to do is QT and try to feed them in there before they go into your main tank.

[Vitaly]

They are beautiful fish, however, they are notoriously bad shippers. They need to be in a well established reef system with live rock and pods to graze on. Also, they will bury at night...so be sure that you have a deep enough sandbed to accommodate them.

[nosferatu51]

They have a rep for being difficult, but I think that if you start off with one that is healthy and eating they are fairly solid. My LFS had one in their reef for 9 months before someone bought it.... and killed it that night. Ugh.

[triggerfish1976]

Here is a Pic of my female M. Bipartitus after two years.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e151/triggerfish1976/DSC01146.jpg

Here is the same fish after three years and a sex change to a male.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e151/triggerfish1976/DSC01374.jpg

A few things to take note of regarding this fish:

1. They not only are poor shippers that are poor with any sort of transportation. Like someone mentioned earlier, a specimen can be doing great in a store for months and then die within a few days of bringing it home. These fish rely on sand as a natural safe haven when they are stressed or threatened. The stress from just putting it in a bag for an hour or so can be enough to kill this fish. They naturally want to hide in the sand so they have a tendency to bang their mouths up on the bag as they try to bury themselves in sand that is not there.

2. I strongly recommend not putting this fish in a QT system in order to get them to eat prepared foods. They are a very active fish with a high metabolism and can die fairly quickly if they are not eating. They should be placed in an established tank with a heavy pod population that can sustain them until they are ready to eat mysis and other meaty foods. Most of these fish, if kept alive long enough should start eating regular foods within a few weeks if not sooner.

[makoJ]

My male Bipartitus
http://greenmako.smugmug.com/photos/190823599-L.jpg
Female
http://greenmako.smugmug.com/photos/125851157-M.jpg

My fav (didnt make it after about 2 days, he was eating, just disappeared)
Potters
http://greenmako.smugmug.com/photos/143685834-M.jpg

Ornate: Died when we moved (had him/her for over a year) The one on the bottom is the ornate. The one on top is the female bipart pictured above.
http://greenmako.smugmug.com/photos/107155257-L.jpg

Definately agree on the est. tank bit. Throwing a leopard in a sterile QT tank is not advisable. They eat constantly.

-Mrs Makoj

[extinguishfire]

I have three in my 140 gal. I have a divided(bipartitus) female leopard, Potter's leopard and a Niger leopard wrasse. They all get along fine and don't bother a thing. I also have a pencil wrasse and a mystery. I am looking to add more when I get my 295 gal tank set up.

[BangkokMatt]

Some beautiful pics there.

[gasman059]

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n320/gasman059/IMG_6326.jpg[/IMG]