Big Boo Boo with a Dragon Wrasse

[chinoxl3]

So's I goes to my local LFS and see this strange and beautiful wrasse that looked like a black and white cockatoo bird. Usually I know if a fish is reef-safe but this one looked very docile and friendly with the other tank mates. Of course the wife was there and pressured me to buy the wrasse without doing any research (I know a lot of you have been there before.) Well I come to find out that the Dragon Wrasse (a.k.a Rockmover Wrasse) grows to be about 12 inches and are not reef safe because they eat crustaceans! :eek1:


Before you shoot me down with the "Do your research before you buy" or "leave the wife at home next time" comments, I would like to try and see how well it will behave before I have to take immediate action.

Has anyone else had good experiences with these bad boys in a reef tank?

TIA

[MikePowell]

WHat store did you get him at? was it exotic on bird?

[Amoore311]

Buddy of mine made the same mistake with a juvenile, it's about 3-4" I would guess. His is very small, and hasn't caused any major problems.

He goes into the rockwork and causes a nice debris storm every once in a while.

He also constantly flips of any rubble/frags he can in search of food.

[Shekki]

I made the same mistake when a friend gave me a really small lunar wrasse. He said it was headed for the toilet if I didn't take it. I didn't really know much about them except they get to be too big for a 56 gallon tank. A year later it was 6" long and would eat every snail and crab I added to the tank. This led to an abundance of algae and the addition of a sea hare. Luckily that survived and took care of the algae. I tried for months to catch him but he was way too fast and since my rock work was epoxied together in the tank it would be impossible to take it apart. He stayed until I recently broke the tank down. He was banished to my new nano for a few days before finding a new home in a fish only tank.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p294/Monkeyrobb/Aquarium/miniwrasse.jpg

[chinoxl3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14406919#post14406919 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MikePowell
WHat store did you get him at? was it exotic on bird?

VIP down in Kendall. There is one more left if you are interested.

[avp]

The Dragon Wrasse will wipe all the snails, shrimp and crabs we can find- that's what they do. If you keep well fed, he might leave them alone.

He won't bother your corals or polyps though!

-avp

[chinoxl3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14407117#post14407117 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by avp
The Dragon Wrasse will wipe all the snails, shrimp and crabs we can find- that's what they do. If you keep well fed, he might leave them alone.

He won't bother your corals or polyps though!

-avp

I've tried feeding him a mixture of krill, nori and mysis but I don't see him eating yet. He usually takes a bite or two and then spits out the food. I think I will try to buy some other frozen food at the LFS and maybe some cyclop to see if he starts eating.

The good news is that I have a 4" fine sand bed with large rocks. He hasn't really done anything bad yet, the hermit population are still there but in this hobby, things can go down south in a hurry.

I would like to keep him but I won't hesitate to ship him out if things get out of hand.

[MikePowell]

If you catch him Frank might take him back but not for a full refund.

LOL no im not interested! I love wrasses but only have a 14g.