melanurus wrasse

[jeffyo]

are these ok in a reef tank ? i have heard conflicting opinions (as usual) about them eating inverts...

[zebrasoma17]

Over the years I have kept numerous Halichoerus wrasses in reef tanks and they have generally been well-behaved. It depends on your definition of "OK in a reef tank". Although they normally don't touch corals they may very well eat small snails and crabs, bristleworms and other polychaetes, and many of your refugium critters that find their way into your tank.

Greg Scheimer has reported that he needed to remove a H. melanurus from one of his reef tanks because it was tearing off pieces of his clams. He did report however that this particular individual had been housed in a clam tank at an LFS as a snail control and that it may have acquired a taste for clams due to being insufficiently fed.

Just remember that each fish is an individual and that they didn't all "read the book" on how they were supposed to behave in our tanks.

I personally like Halichoerus wrasses in my tanks. They are interesting, active, and beautiful and I have never had to remove one because it picked on any invertebrates (other smaller wrasses however can sometimes be a completely different story).

HTH

Al