Reef Central Online Community

Go Back   Reef Central Online Community > Marine Fish Forums > Reef Fishes
Blogs FAQ Calendar Mark Forums Read

Notices

User Tag List

Reply
Thread Tools
Unread 12/29/2009, 10:28 AM   #1
Salty Red
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Syracuse, NY
Posts: 44
Clown Fairy Wrasse

Hello everyone, I'm looking for someone with experience with keeping a clown fairy wrasse in their reef tank or at all really. I bought one a couple days ago from the LFS and drip acclimated for over an hour along with a bi-color. What I have a concern about is when I introduced the two in the tank both seemed ok. By OK I mean they were swimming exploring the tank and active. After about an hour my 2 clowns who are inseparable started to gang up on the wrasse and ever since then it is in hiding. Are these wrasses normally always in hiding or do they normally pretty active in the tank? Any experience from somebody like this? I've had this tank running for over 2 years now as a FOWLR and have recently started converting it into reef. Here are some specs of what I have.

RR 65 gallon tank
20L sump with skimmer and fuge
I forget how much live rock i have, fills probably about a third of the tank
Stock:
2 clowns
1 clown goby
1 bi-color pseudochromis
1 coral banded shrimp

Sorry for the long description, its the engineer in me I guess and thanks for any feed back in advance.


Salty Red is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/29/2009, 10:45 AM   #2
Msoar16
Registered Member
 
Msoar16's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Highlands Ranch, CO
Posts: 760
give it some time, the clowns should calm down after a few days, just keep an eye on the wrasse to make sure he isn't getting beat up too bad.


Msoar16 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/29/2009, 10:51 AM   #3
snorvich
Team RC member
 
snorvich's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Outlander
Posts: 40,953
Blog Entries: 46
Actually, sexually mature clowns are highly aggressive especially in smaller tanks. The pseudochromis is also rather aggressive towards fairy/flasher wrasses. The only pseudochromis I recommend with fairy and flasher wrasses is the orchid dottyback. I assume you mean C. solorensis when you say "clown fairy wrasse"?


__________________
Warmest regards,
~Steve~
snorvich is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/29/2009, 10:56 AM   #4
anbosu
Registered Member
 
anbosu's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Mount Juliet, TN
Posts: 4,528
What type of clowns?


anbosu is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/29/2009, 12:08 PM   #5
29reef
It's all about the flow
 
29reef's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Huntington Beach OC
Posts: 3,643
In my experience the "clown fairy wrasse" is much more agressive than other fairy wrasses. If your other fish are agressive they will terrorize the fish before it has a chance to adjust to the tank and it will die


__________________
-Brian

RIP-The Metal Halide- My SPS may never know such a great friend again.

Current Tank Info: Currently Tankless
29reef is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/29/2009, 12:48 PM   #6
Salty Red
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Syracuse, NY
Posts: 44
snorvich: yup C. Solorensis is what I am talking about.

anbosu: they are Ocellaris clowns

thanks for the feedback, I guess I just need to give it some of time. it was out and about at lunch alittle bit.


Salty Red is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/29/2009, 04:01 PM   #7
karsco
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 645
29Reef,

I second your comments on the clown fairy. I had to tear apart my tank last night to catch mine. He chased/battled with my Lubbock's wrasse and Bellus female, so he is currently living in my sump. It's a shame to he is a beatiful fish.


karsco is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/29/2009, 04:06 PM   #8
CeeGee
Registered Member
 
CeeGee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: TN
Posts: 3,272
mine is very peaceful. My male lyretail anthias on the hand....

My solarensis is always out and about though. Very well mannered and just a great overall fish.


__________________
My algae WAS special.

Current Tank Info: 75 gallon display, 40 gallon breeder sump, RLSS R6i, ATI Powermodule, Apex, Ecotech MP40's
CeeGee is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/29/2009, 04:48 PM   #9
blennielove
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 325
I've had my clown fairy wrasse for two years now. He is not shy except when there are bullies in the tank. I agree with snorvich that mature clowns are aggressive, I've had issue even with a mature "single" one. If the clowns don't stop pestering the wrasse, you would want to move the rocks around some so new territories can be formed.
Best wishes! The clown fairy wrasse is a beautiful fish!


blennielove is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/29/2009, 06:37 PM   #10
snorvich
Team RC member
 
snorvich's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Outlander
Posts: 40,953
Blog Entries: 46
They are beautiful, but they do lose coloration absent a female.


__________________
Warmest regards,
~Steve~
snorvich is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/30/2009, 10:07 AM   #11
Salty Red
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Syracuse, NY
Posts: 44
very interesting, and again I appreciate all the information. I've started to research how to tell the genders apart. I have found, " The males have much longer pelvic fins than the females and their gill has a hard blue outline. The females can be a general reddish-orange with the head being more red than the body, but the females can also have the same coloring as the males, just muted. The color of this species can vary, but all of the color forms have bright red eyes. Juveniles have basically the same coloring."

What I am having trouble finding is actual pictures because I would hate to see it lose its color.

First though I would like to see if it will relax more. It was out last night a little bit and ate with no problems. Nobody bothered it. I will rearrange the tank though to see if that will work, I've been wanting to do that anyways. If not I will scoop em out and bring him back to the store.

He/she is performing what I have read as "normal" social behaviors meaning that when he/she is getting ready to sleep, it covers itself with sand. It was alittle nerve racking seeing a large sand plume just before the lights went off last night. It was like a small mushroom cloud.


Salty Red is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/30/2009, 03:30 PM   #12
snorvich
Team RC member
 
snorvich's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Outlander
Posts: 40,953
Blog Entries: 46
For in sea pictures, try / Fairy and Rainbow Wrasses by Rudy Kuiter. For in aquarium pictures try Dr. Tanaka


__________________
Warmest regards,
~Steve~
snorvich is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 10/23/2012, 08:46 PM   #13
led stony
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 60
Just lost mine because he jumped out of tank after 5 months dead on floor.


led stony is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 10/24/2012, 11:10 AM   #14
kwl1763
Premium Member
 
kwl1763's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 877
I would not worry about it to much.

If you can get him to feed within a day or 2 you will be in the clear. If not you may want to put the clowns in time out in an acclimation box until your wrasse comes out and is eating well.

Oh by the way quarantining would help a lot to get your wrasse fat happy and bold prior to going in there and in my opinion is the best thing you can do to avoid these type issues lasting any longer then a day when added to your display.

Solorensis are great fish (I've had one in every big tank I've had for the past at lest 12 years) and yes they generally will lose some color but remain beautiful. They are nearly perfect citizens with the exception of being one of the bolder fairies so add it last if you plan on multiple fairy wrasses.


__________________
Keith

Click the red house above to visit my thread

Current Tank Info: 450G SPS tank and a 20G RBTA/Clown tank
kwl1763 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:22 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement.
Reef CentralTM Reef Central, LLC. Copyright ©1999-2022
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging v3.3.0 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.