Lubbock's Wrasse - Weird little fish

[guitarfish]

I got my first wrasse tonight, he's in the QT by himself, lights out. I took a peek after a couple hours with a flashlight, and he appeared to be dead. No visible breathing, no fin/gill movement. Great.

I put on the main light, suddenly his eye moves. Then I remembered a friend of mine telling me about his wrasse - he couldn't find it the next day, and it turns out it burrowed into the sand. Wow.

Is this normal wrasse behavior or what?

[ACBlinky]

Absolutely! Lubbock's wrasses sleep in a mucous 'tunic', mine likes to find a secure little hole in the rocks. He changes his 'bedroom' periodically, and once he got used to the photoperiod he learned to find a place and curl up just before lights-out. Wrasses are amazing fish, have fun with your Lubbock's - they're easily one of my favourite fish :)

[Minuteman]

My flame wrasse didn't act like that (except when sleeping in his little cocoon at night). He was pretty active from acclimation, through qt, and in the display. Give him a day or so though and see how he does.

[guitarfish]

Wow, that's amazing. That's what I love about this hobby - it's infinite, endless.

[Snowboarder2757]

Is this with all wrasse? I have a yellow corris wrasse and have not seen this behavior, although I have never seen him with the light out.

[palmer59]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7056174#post7056174 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Snowboarder2757
Is this with all wrasse? I have a yellow corris wrasse and have not seen this behavior, although I have never seen him with the light out.

Fairy wrasses tend to sleep in a cocoon just like Parrott fish do. Yellow Coris like to bury themselves in the sand.

Mike

[guitarfish]

Can someone explain the cocoon? Where does it come from, etc?

[palmer59]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7056676#post7056676 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by guitarfish
Can someone explain the cocoon? Where does it come from, etc?

The mucus cocoon is produced from the mouth and eventually covers the whole body as a sort of a sleeping bag. For what I understand is thought to mask their scent from nocturnal predators and may serve to protect the fish from infection by parasites.

Mike

[ezhoops]

Palmer is exactly right, they create a mucus membrane to prevent being smelled by predators. Some wrasses will create the membrane while others bury in the sand.

[guitarfish]

Folks - I've had my wrasse for 72 hrs now. He sits under a PVC pipe in the QT tank (he's there by himself), and seldom moves, unless I put in food, he'll move a few inches to pick up a piece, but that's it. At the LFS, both times I saw him he swam around freely.

Still acclimating? Is this normal? Not to sure if he's OK or not.

Thanks

[ezhoops]

yeah, I wonder the same cause most wrasse I see in the LFS just sit on the bottom and the LFS people say, their just freaked out. also wondering if that is normal

[ACBlinky]

If the PVC is the only thing in the tank, I imagine he's just frightened and hiding. My Lubbock's is pretty spooky, he dives into the rockwork whenever someone comes into the room and peers out for a few mintues until he's decided it's safe. If you can pick up a few more pieces of PVC, especially some smaller-diamater pieces, and make some caves for him, he'll probably feel safer.

[guitarfish]

OK, that makes sense. Thanks.