Sailfin Fairy Wrasse, a new species

[OrionN]

Here he is today. Quite a bit more colorful than when he was first placed in my tank 1 month ago.

[saf1]

Originally Posted by Dmorty217

These were first offered widely about a year and a half ago. They tend to lose the blue chin in captivity just a FYI.

Is that due to food or some other missing thing in wild vs captivity?

Also - dumb question for anyone - do wrasses require net / screen for all or just specific types? I've been considering one or possibly two and not sure. I like the flame wrasse (is that the name) but may wait a bit due to the price. I've seen a few others but looking for something quick and a splash of color with personality wrasse wise.

I am getting a small pygmy wrasse but those are not the same I guess has those you show here.

[OrionN]

Certain wrasses tend to jump more than other. The wrasses that sleep in the sand tend not to jump out when they are not happy. When started, they dive for the sand instead of go airborne. From personal experiences I keep these wrasses in coverless tank for many years and have lost none to jumping:

Leopard Wrasses (only keep M. meleagris group for many years)
Sixline wrasses (will never ever put in my tank again)
H. chrysus. I have to remove him when one day out of the blue he start to take chunks out of my Maxima clam. Was a perfect reef fish prior to that. This was 20 year ago and have not put them in my tanks since.
Harlequin Tusk fish
Cleaner wrasse

[OrionN]

So far there is no color lost of my fish. The color intensify when he is excited. My Bluethroat is much more colorful now than when I first got him. Certainly most colorful when he flash. This is a rare treat for me. Since he is the only fairy wrasse in my tank, he only flash when I put a mirror on the tank. I cannot take picture easy when he is flashing since he is right up against the mirror and he is soooo fast.
I think in a larger tank, with other Fairy Wrasse, he will be a stunner. Below are two picture from yesterday when he was not excited and one when he is excited. Sorry for the poor picture but I use this to show the color, not how beautiful my wrasse is. It is hard to take picture of this fish, with a cell phone since I don't have my camera at work. The tank is my office tank.
IMO, the throat color is more of a state of mind of the fish rather than permanent colors that may loose due to inadequate nutrition in captivity.

Normal State


More Excited state

[OrionN]

This Wrasse, at least mine, is an easy wrasse to care for. He eats absolutely everything and is getting markedly fatter. I feed the tank small amount of flakes several times a day on the weekday. I also have a nori clip that I put nori in daily. Bluethroat does eat the nori but I have not observe him eat algae on the the rock.

[ca1ore]

Just picked up one of these from a local reefer. They're jumpers though, like most fairies. Only fish to ever find it's way out of my socialization box (not sure how). Anyhoo, eats everything and holds it's own against established wrasses.

[OrionN]

My wrasse is getting more and more beautiful. He is not aggressive IMO, but can handle his own against a Flame Angel pair, clown pair and a yellow tang

[Kactai]

Looks great!

[OrionN]

Thanks. This wrasse actually looks brighter in real live. I did not do any editing.

Anyone else have experiences and pictures?

[OrionN]

Sometime ago, I moved the Sailfin/Blue Throat Fairy to my 320 DT. Very beautiful and healthy wrasse but he harassed my Labouti Fairy to no end. Not enough to injure or keep the Labouti from eating. If I was going to just keep two wrasses, I would keep him. However, I am hoping for more flasher and fairy wrasse in the future so I trapped and took him back to LFS for credit.

Very aggressive wrasse toward other Fairy/Flasher. Great fish otherwise. He will hold his own against other fish. Great addition to medium size tank with no other fairy/flasher. Great fish to keep with more aggressive angels. He will flashes at Angels and Tangs which really show off his coloration.

I will keep him in certain circumstance but not in community of other fairy/flasher.

[ca1ore]

Interesting. My sailfin is in with a rosy scale, lubbocks, and diamond tail. No issues so far, but the tank is a 450. I'm about to add a labouts, naoko and orangeback so we shall see.

[OrionN]

My tank is 6X3X3 foot. It is possible that having more wrasse may diffuse the situation a little. I really like smaller flasher wrasses so I really did not want to take any chances of having a much larger Fairy wrasse

[OrionN]

This Wrasse now have a name. Newest fairy wrasse as of 05/11/2018 as
Cirrhilabrus cyanogularis The Blue Throat Fairy

https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2018...-fairy-wrasse/
www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/download/zootaxa.4418.6.5/14713

[OrionN]

Originally Posted by ca1ore

Just picked up one of these from a local reefer. They're jumpers though, like most fairies. Only fish to ever find it's way out of my socialization box (not sure how). Anyhoo, eats everything and holds it's own against established wrasses.

