At the LFS they were in a 40g tank with sand and live rock. Little filtration (Aqua Clear), no skimmer and minimal circulation (one small powerhead). I'm not positive but I believe they only feed their fish once a day. They do feed frozen food though. I wanted them the first time I saw them but didn't have the new tank ready yet and the 120g reef was already pretty stocked. I remember telling the guys that if they were still there when I set up the new one that I'd bring them home. Then there were sooooooooooo many delays I figured there would be gone for sure. Apparently they aren't colourful enough for most people. It's the personalities of leopard wrasses that really appeals to me the most, and their peaceful ways. I have a pair of ornatus in the reef and they are similar in behavior but the male is MUCH bigger. The negrosensis pair are barely three inches.
When I brought them home they were well accustomed to life in captivity. They came out of the bags and started eating. They've had a lot of room as I don't have much in this tank yet (trying to get the smaller, docile fish in first) and there's 300lbs of good live rock (came in so fresh the tank didn't even cycle). I have very high circulation in this tank with a pair of Tunze Streams. The tank will be 5 weeks old tomorrow. I've been feeding them three times a day:
morning - one cube Hikari mysis & half teaspoon of Sweetwater Zooplankton (daphnia)
afternoon - one cube Hikari bloodworms & half teaspoon of Sweetwater Zooplankton
evening - one cube Hikari mysis & half teaspoon of Sweetwater Zooplankton
I've been using nothing but natural seawater in this tank and I do a 60 gallon (20%) water change every weekend. I use no additives, just a tablespoon of kalkwasser every 4 or 5 days to keep the pH up. I really think the natural seawater plays a part here. It was only since I switched from salt that my mandarins started breeding and my larger ornatus went into the terminal male colouration.
I believe they actually paired up in the store as the male already had the stripes on his head when I brought him home. He went through this colour change very recently though, within a week of me bringing him home. The female is just all black with fine speckles. Both have long yellow dorsal fins and the male has quite a bit more yellow as it goes into the stripes on his head and down his back.
I'll keep trying for pics although the bright orange belly is gone now. In the reef I have a pair of mandarins that breed every couple weeks so I'm hoping I will see this again. The leopards are constantly moving and that fine speckled pattern just blurs like you wouldn't believe. I'm usually pretty good at this but most of the pics I've taken so far you can barely make out a fish shape.
I'm in on a group order that's due to arrive tomorrow night and supposed to have a racoon and a longnose butterflyfish in it for me along with a huge cleanup crew. Hopefully the new fish won't interfere too much with the happy couple
