Fairy wrasse Photo Library

[MarvinsReef]

check this guy out.. I love when he does this.. Blue Flasher.. nicknamed Flash..



sorry for the blurry pic..

Marvin

[mike89t]

Originally posted by wongkwp
Got this wrasee recently, I only know is a fairy wrasse. Can someone id this wrasse for me? Sorry for the bad pic.

It's a female Cirrhilabrus rubrimarginatus. There is a picture of a male on the previous page.


I have a female in my tank also. My next fish will be a male.

[wongkwp]

Thanks, looks like I will be on the look-out for a male then.

[bronco7777]

Hey folks,

Sorry I haven't been responding lately. I had to help my mother through a hospital stay. Then work backed up and I've been traveling almost every other week.

achillesheel, my johnsoni fairies are doing awesome. They've almost doubled in size and have put on weight. Colors are dazzling. What appeared to be a female when I first bought the fish seems to have been a young male as he has developed an incredibly gorgeous c-tail. The two johnsonis have split the tank in terms of territory. The large male took the left. The younger fish took the right. They take crap from nobody including the Mystery wrasse which has been put in its place a couple of times.

Achilles, you were also correct about the crlmn11 post. The picture of the second fish is that of a C.Roseafacia. I immediately recieved a email for Mr. Tanaka in Japan stating that this was a rosefacia.

FYI, Brian is back from his fish collection expedition, so I'm sure he'll be available for inquiries.

[achillesheel]

rock

[bronco7777]

Speaking of Mr. Hiroyuki Tanaka...

For the past year Mr. Tanaka has been trying to register and sign on to reef central to participate in this thread. For whatever reason, he cannot log on. Something in the RC system just won't allow him to do so.

However, Mr. Tanaka is the foremost expert in fairy wrasses in the world. Nobody has the knowledge he has. Leading marine biologists and divers come to him to describe new species of cirrhilabrus and paracheilinus. He has written scientific papers on these fish and regularly works with people like Scott Michael, Rudie Kuiter, and Richard Pyle just to mention a few. Currently Mr. Tanaka is working on a all fairy wrasse book that is 3 times the size of the Fairy & Rainbow wrasse book you've seen available in stores. However this is just dedicated to fairy & flasher wrasses. I'm working with Mr. Tanaka to help supply pictures and information for this effort.

I mention this because Mr. Tanaka anxiously wants to participate in this thread. I think we would all benefit from having his input. Therefore I am working to help him get signed on to RC. I think the problem may be found in that the RC system cannot convert Japanese language characters. So I'm going to try and sign him up on a secondary account.
If this works, soon we'll be able to welcome him to our thread and really kick these conversations up a notch.

Stay tuned....

[Redfish]

I have always wondered why Hiroyuki-san did not participate at this site. The information, and pictures, he has provided elsewhere is incredible.

It is unbelieveable that he is unable to participate for technical reasons. Knid of akin to Stephen Hawking not being able to participate in a physics forum due to technical issues. And I am not kidding or exagerating about the relative body of knowledge there either.

[shane 1111]

bronco7777 can you tell Mr. Hiroyuki Tanaka about my neon gobies please. he told me he thought the wrasses swam to fast for them to clean them. i have seen mine a number of times. i will try to get a pic of it.
thanks, i haven't had time to go to reefs.org
my neon goby can and does clean my wrasses. they slow down for it to get on and then swim normal again

[marcel leroux]

Bronco, good to have you back, hope everything is ok with your mom. Sorry about the bad pics, picked this guy up from LFS, they did not know what it is and i tried some research myself.
and then just a pic of my Flame

[marcel leroux]

[achillesheel]

i just got what was supposed to be a c. lanceolatus from liveaquaria.com. when hes done acclimating ill get some pix up. he looks more like the c. cf lanceolatus in the ruiter book but ill let you guys help me decide.

actually i lucked out and picked up what i thought to be a female this weekend in anticipation but she escaped while doing broncos acclimation process and i havent seen her since. well see if the male can bring her out.

[snorvich]

Bronco or achillesheel . . . you alluded to Bronco's acclimation process. What exactly is that?

By the way, I will be ordering from Brian. I am considering the Earle's pair, a pair of Rhomboids, and perhaps the harem of Johnsoni. Are there others I should consider INSTEAD of or in ADDITION to these? (I have two tanks. The Earle's would go in the 200 LPS for sure along with the Rhomboids).

Mr. Tanaka is perhaps the world's authority on our favorite subject so I hope someone can assist him in getting into this thread. If I can somehow help on this, please let me know.

[marcel leroux]

Try this, tried to enlarge it

[bronco7777]

Wow, good amount of posts since I last checked. Okay, let me see if I can keep up and answer these:

shane111 - I think you'll be able to mention the neon gobies issue to Tanaka yourself as I anticipate my second account log in will allow him to enter this thread. I've labled his username as H.Tanaka....so look for that. I'm pretty sure he'll respond sometime today....if he can get in. Please keep in mind that there is a huge time differential between the U.S. and Japan. Also, Mr.Tanaka is a doctor who runs his own practice. Therefore you have to be a little paitient on waiting for his replies.

By the way, I've never used gobies as cleaners with my wrasses but I do have a cleaner wrasse that I've had for a very long time that is doing a great job.

