Blue star leopard wrasse pair or single?

Shananagans · 10-01-2008, 11:00 PM

So, there was a 4" maldavis male Blue star leopard wrasse and a "2 1/4 female on liveaquaria tonight. I have wanted one for a long time so I purchased both, but since they don't ship till next week I have the options of dropping one or the other out of my shipment.

My question is will they do better together or by on their own. They were not sold as a pair but I am assuming they will get to know each other. I hear they do better in groups that's why I say that.

P.S. I do have a refugium that I have been stocking with lots and lots of copepods and will continue to do so maybe twice a year.

What do you think?

**Phurst** · 10-02-2008, 12:02 AM

Totally apocryphal, but I know a guy who has been through 3 leopard wrasses (2 males and 1 female) individually and has never had any luck with them. I have another friend who has a male/female pair and they've been thriving for a couple of years. May be nothing to it, but the pair swimming around the tank sure is a pretty sight

rroselavy · 10-02-2008, 07:27 PM

I know Leopard Wrasses are considered "Expert Only".

Phurst- Could you conjecture as to why one friend had good luck and the other one didn't? Fuge? Husbandry? Stability? Environment? Plain ole' Luck?

They sure are pretty, especially the Dragon Wrasses - but I wouldn't dare try until I have been doing this for 10+ years.

Shananagans · 10-02-2008, 09:59 PM

Also you may want to take into consideration that i have a sixline wrasse in there. Sometimes he give newbies his size a hard time then learns to ignore them, other times he ignores them from the get go. The female would be alittle bigger then him and the male may be almost twice the size.

**Phurst** · 10-02-2008, 10:25 PM

I can't really say. The singles were in a well established, peaceful 90 with a fuge. The pair have gone from a 120 to a 220 to a 400, also with peaceful tankmates. Both are experienced, accomplished reefers. The only real difference I can think of is the pair had a 90 gal fuge on the 120 and the 220 and a 150gal fuge on the 400. I don't know if that made the difference, but it's about all I can think of.

Shananagans · 10-14-2008, 12:04 AM

Update: Last tues I acclimated the 2 wrasses. When i received them, the female was swiming around the bag and seemed to acclimate well, The male on the other hand was very discolored, laying on its side and breathing very hard. Both dove straight into the sand. On thurs the female was out in the morning pecking around, and by fri morning was already eating the frozen foods I feed. Could not have asked for anything better. The male on the other hand has not been seen since, I was told by tom (one week) it is fairly safe to cut my losses and accept its death.
The only thing that seems very strange to me is that the female is only out in the early morning, I have never seen her another time of the day. Any ideas anyone?

rayme07 · 10-14-2008, 12:36 AM

Very cool. If you dont mind I would love to see pics of her if you can.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shananagans

The only thing that seems very strange to me is that the female is only out in the early morning, I have never seen her another time of the day. Any ideas anyone?

Mabe shes just getting used to the tank a bit more. Have you tried intising her out with food. Hope this helps