african leopard wrasse

[zeuser]

advice on keeping it

[acrodave]

wrong fourm..... but they are hard to keep you need a deep and old sand bed

[jjjimmy]

I have a very healthy one with a shallow sand bed that is only 4 months old. The trick is to find one that is eating prepared food at your LFS. They can be difficult to get to eat as they are specialized feeders.

[blulite]

I've had no problem with several of them in a shallow bed. The key is to make sure you are ready to feed them when they come out. Initiially mine came out early in the morning for about an hour. I would feed Mysis and they ate fine. Over a period of several weeks they would stay out later and later. About three weeks and they stay out all day into the evening (when I normally feed).

Jeff

[acrodave]

I know Scott Michael is not the only fish guy out there but he gives them a 2 out of 5 for hardiness

[mpoletti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12483210#post12483210 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by acrodave
wrong fourm..... but they are hard to keep you need a deep and old sand bed

He changed his topic. He was looking for the best wrasse for pest control ;)

[reef_doug]

I have a black Melagris one. They don't ship well, thus the reason for low survival rate. Once they start eating then they are fairly hardy. Try to find one in a LFS that's eating prepared foods vs. ordering online. They also like NutraMar OVA prawn eggs! Mine will eat anything given except algae.

They need a shallow sand bed at minimum, around 3"+. Mine is out during the day and buries himself at night, however in the beginning it's common for them to stay buried for a day or two.

BTW... mine has not proven good for pest control. I haven't seen him eat any Red Planaria flatworms like they are supposed to.

Cool fish, definitely worth the effort to one that's eating.