How is your Bluethroat in your 450 gal tank, after several more months? Is he overtly aggressive toward other wrasses? I got another one from Petco for 25.00. I got about 20 wrasses in my 320 now. My other wrasses are quite a bit bidder than this Bluethroat. I have not decided if I am going to put him into my DT yet.

He was at the Local Petco for more than 3 months. Colors all gone and he become a faded color of his former glorious self. In my DT for only 2 days, with a pair of Flame Angel, and he completely regained his color. Their colors really don't faded, but very much depends on mood and health.


I removed my last Bluethroat because he was aggressive toward the only other Fairy wrasse in the tank. With 20 wrasses in then 320, I think (hope) he will behave better. These guys really have exceptional colors.

[ca1ore]

It's been pretty much a model citizen. Has completely lost the blue color, but gets along with all the other fairies (Lubbocks, rosyscale, pintail, labuouti, orange back and exquisite).

[OrionN]

Originally Posted by ca1ore

It's been pretty much a model citizen. Has completely lost the blue color, but gets along with all the other fairies (Lubbocks, rosyscale, pintail, labuouti, orange back and exquisite).

I think large size tank is everything. I will put mine into DT in the near future. Thanks

[OrionN]

Originally Posted by ca1ore

It's been pretty much a model citizen. Has completely lost the blue color, but gets along with all the other fairies (Lubbocks, rosyscale, pintail, labuouti, orange back and exquisite).

Mine lost all color while at Petco for 3 months. I feel sorry for him (and for 25.00) and got hime home. He recovered color very quickly, over several days.

[OrionN]

My Blue throat today. Not flashing just extend all of his fins. He is recovering from his 3+ months stay at Petco. Recovering nicely and all the colors come back promptly.

[OrionN]

Bluethroat Fairy coloration is all mood, and health dependent. I wish I took a picture of my wrasse when he was at the Petco's tank. He is fine now, so is his coloration.
Please forgive all the floating particles. They are food. I find that my fish have the best coloration when they compete with each other for food.

[GroceryGetterS4]

Why in the world was your fish at petco?????

[OrionN]

I bought this Blue throat from Petco. I actually got 2 from there. The first one was very aggressive and I traded him for part of my 8 line flasher. This one have been at Petco for months. I finally bought him for 25.00 after he have been at Petco for several month

[OrionN]

I cannot get over how beautiful this wrasse is. I think in a large tank with plenty other wrasses, he is fine but not in small tank with few wrasse.
I think they will also do beautifully in 65-ish tank as the only fairy wrasse. He hold his own very well against Powder Blue Tang and Flame Angels (in my 65gal tank). The picture below he is in my 320 gal with lots of other wrasses. Very well fed as you can see by his fat stomach.

[OrionN]

I took a video of my tank just now. linked below. This video feature my anemones and my Bluethroat Fairy wrasse. Hope you guys and gals like it. Best view with HD 1080 resolution.



https://youtu.be/dYH9lJuwlzM

[OrionN]

This Morning, his fins are slightly tattered. I guess he went after some of the big boys and got put back into place. I did not see any fighting other than a few days ago with my Blue Flasher wrasse.

[OrionN]

I have experience with this species for the last 18 months or so. This is my second Bluethroat Wrasse. I traded my forst one to a LFS for a female Eightline Flasher. I got the small emaciated one from Petco after he was there for months as an assorted wrasse for 25.00 (I though it was 30 but actually only 25 minoe IMO). He is doing very well. I initially had him in my office tank where he was the only wrasse for a while and then brough him home in my 320 for the last year. He had grow fast and is about 3.5+ inches. Wh is the second largest wrasse in my tank, behind my oldest and largest Laboute Wrasse. Since I bough him, His species have come up in the world. Now this species have a name, Cirrhilabrus cyanogularis.
I believe my Bluethroat Fairy to be full grown. Fish base listed this species max out at 6.2 cm. Mine is considerably larger at 3.5 inches (almost 9 cm).

He is the undisputed King of the tank but he does not tangle with the Laboute Fairy and vice versa. On the whole, his is not too aggressive. He does run at other wrasses, but never prolong chase. He does not keep the other wrasse from eating, but I believe that he prevent some of my other Fairies and Flashers from fully developed into mature male coloration. Definitely his throat color does not fade. He Flashes frequently, all day long, much more than any other of my wrasses. I am very glad that I got him and was able to nurse him back to full health.
Here he is in all of his glory.