Which is the best looking wrasse????

Star Fish Jones · #1 03/12/2006, 10:02 AM

I want to add a wrasse to my tank, but there is so much variety and different colorings of them that I was wondering if any of you have a favorite???

And, do these fish get aggressive towards their own kind?? Can I have more than 1???

Thanks in advance for your opinion!

SFJones

Obi-dad · #2 03/12/2006, 10:13 AM

My favorite is my Christmas wrasse. Yes, in a 220g tank like yours you can keep many different wrasses.

JonTarutis · #3 03/12/2006, 11:45 AM

IMO depends on the wrasse in question as to whether or not they will act aggressively towards other wrasses. Pseudochelinus sp. (4,6,8, sneaky and mystery) can be absolute terrors to more passive species esp. smaller fairy and flasher wrasses. Likewise larger more pugnacious fairy wrasses can be brutal to smaller fairy's and flashers. Hogs (Bodianus sp.) tend to be just as merciless as the Pseudochelinus. There are SO many wrasses!
My favorites (and ones that live)...
Mystery (vanuatu ones get a rich purple maroon color not pink-purple color like Marshall)
Lubbock's (cheap, active and colorful)
Strawberry Fairy (rubrisquamis? docile and a beauty... will practically eat out your hand)
Possum/Arrowhead (Wetmorella sp. VERY shy but unique and some are gorgeous)
Cryptic sixline (Pseudochelinops... good luck finding one! I've only seen 3 come in... like a cross between a possum and a sixline... shy but a beauty!)

Ones I love but I have had a horrible track record with...
Laboutei fairy... very shy
Lineatus... every single one I have kept has developed a fungusy growth on the front of their mouth
Chaoti leopard... disappeared and never seen again!
Anything in the anampses family... best left in the ocean in my opinion.
Good luck!
Jon

douglasnj · #4 03/12/2006, 11:58 AM

Here are my two favorites.

Velvet Fairy. Very peaceful member of my tank

Like JonTarutis said, they can be difficult to keep and are expensive. I am 50/50 on the Lineatus

BigWaz · #5 03/12/2006, 03:30 PM

Red tarmarin Wrasse is my favorite by far. Mine jumped out two days after buying it though, with a top on the tank too

JonTarutis · #6 03/12/2006, 04:33 PM

red tailed tamarin? black with white spots and a red tail? see my above post concerning Anampses... probably better it jumped than waste away...

drewdegenhardt · #7 03/12/2006, 06:05 PM

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumd...?s=&forumid=88

Go to top of fish forum there is a lot of pics and info about many different wrasse's. Its a great thread.

farmer john · #8 03/13/2006, 07:11 PM

IMO the male broomtail wrasse from the red sea. personality plus gorgeous. John

good one · #9 03/14/2006, 11:59 AM

kluzinger's wrasse

INKMAN · #10 03/14/2006, 06:35 PM

The broomtail you say? Didn't I see one of those in your store this weekend, John? It sure was a great fish. I liked the red belly wrasse you had too. I love wrasses but they seem to be very hungry fish.

Peace,
INK

camarojweed · #11 03/14/2006, 10:18 PM

Lineatus..Hands down, mine would eat from my hand...and he was not a jumper like other wrasses I have seen.