Halichoeres... show some love

[iamwrasseman]

i have a dozen or so that are up when the sun rises as they dont wait for 11am when my actinics turn on . the other 30ish wrasses seem to wait for the aquarium lights to turn on and stay up till they are off . my early risers are somewhat split as a few do bed down early but a few stay up till the aquarium lights turn off .
its just how they are i guess ,nobody ever told them when to get up or go to bed so they do what comes natural to them in this very unnatural world that we have them trapped in .
i would keep an eye on him but dont be worried unless he shows signs of stress or stops eating ,at that time it probably is to late anyway as they all react differently to aquarium life .they keep their learned traits from the ocean and also learn from other fish in your aquarium which makes for some pretty weird combinations of actions . in the wild they are in harems and learn from alike fish ,in your tank they learn from as many different fish as you have .

[38bill]

My wrasses (H.'s and all the fairies) are all up early. Some before the tank lights start to turn on, all schooled up in one corner waiting to be fed. They start to go to bed at different times but every one of them is out of sight about 1 hour before the last set of lights goes off at 10:30. My yellow tang is the last fish to go to bed. I can see him still cruisin even with just the moon lights on.

[60G]

i just bought mine

[blennielove]

My Melanurus goes to bed each night at exactly 8:55.
I just got a Christmas wrasse today and... well, they both been hiding since noon...
Should I be worried?

[Jacob D]

60G, Blennie, congrats on the wrasses. If they are new fish some hiding is not unusual initially.


Dave, wow that's a lot of wrasses. I guess you really are the wrasse man
Mine used to wait until about an hour before lights out before calling it a night (fairies too) but the last few weeks, maybe longer, this one just tucks in early. I'm not overly concerned as he seems very healthy and is active during the day every day, its just something I noticed recently.

I do have a theory after thinking about it... My lights don't come on until the afternoon. I have a large south facing window in my tank and the room is lit by the sun for the good part of the day but with the shorter days the room starts to get dark before my lights come on. I think this may be screwing with his internal clock (probably all the fish) since it gets light, then dims, then gets really bright when the lights come on. It's a more natural transition when the days aren't so short like they are now.

[blennielove]

Thanks Jacob!

[Moort82]

Not the best but here's my iridis. Bed time 9.10pm everyday

[60G]

i have had it in the tank for 1 full day and he hasnt eaten. what should i feed to get it to eat i tried mysis and frozen brine. thanks

[Jacob D]

1 day... it's still early. Keep trying the mysis If it doesn't start eating after a week you might want to try some live foods like black worms or brine.

[Jacob D]

Originally Posted by Moort82

Not the best but here's my iridis. Bed time 9.10pm everyday

Beautiful iridis!

[tnyr5]

isn't it funny how they all go to bed on a schedule lol

[60G]

ok thanks

[blennielove]

Those are beautiful pictures Moort82!
What type of camera and did you use a flash? You must have mesmerized him somehow to keep him still for the picture!

Question:
I've had the Melanurus wrasse for about two and a half weeks and then I fresh water dipped the Christmas wrasse for 20 minutes then placed him in the display...
My Melanurus hasn't been out for the last 24+ hours...should I go digging in the sand?

[iamwrasseman]

do not dig into the sand after a fish that burrows ,he is in his safe zone now . let nature take its corse and he will be out to see you when he wants . they stay under sometimes for a week or more so dont get worried ,he is in the best spot he can find right now and DO NOT disturb him as it will only further stress him .
20 minute freshwater dip ? never ever heard of that ,20 minutes really ?

[blennielove]

Hi Dave,

Thank you for the information!!!
I promise I won't go digging around!
I was worried because he's been out and very active for the past couple of weeks then this happened. I could have frightened him when I put the bag with the Christmass wrasse in the tank to acclimate for temperature, but I didn't even note seeing him that morning - normally he will come right up to the glass and put on his charms for food.
Maybe he knew I was bringing someone new home and got jealous?

I learned from you that Leopard wrasses stay under for a long time, but didn't expect this from a Halichoeres.

Yes, it was twenty minutes. She, my Christmass wrasse, did really well. Not freaked out or anything, regular breathing and alertness. I was going to leave her in longer but thought why put her through it when the LFS had her for five weeks and she was the only fish in their coral system. She is out and active, eating mysis, frozen formula one and two and Ocean Nutrition pellets.

[iamwrasseman]

pretty cool ,i have just never heard of such a long dip but if i didnt learn something new today it would mean that i wasnt paying attention .
good luck too !

