Anampses Wrasse...

[Deserter23]

I purchased a yellowtail wrasse today and have been doing some reading on it. I have read the following:

1. disease prone
2. jumpers
3. need deep established sandbed
4. picky eaters
5. requires at least a 55g tank

Is all this true! I have been scouring the tank and surrounding areas for the past 45 minutes and cannot find the little animal. When they bury themselves, are they usually visable at all or do they completely bury themselves and for how long do they do this?

Any advice will be appreciated by this worried wrasse owner.

[Tyler lindberg]

I can help with a few of your Q's

all wrasse are jumpers so you should have your tank covered if possible and he will probably stay barried in the sand for a day or two before he comes out.... you most likely won't be able to see him while he's barried so just be patient.

[dvmsn]

I have had two in the last year. They seem to be one of those fish that seem to waste away even if they are eating. My first one was very healty, ate like a pig and grew for a long time. Number two would only eat brine and slowly wasted away over a month or so. About a month after that, I noticed number 1 was skinny. It took a good three months for him to slowly starve to death even though he ate as much and a varied a diet as all my other fish. Sorry, for the bad news. Good luck.

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8724561#post8724561 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tyler lindberg
all wrasse are jumpers so you should have your tank covered if possible and he will probably stay barried in the sand for a day or two before he comes out.... you most likely won't be able to see him while he's barried so just be patient.

Anytime anyone starts anything with "All wrasses are", theyre wrong, unless the next work is "labridae"

Sand sleeping wrasses arent any more prone to jump than any other fish. Their natural reaction to threats is to dive, rather than jump, so theyre in actuality, less likely to jump than most fish.

For some reasons, Fairy and Flasher wrasses seem to have ingrained all their traits onto every other wrasse in people's minds. C'mon, have you ever seen a harlequin tusk jump?

[Deserter23]

Thank you for your responses. I am not sure whether I am relieved or not. Apparently Anampses Wrasses just seem to be a difficult fish to keep healthy. Does anyone out there have any SUCCESS stories with this fish? The LFS I bought the wrasse from had the wrasse for weeks in a tank with less than ideal conditions (amongst dead fish in a small tank) and the wrasse seemed to still be doing well.

The good news is that on my way to work this morning, I saw the little guy swimming around the tank. It must've been napping when I was searching for it last night. :)

****INSERT SUCCESS STORY BELOW****

[Tyrosinase]

I'm not sure if what I heard holds true for these wrasses, but I did hear that some wrasses come into the trade with intestinal worms. If the wrasse has worms it will grow thinner, and eventually die, even though it is eating like a pig. If this holds true for these wrasses then I would treat it for these worms. I can't recall the medication's name but it may be something worth looking into.

Best of luck with the fish. I myself have been wanting an Anampses for a while but have never seen them at any of the local fish stores.

[JamesJR]

I used to work at a LFS and I would try and get these fish occaisionally
for our large display. They are so dellicate it is almost impossible to get them to even live through the shipment and then it almost impossible to feed them.
I would like to hear a success story myself. You should find another fish store. If they can't keep other fish alive in their tanks than they have no business ordering tamarin (anampses) wrasses much less selling them to unsuspecting customers.

[RichConley]

I think these fish suffer from a lot of the same issues as leopard wrasses: IE they get beat up really badly in collection, and shipping.

[JamesJR]

I think they are definately more difficult than leopard wrasses.

[Deserter23]

So much for the success stories. I'll post a pic tonight to show my currently (knock on wood) very healthy looking Anampses.

btw what type of sandbed do i need? I currently have 1-1.5" of aragonite as my substrate which I've seeded with sand from another setup. Unless otherwise advised, I do not plan on adding any more live sand.

[Deserter23]

no pic to post tonight as the Anampses is in hiding....silly pet

[6Speed]

I had a sixline for at least 8 months before he jumped. Went over the top of my 18" canopy, and landed 3' away on my couch. I didn't find him till my friend went to sit down and said "Zack, did you know there's a fish on your couch?"

He was petrified by then...no telling how many days he'd been there. :(

Ohh yeah, when I first got him and put him in the QT tank, there would be days go by that I didn't see him. Don't worry about it, wrasse's can hide really well. :)

[Ventralis321]

Yellow tail wrasse is my favorite wrasse. I've kept them before from .5 inches up till it changed into its adult phase. They are very hardy fish. Be sure that the specimen was caught properly and handled well as they can be fragile if banged around too much. They also like finer sand cause the coarse sand is too rough for its skin when they dive in and will eventually eat away at it till its bone. other than that its an excellent fish to have if you have the capacity to keep them. They grow to over a foot long. I suggest you have a big enough tank.

[Deserter23]

thanks everyone for your input. Ventralis you've given me the first glimpse of hope! Will adding finer sand be ok for the Yellow tail or do I need to completely remove the coarse aragonite?

I promise I'll post a pic if the little guy decides to poke out. Last question: how will he eat if he's never out during feeding time?

[Ventralis321]

Well i don't know how much sand you have already but taking sand out might not be a good idea as it might disrupt your bacterial bed and cause more problems. If you add enough fine sand it will mix nicely enough to give some comfort in the sand. As far as feeding i would leave him alone till he feels comfortable coming out. He's probably already stressed out and poking him around might further that. I would keep a good eye on where he likes to dive though. I've had wrasses bury and never come out. If you live rock it helps as to seed your sand bed with pods and worms which helps there diet. Also FOWLR tanks do better in general. Good luck hope everything turns out the way you want it.

[zemuron114]

I had a harlequin tusk jump clear out of 55 gallon holding tank. water was 5" below the the rim.. so yes harlies DO jump.

also had a few anampses jump (mainly redtail and even a psychhead wrasse) however this is not the usual behavior.

In my experience i think i have had almost every species of wrasse jump on me at one time or another.. lol