Marcel - That guy looks like a C.Temminicki. Sometimes referred to as a Peacock fairy or Temminck's. Typically found in the Izu Oshima area.

Snorvich - My acclimation process is listed in detail a bit further back in this thread. Basically it entails placing a new fairy that is about to be introduced into a tank of established fish into a specimen cup and allowing him to sit there a couple of days as he acclimates....not just in temperature but in social acceptance. The established fish get used to seeing him and then they won't pick on him when he's released. It's much less stressfull on the new fish.
Looks like you're looking at all of the expensive fairy wrasses. But with good reason. They are all beautiful. If you can afford to purchase all of these guys.....more power to you.They are all great fish. As far as recommending other fairy wrasses....I think they all recommend themselves. Once you had one fairy wrasse, you want them all.....it's like a bad crack habit or something.

[marcel leroux]

thanks

[CrazyLionfish]

I hope Mr. Tanaka is able to get on here, I heard he is #1 when it comes to fairy wrasse!

[snorvich]

A bad crack habit? Now THAT is the most accurate description of my obsession I have seen yet (even from my wife).

Brian said he will have the website updated in the next day or so with newly acquired animals.

I have a fish trap that I can use as a specimen cup but I cannot feed them in there because it is on the bottom. Where do you find a specimen cup? Thanks Bronco for all the information!! And thanks to everyone for making this thread the ultimate fairy wrasse information thread.

[bronco7777]

snorvich,

Go to Petsmart or Petco and get a Lee's 3-way breeder cup. It's typically used for freshwater breeding. This cup has air pocket handles on each side that help it stay afloat at water level. The cup also has slits along the side to allow your system's water to easily flow thru. This will make it easy to feed the fish every day.

[achillesheel]

my male lanceolatus. he's very skiddish. should i worry if he's jumping and hitting the lid? or is this normal and he will calm down? any ways





the pix arent great but again he is very active in his little container.
tank mates include:
black longnose tang
regal angel
mystery wrasse
solar wrasse
swalesi basslet
yellow clown goby
white cap clown w/ blue carpet anemone (i know the carpet is a bad idea but the clown doesnt let anybody near it)

possibly a female c. lanceolatus but again she jumped through the eggcrate on her acclimation "cup" on the first night and is somewhere in the tank (i hope). i have the same eggcrate but i placed a towel on top to help get him used to the light and to help weigh it down.

im using a lee's large observation cup that i drilled as my container.

[bronco7777]

achilliesheel,

That fish you just pictured is actually a new breed of cirrhilabrus that was just recently discovered. That is not a lanceolatus or a roseafacia.

I'm pretty sure of this but I'm hoping Hiroyuki will jump on here soon to back me up on this. Quite honestly this fish is rarer than a lanceolatus and/or Roseafacia.
Currently it is undescribed but Tanaka is working with others to get it officially registered. In the meantime it is tentatively being named "pin tail fairy" by Hiroyuki. It's becoming somewhat accessible within the Japan distribution chain. But I've not seen it for sale in the US yet.

Where did you buy this guy?

Are there more available?

Please let me know as I have been trying for months to locate one.

[bronco7777]

Sometimes fairy wrasses can be incredibly nervous and wild in their behavior. I have a finespotted that does the same thing. I recommend that you dim or shut the lights off for a good bit of time. Let him relax a bit by sleeping.

[Benny Z]

Originally posted by bronco7777
Speaking of Mr. Hiroyuki Tanaka...

For the past year Mr. Tanaka has been trying to register and sign on to reef central to participate in this thread. For whatever reason, he cannot log on. Something in the RC system just won't allow him to do so.

However, Mr. Tanaka is the foremost expert in fairy wrasses in the world. Nobody has the knowledge he has. Leading marine biologists and divers come to him to describe new species of cirrhilabrus and paracheilinus. He has written scientific papers on these fish and regularly works with people like Scott Michael, Rudie Kuiter, and Richard Pyle just to mention a few. Currently Mr. Tanaka is working on a all fairy wrasse book that is 3 times the size of the Fairy & Rainbow wrasse book you've seen available in stores. However this is just dedicated to fairy & flasher wrasses. I'm working with Mr. Tanaka to help supply pictures and information for this effort.

I mention this because Mr. Tanaka anxiously wants to participate in this thread. I think we would all benefit from having his input. Therefore I am working to help him get signed on to RC. I think the problem may be found in that the RC system cannot convert Japanese language characters. So I'm going to try and sign him up on a secondary account.
If this works, soon we'll be able to welcome him to our thread and really kick these conversations up a notch.

Stay tuned....

wow!!! let's get mr tanaka a working account! i would love to hear what this man has to say!

if all that's preventing him from posting is a key conversion conflict, then someone should be able to email him his password so he can simply copy and paste it into the field.

[brad23]

Great idea Bronco, I'll use this method when I add a scotts wrasse to my tank to help the other wrasses get use to him.

[achillesheel]

cant wait to get mr. tanaka on here. not to say the info bronco has supplied hasnt been helpful. thanx for starting this great thread

[Redfish]

achillesheel's wrasse is definitely not Lanceolatus.

Outside shot at Roseafacia, but most likely the undescribed Pin Tail that we would not be able to post links to.

How come I never find anything like that?