Leopard Wrasse and purple dottyback hiding

[Firemedic222]

Howdy... on this past Tuesday I added a leopard wrasse and a purple dottyback to my 75 gallon reef. I drip acclimated the wrasse for about 2 hours. The dottyback floated for about a half hour, then I did a few water changes in his bag, and let him go. The first day, the wrasse buried himself immediately which I expected, and the dottyback darted in and out of the rockwork.i have a peaceful tank, and no one harassed anyone else. On the 2nd day the wrasse came out and swam around, again unharassed. The dottyback was also out and about and no one was bothering him. I watched both from a distance and via my WiFi camera. On the 3rd day, when my lights clicked on, the wrasse immediately buried himself in the sand and I have not seen him since, and the dottyback appears gone too. I check all my water parameters frequently and everything looks great. The only negative is my temp got up to about 78-80 when the heat in the house was turned up. I keep 2 clowns, a pair of green mandarins, an anthias, a lawnmower blenny, a yellow tang, and a sleeper banded goby. I also have 2 small serpent sea stars and a large brittle. Anyone have any idea how long a wrasse can stay hidden? Do they come out at night? What about the dottyback? No evidence of dead fish anywhere, so I'm hoping they are still alive. Any help is appreciated.

[Nina51]

IF they died and if you have a clean up crew, they will make quick work of any fish corpse. you aren't likely to see the dead fish as it doesn't take a cuc long.

i added a yellow coris wrasse to my 75g a while ago. he stayed buried for 2 months. that's not a typo...2 MONTHS. i had 2 or 3 fleeting glimpses of him in all that time. when he decided to come out, he stays out ALL the time. i wouldn't give up on your wrasse just yet.

how old is your tank? if it's less than 9 months to a year, you probably won't be able to sustain 2 mandys. your wrasse is also a competitor for pods.

you say you have a "large" brittle star. what color is it? the big green brittle stars will eat fish.

it could be that they are just hiding until they feel comfortable.

welcome to RC!!! :) can you post a pic of your tank?

[Firemedic222]

The tank is almost 3 years old. I have a huge pod population... they are breeding in 2 separate areas in my fuge. The brittle star is black, and he is about 12" tip to tip. I just got a new phone so I don't have any complete tank shots but I'll work on it!

[Nina51]

that's cool!! i would love a mandy but i have 3 wrasses in my dt and 1 in qt so there's no way i would have enough pods. lucky you!

i have a white brittle star that's about the same size. he's a peaceful guy, stays hidden most of the day but comes out as soon as the lights go out. i feed him little pieces of shrimp or scallop and once in a while, i'll give him an algae wafer.

[Marshall O]

For the Leopard, yes, they can be out during the night until they adjust to our timezone. I would check at night if you. Don't go looking for it in the sand. It is common for them to take a week or two to adjust to our timezones. Also, if it was to die, it would come out and you would find it on the sandbed.