Reef Safe Wrasse???

[wadesnug]

Hey everyone. Its been a while since I last posted :( But here I am again. I bought a wrasse a couple of months ago at a very reputable fish store in Minneapolis. IT was listed as an Ornamental wrasse and is mostly green with a long horizontal red line on its sides with red vertical stripes running onto its belly from there. The dorsal and tail fins have black and red dots all over them. I will try to post a pic later if I can get a decent one. Anywho, this guys was just fine in my reef tank until I put in a couple of conch snails at which time he immediately grabbed them and appeared to have a nice meal of escargot :mad2: Well, I recently added an anenome crab to the tank along with a Rose Bulb Anenome. Immediately the dang wrasse grabbed the crab and ripped off his leg. They seemed to be doing okay for quite a while as the crab just hung out in the anenome. This weekend, I looked in my tank, and there he was ripped apart with crab parts strewn all over the tank.

Has anyone ever run into a wrasse like this? If so, send me some info as I cannot find anything listed as an ornamental wrasse. If not, any ideas on what it could be? Obviously it does fine with my shrimp, cleaners and fire, as he leaves them alone. Thanks so much for your help everyone. I really appreciate it.

Wade

[ThePlowKing]

I have an Ornamental or Christmas Wrasse. He gets along with my snails ,shrimp, three Emeralds and Hawaiin St crab. He also has shown no interest in the Corals.

[Tarasco1]

Sounds like you got a Thalassoma trilobatum, or something similar. Most big wrasses like to eat any sort of crustacean or thing with shells. I think that it might just be a matter of time before he goes after the shrimp as well. Good luck.

[Julio]

i have a harlequin in my tank with no problem these fish are really peceful and hav ea tremendous ammount of color, makes the tank more vibrant.