Anyone have a blue star leopard wrasse?

Brock Fluharty · #1 01/08/2007, 07:16 PM

I was considering buying a blue star leopard wrasse for my 2 year old 75 gallon reef tank. I'm not sure if it's the best idea though. I know that they have picky eating habits, but I have lots of live rock, and I don't really have any fish that eat many pods. I have 2 ocellaris clowns, a blue hippo tang, a blue green reef chromis, and a yellow watchman goby, all which eat pellet food.

Now, if the majority of you think that me getting this fish is a bad idea (and please do not base your judgment in my age) then I will not get it, and get a fairy wrasse or two instead. But if most of you think it's worth a shot, then i'll go for it. I'm not one of those people that has a fish die and all they're concerned about is how much they paid for it. That is foolish. Fish are living, breathing creatures and should not be treated as decoration in any way. If I do get one, i'm going to get it from LiveAquaria, simply because they are a trusted source by most people, and they have a guarantee, which tells me that they are confident in the health of their livestock, as well as have happy customers.

Also, if anyone has or has had a blue star leopard wrasse, could you post a picture, or just tell me your experiences with them?

Thanks,
Brock

May your swords stay sharp

Jagermeister · #2 01/08/2007, 11:38 PM

I have one and I'll try to post pictures later. I think the absolute hardest thing with these fish, all leopards included, is the acclimation process. The majority of the fish stores where I live won't even order leopards because of the dismal survival rate.

Some things that I learned to help their survival:

Definitely use a qt tank. Not because you're worried about disease and sickness (which you should be anyways), but because you don't want any of your existing fish to harrass the new comers. They'll be incredibly stressed from the trip as it is. Clowns are known to bully new comers for a while.

Your qt should have a sand bed for these guys to dive into. They sleep in the sand and use it as a refuge in times of danger/stress.
When you order them specify that you'll pick the package up at the FedEx facility and be there when they open. These guys are such poor shippers that you don't want them to spend any more time in the bag than neccessary.

Definitely drip acclimate in a bucket. I also put some large pvc pipe pieces in the bucket while acclimating. The fish seem to like to seek refuge in or under these.

Acclimate in a darkened room as bright light will stress fish out. The major thing to understand is these fish get incredibly stressed out during shipping so you have to do everything possible to alleviate this stress.

I ordered two blue stars and they both arrived alive. I acclimated them how I just described and when I netted them and put them in the qt they both immediately dove into the sand.

Then I didn't see them for 2 weeks. My qt tank doesn't have lights and was located in a room with a north window, and after not seeing them for two weeks, I wondered if it was because of lack of light. So I put a 1000 watt halogen garage light over the tank one morning and one of the little guys emerged shortly after. I don't know if that was a coincidence or not but if I order any more I'll be sure to start a photo period the day after they arrive.

I never did find the other one. The top of the qt had eggcrate on it and I looked all around the tank so I'm sure it didn't jump out. And I also sifted my fingers through the sand countless times and I never found a body. There's no scavengers in the tank to eat the body so.........I'm really stumped on this one.

Good luck if you order. I really like these fish. I originally got into them when I had a pyramid snail outbreak on my clams. Since adding leopards to my tank I no longer have that problem.

Hope this helps.

triggerfish1976 · #3 01/09/2007, 08:48 AM

I totally disagree with QT'ing these fish unless you can put them in a refugium. They have similar eating habits to mandarins and generally will only pick small pods off of the rocks for the first few weeks. Some will eat prepared foods and some won't so if you put them in a bare QT tank then they may starve if they are not accepting prepared foods.
As Jagermeister Leopard Wrasses sleep in the sand bed so when they sense that nightfall is coming they dart right into the sand and you generally will not see them until the next morning. If these fish have been recently collected they may do this in opposite order (sleep during the day and come out at night) since they are still use to the day/night cycle of where they have been collected from. They will get use to your tanks photo period in due time as long as you do not put them in a lightless QT tank.

I have had a female for over two years and it took her about 2 months before she started eating mysis and brine. There is a food called ArctiPods that I started using about a month ago and she ate it right of the bat. I hear that Mandarins also love this stuff so you could try to feed that early on if you decide to get one.

