Six line wrasse compatibility

[ced]

I read contradictory opinions on the six line wrasse behavior.
I plan to introduce one in my reef tank, my actual stock (in 40 G) is:
3 chromis
1 clown
1 mandarin (I have a 20G sump/refugium, no worry for his food)
1 skunk shrimp, blue leg hermits, and snails.

Would a SL wrasse be ok, or will it attack these fish and/or eat all my hermits?

[krismist]

From what I have found the six line is not that aggressive. I have one and it leaves all my other fish alone

[fishfiend00s]

I think the 8 line is more aggresive

[tah532]

I had a sixline for two years before I accidentally killed it. Anyway, it never bothered a soul, except a damsel here or there but who wouldnt bother one of them. Very cool fish constantly active, fun to find there sleeping hole and check em out at night. Just make sure they arent in the hole when removing rock.

[jafoca]

I have an aggressive 6line...

After he had been in my 20L tank for 2 months, coexisting nicely with my bicolor blenny, i decided to add two clowns.

He didn't like the clowns at all, they ended up with torn fins / tail because of him. I removed him from the tank for 1.5 months while the clowns got established. I replaced him recently, and allthough he still does bother the clowns once in a while it seems they are withstanding his harassment better.

Anyway.. one concern I have for you is the mandarin and wrasse competing for pods... allthough a mandarin might be ok for your tank, I don't think both would be a good idea unless you had a real pod farm going on.

[kidphc]

I have an aggressive one. He was fine for about 2 months. Now he harrasses the firefish and Clowns. He really really picks on the firefish. I'm probably going to have to remove him or the firefish is going to die due to stress.

As far as a Mandarin and a Sixline. I have both. I wouldn't recommend it, the sixline is a much better pod hunter. Mandarin is so slow he'll slowly starve if he doesn't eat frozen.

[RichConley]

The sixlines tend to be fine when theyre smaller. When they hit sexual maturity they become very aggressive.

[Denadai]

Six line sometimes is very aggressive against mandarim.

Two of my friends lost their mandarim......

Six line Killer, maybe this is a good name for this fish

[kidphc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6575037#post6575037 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
The sixlines tend to be fine when theyre smaller. When they hit sexual maturity they become very aggressive.

Where was this information before got my sixline. You think if I got a bigger tank he might calm down a bit?

[turbonegro]

I think that they a more aggressive in smaller tanks. Mine is very peaceful in my 180 gal

[SaraB]

I removed a sixline from my tank last month ... good riddance. He was fine for 6 months and then decided to became a terror. He killed a Gramma and was terrorizing my purple firefish.

[ced]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences.
It seems that a painted fairy wrasse would be much more friendly, but I guess it would still eat the pods reserved for the mandarin.
I might go for a Bangai Cardinal.
Unless someone knows a colorfull, peacefull, active, small (~4 inch) fish that doesn't eat pods.

[Teremei]

some type of fairy wrasse would be ok. From what I've read they aren't really active pod hunters. And most are very peaceful.

[techigirl78]

I also read that fairy/flasher wrasses won't decimate your pod population like six-lines and related species.

[JohnH1970]

My Four-line wrasse is non-agressive -- just goes about his business and ignores other tankmates. Also prettier than a Six-line, imho.

[RichConley]

MY fairy wrasses will eat amphipods if theyre swimming in the open, but they dont really hunt pods.