All About Reef Safe Wrasses

Thanks evolved, figures the store as the ornate wrasse which is the one I prefer over the other 2 lol. Seems to be how it always works out. I do not have any other pod hunters maybe the clowns pick at the rock every now and then but thats about it. I didnt realzie they egt so big I figured 5-6inches

 

The one the store had looked like an ornate but was under a different latin name, did not look like either of the other 2 you listed above, and had a max sax of 5 inches.

 

Just updating; 3 weeks later one is starting to change! Still too early to tell which species, unless you can tell already:







It is definitely the dominant one!

 

Lubbocki indeed. Note the yellow appearing in the dorsal fin.

 

That is what I was thinking too, but I was still not sure if it could be a Yellow Fin. I am excited either way! Thanks again for looking

 

Evolved, one more question for you. I definitely have Lubbock's as shown above (one male and one female). As mentioned, originally they were labeled as Carpenter Flashers. I would still love to get a flasher, but I would be pushing the bio-load and tank limit at that point. As it is, the male is very dominant over the female and will chase her into hiding every now and then, mostly during feeding. The male is definitely out in the column more.

I would consider catching and returning the female Lubbock's and replacing with a male flasher (my LFS has a couple of real nice males). It seems males of different genus should be fine (if I read your intro post right), but I was looking to see if you thought this would be an ok idea or not.

If I did, I would use my Acclimate box in the tank to get the Lubbock's used to the new male.

 

Yes, that would be an appropriate course of action if you wished not to increase your bioload any more.

However, I will say the behavior of the male lubbocki will change with the female removed, and it might not be accepting of a flasher regardless. Flashers are very timid and if the lubbocki puts any pressure on the flasher, the stress level of the flasher will be heightened. And a stressed flasher is a dying flasher, I'm afraid. If you were able to add a flasher which is significantly smaller or larger than the lubbocki, the odds of this would be reduced, but as lubbocki are typically flasher-sized I suspect that wouldn't be feasible.

The "If it isn't broke, don't fix it" mantra likely applies here. The male displaying dominance over the female is normal and excepted. So long as her health isn't suffering, there's no need for concern.

If you really want a flasher, your best chance of success would be to leave the pair of lubbocki alone. In this way, if there was to be any aggression shown by either lubbocki, that aggression would be spread out over 2 fish as opposed to one. Quite similar to how a pair of anthias isn't a good idea.

 

And this is why I asked for your help! Thank you so much for the advise. I will have to think it over as obviously I do not want to have a stressed out wrasse!

 

What do you think of Blue headed wrasses? I had one once, but he ate all of my hermit crabs and he jumped out.

 

I think there's a reason the Thalassoma genus isn't included in the first post. (please read it!)