I have also noticed that she can be very agressive to newly introduced fish. From what I have read, they are not suppose to be that agressive but she really had it out for my flame wrasse and eightline wrasse. She never did any major damage but she picked at both of these fish for several days after they were introduced.

One last thing. These fish are horrible shippers o I would not order them online unless you go through LiveAquaria.com. There natural defense when scared or stressed is to hide in the sand bed and when they are in the shipping bags they constantly dive down and hit face first into the bag thus damaging there mouths. This in turn leads to infections and makes it difficult for them to eat. A few transhippers add sand to the bags to increase the chance of survival but most online vendors do not use this technique.

Brock Fluharty · #4 01/09/2007, 08:59 PM

Ok, i'm pretty sure i'm going to get it from LiveAquaria, but I don't think i'll qt. I don't have a tank ready for qt that hasn't had copper used in it, which would kill all pods. My sand is pretty deep in some places (up to around 2") and I have chaeto and lots of LR in the display. The only fish that would possibly bully him are the clowns, but both are under 1.5", and slow and clumsy. I added a blue tang after them, and they were fine. I will drip acclimate him for about 3 hours, and if it's ok, i'll put some sand in the bucket just in case he wants to start grazing, or just hide.

triggerfish1976 · #5 01/09/2007, 09:12 PM

If I were to get one online liveaquaria would be the only place due to their 14 day policy. Keep us posted on how everything goes.

Brock Fluharty · #6 01/09/2007, 09:51 PM

I will. I'll probably order him next week, so i'll update after he arrives.

triggerfish1976 · #7 01/09/2007, 09:59 PM

They have periodically also had the males in their divers den which look even better then the females but they typically sell them shortly after they are posted.

Brock Fluharty · #8 01/09/2007, 10:18 PM

Oooooh. Well i'm sure they are very expensive, so i'll get a female, then maybe if they get a male in later on, i'll get him. Not sure though. Depends on wether or not I get a refugium.

jda · #9 01/10/2007, 10:45 AM

I would not QT them either unless your QT tank is like a reef. I am isolating a potters and gunea fowl in a 75G with cheato, rock and fauna that is attached to another tank - a bigger fuge. It is not QT though, just another system beaming with life. These are leopards 6 and 7 for me and I have never had one die. Once they start attacking flake, mysis, pellets and any other food, then they are hardy enough to be moved to the main tank. They can take a bit of harassment at this time.

Do you get the 14 day guarantee on the leopards? You didn't used to, but I haven't been on their site for a long time.

I am sure that you have read this, but if not:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...hcs3/index.php

triggerfish1976 · #10 01/10/2007, 11:04 AM

The 14 day rule applies to all fish liveaquaria sells.

jefathome · #11 01/10/2007, 02:35 PM

MY LFS has a bunch of those right now.

I picked up one of these recently, and it is doing great. Even eating flake now. Of course I made sure he ate at all before I purchased him. At the time it was only Mysis, but now he eats anything... including some nasty red flatworms that had invaded my tank.

Brock Fluharty · #12 01/10/2007, 05:28 PM

That's not a blue star leopard wrasse.

Liveaquaria's diver's den has what I think to be a male right now. it's nearly twice as much as the female...but he's so awesome...

dodgersfan25 · #13 01/10/2007, 07:25 PM

i just got one the other day and like others said, bolted right into the sand as i put him into the display tank. i did not QT though. well i did not see him for the first day, but he did come out the next. during feeding time, he didnt eat anything, but hangs out by the rocks. so at least hes coming out and hanging with the other fish. im hoping that things continue to become better with him

dodgersfan25 · #14 01/10/2007, 07:25 PM

double post

Brock Fluharty · #15 01/10/2007, 08:34 PM

Most of my fish school together, except for the yellow watchman, who hangs out on the bottom.

triggerfish1976 · #16 01/10/2007, 08:53 PM

The third image at the bottom of the following link is a male.
http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/M/Macr...bipartitus.asp

Brock Fluharty · #17 01/10/2007, 09:34 PM

The one that's brown and ugly? That is ugly, lol. Well the one that was in the Diver's Den is gone already.