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  #1  
Old 12/08/2003, 05:55 PM
M.Dandaneau M.Dandaneau is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: 1477 S. Prescott Ave., Clearwater, Florida. Phone: (727) 443-6459
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Unknown Fish ID Assist?

My prediliction for unique fish has once again brought me begging for identification assistance.......I ran accross this little guy in a local LFS yesterday being sold as a Green Chromis, which it obviously isn't, and by today my curiosity made me go back and pick it up.
The attached photograph came out pretty clear, so let me add the essential information......total length at present is about 2", and the caudal fin is about twice the size evident in the photograph, as the rear half of the tail is so clear as to be difficult to see.
The pectoral fins are fairly small, very clear and used as the primary means of locomotion.
The body is almost paper thin, with all the internal organs taking up less than 1/4 of it's total length, including the head!
As soon as I got the fish home, I place it in our 100 gal. tank with many similarly sized relatively peaceful fish with the observations:
1) the fish swam in a vertical position, head up, very slow and deliberate and stayed at the top of the water, making no attempt to swim down into the considerable LR, and began snapping up frozen brine shrimp within minutes of being introduced, still in the head up position.
Within minutes, it became obvious that the fish was distressed by the activity of the other fish and hung, head up in the corner of the tank.
2) I moved the fish to the 25 gal. hex seahorse tank, the bottom half of which contains a luxurient stand of feather caulerpa and it immediately swam down into the macroalgae and began hunting live brine and small pods.
In the caulerpa, the fishes movements are very slow and deliberate, very much like the seahorses, pipefish and mandarin gobies.
It seems to have fairly fast color changing abilities to blend into its environment, so far staying in greens and greenish browns.
My thoughts so far have been a wrasse (doubtful), a kelpfish (similar body shape and finnage, except all seem to have the upward projecting potion of the dorsal fin seperate from the continuous soft dorsal), a blenny (much thinner than any I'm aware of, with swimming style highly unlike most of the family) or, lastly a waspfish, similar to the genus Ablabys (the doral fin is the correct shape, likewise the caudal fin, but the pectoral fins are considerably smaller...the mouth is likewise proportionate, except for the nose being noticably more pointed)
Any help will be appreciated.....whatever it is, I love it, but at this stage not knowing whether it's a juvenile or an adult of a small species or even where it came from leaves literally everything up in the air.
I'm going to double post this over in the reef fish section as well, as its small size and deliberate movements may well have led someone else to try it in that environment vs a FO or FOWLR tank.
Thanking everyone in advance,
Mike
  #2  
Old 12/08/2003, 06:05 PM
Triggeraddict Triggeraddict is offline
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ft. Collins, CO
Posts: 717
Now I am postive on this one. It is commonly called a Green Leaf Wrasse or a Green Leaf Coris Wrasse Novaculichthys macrolepidotus. It is in the same genus as the Dragon Wrasse. Theya re pretty easy keppers so good luck with him.
__________________
55g- Baby Black Volitan, Fu Manchu Lion, Marine Betta, and juvenile Pink Face Wrasse. All inhabitants will be moved to the 209g when it gets re set up after I graduate college in December.
  #3  
Old 12/09/2003, 03:42 AM
M.Dandaneau M.Dandaneau is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: 1477 S. Prescott Ave., Clearwater, Florida. Phone: (727) 443-6459
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Thanks trigg......according to the photos, I'd have to agree with you at this point.
Strangely, none of these has ever showed up in this area, at least that I've ever seen, and the behavior is so unlike any wrasse that I've ever kept that it threw me by a mile.
It's so different from the more common Dragon wrasse as a juvenile that I'd have honestly never made the connection.
Has anyone ever kept one to or as an adult that you know of?
 


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