[blennielove]

Thanks again Dave,
I really appreciate your expertise and knowledge!!!
I've learned to dip for at least 15 minutes if I'm not QT-ing the fish. I've dipped a dying Randall's goby (with really bad C. irritans infection) for one hour and he is still healthy and happy with me - I guess that was when I realized that "I" freak out more than the fish!
I hope my Melanurus will pop out soon, I miss him already!

[Moort82]

Originally Posted by blennielove

Those are beautiful pictures Moort82!
What type of camera and did you use a flash? You must have mesmerized him somehow to keep him still for the picture!

Thanks its a canon 40D. The first is with a flash but i don't like using it on fish. The second is without and normally it doesn't stay still. It was just behaving this morning so i gave it some krill as a treat.

Looking at getting a Melanurus soon. Any one have problems introducing hali's together?

[blennielove]

Hi Moort82, and thanks for the info! I'll borrow my hubby's Canon and try it out! Did you use a micro lens? About keeping more than one Halichoeres, there appears to be many people who've done it successfully on this thread. I myself am in the process of keeping a Melanurus and Christmas...well "trying to" should be better.

My Melanurus just popped out - I think my Tiger Wardii Goby must have sifted too close to his resting spot. But something doesn't look right, he seems to have a kink in his neck, hovering in one area not swimming along the length of the tank and he is breathing fast... I hope this is not a sign of illness!
Now I'm worried that I've really been cursed when it comes to wrasses! Or the wrasses are cursed with ME!
Keep my fingers crossed!

[iamwrasseman]

you have to understand that they many time are doomed to die as they almost seem to come in batches of good and bad much more with the leopards and tamarins than others . when you get them sometimes you can tell that they just dont have a chance and some do great thats why i always say "let nature take its course " .90% of mine come from the same wholesaler and i may lose four or five in a row then a bunch do great .my record is so much better now than two years ago as i have learned what helps them and what is a waste of time . IMO no QT and usually a temp acclimation only ,plenty of live food ,quiet tank ie. no flash pictures and stay away from the tank ,and introduce into display tank . i was at less than 20% 2 years ago now i am at 90% or better just by the above mentioned . i even have gone as far as covering the tank front and sides for a week and only actinics for the ones that look as though they are troubled .
my suggestion is that if you love them like i do ,don't give up and pay very close attention to what works and what does not .again the above mentioned is basically what to do . they love live brine but it need supplementation {selcon or GVH } ,add a few drops to a batch of brine then add to the tank ten minutes later . live mysis is better but very expensive and extremely difficult to keep as they cannibalize after a few days .then switch them over to PE MYSIS .
blennielove the fast breathing is not good so leave him alone and see what happens as there is nothing that you can do at this point except further stress him with your efforts to help .yes cross your fingers and let nature take its course .

[blennielove]

Thank you, Dave, for your insight and sharing your expertise. I will do as you say.

Watch and wait.

[jimroth]

I realized something strange about my wrasse yesterday. They can shut their eyes and I don't know any other fish that can! I was watching the fish and it winked at me! Of course then need to, they bury themselves in the sand.

[jimroth]

Originally Posted by Jacob D

Anybody here notice one or more of your halichoeres go to sleep early, as in well before lights out? My Vrolik's used to disappear about an hour before lights out, now it's more like 3-4 hours before lights out.

He's always out and about first thing in the morning (6-ish) and tucked in somewhere by about 6 PM. The last light is off at 10:30 PM. It's been scaring me lately since his "bedtime" keeps getting earlier I keep thinking... "did something happen to him?" and then there he is the next morning waiting for me to saunter over with my coffee!

My lemon meringue wrasse has a favorite sleeping spot and circles it before the lights go out, kind of like a dog waiting to lie down. It clearly doesn't like other fish to see it go under the sand, so it waits till they have left if possible.

[iamwrasseman]

i wish you the best blennielove ,please keep us informed !

[mr.maroonsalty]

I have a bunch of questions; lets start with how deep a sand bed should I plan for, and how much area should it be. I'm wanting to partition off a bed. Say I plan for two Halichoeres in a 4' 140, would I be safe planning a Bodianus? What about two a candy and a peppermint? How will Cirrhilabrus mix with them? Last for now, I'm really liking the spectrum foods, and liking more being off frozen; how will these wrasses fit into a once or twice feeding schedule, and will they take well to these pellets?