All About Reef Safe Wrasses

I have an ID request, and thought I'd also give an update.

My Isosceles wrasse made it through 4 weeks of quarantine, and has now been in my display for a few weeks and is doing great. She has also colored up a bit more since I got her, so I'm still hoping she will turn into a male. She's a real docile fish, and slightly shy, but I do get to see her a lot. She also has some fire in her belly, not holding back if any of the other wrasses give her a hard time. My Lubbocki and her are quite evenly matched in size and chases each other around sometimes. She flares her fins, puffs up her throat and intensifies her color.



Then onto my ID request. I was wanting to get another Halichoeres wrasse, and was also looking to add a green fish to my tank. I settled on a Biocellatus due to it's small size and temperament, and special ordered one from a store's supplier list. After taking a good look at the fish I received, I'm not convinced it is a Biocellatus. It is however still a beautiful fish with a very friendly personality. I'd want to keep it, but just want a positive ID so I know what I'm getting myself into, and whether it might be a risk to any of my other livestock like shrimp and crabs.

My guess would be Halichoeres annularis or Halichoeres marginatus? Can anyone please help with a positive ID? I see Marginatus gets quite big and might be a risk to the inverts. Any info on Annularis, if that is what I have?



Here is another one giving a better view of the tail fin.

 

That will help accelerate things.

It's marginatus. Annularis is not a valid name, due to it being marginatus (annularis an errant synonym of marginatus).

 

Thank you, that explains why photos of them looked so similar.

 

@evolved Have you personally kept a marginatus, Hunter?

In your write up you mention it has a mild temperament; would I experience any issues with my other wrasses - Cirrhilabrus, Paracheilinus, Wetmorellaand Halichoeres? Since it attains a fairly big maximum size, how would it fair with other small fish like Pipefish, Gobies and Dragonets? Besides wrasses, my other love is for small, cryptic fish.

Would the bigger size be a problem in my 5 by 3 foot, seeing as these fish are very active?

And lastly, would it be more of a risk to my inverts - porcelain crab, emerald crab, acro crab and peppermint shrimp - than say, a melanurus?

Although I really like it, I realize that now is probably the best time to make up my mind on whether it is suitable, before it goes into my display which would make catching it much more difficult.

 

I have not; sorry.

It shouldn't be an issue except with certain Halichoeres, and in those instances it's a matter of the attitude of both specimens.

No issue.

No problem there either.

Good question, but the answer is really a coin toss. Some specimens of marginatus leave inverts alone pretty well, others go after snails pretty aggressively. The acro crabs could be a risk and possibly the others. And while melanurus is typically pretty mild, sometimes the same aptitude for inverts can extend to it.
At the end of the day, the risk with marginauts is just a little higher, but not all that significant.

 

Thanks for all the info, as always, it is highly appreciated.

I'm comfortable enough with the small risk to my inverts, so he's a keeper. Just another 3 weeks in QT to go....

I forgot to mention in my previous update, I also have a Paracheilinus cyaneus in QT, so clearly your thread has been a big inspiration and help.

 

I have a 125g 6ft tank with 1x blue tang, 1x yellow tang, 1x yellow eyed kole tang, 2x ocellaris clowns and 1x large blue/green chromis. I am looking for a couple of wrasses for 2 reasons. 1. Pest control, I just noticed I had some pests on my zoanthids and I would like to keep them to a minimum. 2. To add some more fish to hopefully keep my blue tang out of hiding when people walk in front of the tank.

I am thinking about adding one of the following and then some other kind of wrasse. What would you suggest?
Christmas Wrasse (Halichoeres claudia)
Hoeven's Wrasse (Halichoeres melanurus)
Yellow Wrasse (Halichoeres chrysus)

I know some wrasses will eat peppermint shrimp (like I am planning to add very soon) and other inverts. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

Hi again with some more wrasse compatibility questions. I have a Halichoeres marginatus male and want to add a Halichoeres Melanurus male. Compatible or likely to fight?

Also I have large male and medium female feminus and want to add a red tail tamarin which is smaller than the female feminus - again compatible? I normally add multiple wrasse at the same time so that no new tank arrival gets picked on. I was planning to add these plus a female leopard wrasse for the male leopard wrasse all at the same time.

 

I'll defer to Hunter on a final answer, but I've successfully kept up to 6 Halichoeres at a time in the same 180g tank and in time I started seeing issues between the similar ones. Richmondi vs melanurus and hortulanus vs trimaculatus. I ended up removing the melanurus and trimaculatus and peace was restored. I just lost my richmondi last week which was heartbreaking as it was my favorite fish and I'd had it for years. So right now I have iridis, chrysus and just added claudia. Although the hortulanus wasn't an issue in my tank, I passed it on to a friend with a 500 because I knew it would be happier given the size it will likely end up being and he hadn't been able to find a big one.

 

Marginatus and melanurus are usually okay together; be sure to use an acclimation box in order to find out.

As for the tamarin compatibility, they probably would be okay, but I am not sure I would assume the risk given the stakes with the femininus.