Disappearing wrasses
 

I bought a mystery wrasse on boxing day, acclimated and added to the tank. Saw him the next day and been missing since. Last weekend I added a radiant wrasse, same thing, saw it Monday morning and haven't seen it since. Yesterday, I noticed my solar wrasse is missing a chunk out of his tail fin. I don't think the other fish are causing problems....I had a funky red crab in the tank somewhere but no clue where it is..wth? I know wrasses can hide for a while but this is frustrating!

they seem to make wrasses of us all the time.. but if there is a chunk out of the one there may be a munch happy critter or fish that doesnt like the wrasses

whats your list of suspects(fish) Sheena?......is the tank covered?.....I would think that it would have to be one badass crab to take down a radiant wrasse?

That missing Mystery is a bit of a ... nevermind, I won't do it :wink:
I'd be looking for nasty crabs
Do you have a Mag-light? The AA sized flashlight.
I have one that I plan on getting a red lens and led bulb for so I can hunt around after lights out.

The only thing I can think of is that red crab but I haven't seen it in months.

Tank isn't covered but there's nothing on the floor. Had a clown jump last summer and found the body on the floor, cat and dog left it alone.

I moved a bit of sand around but no fish....the radiant is gorgeous, but that's $200 in missing fish...

Only other tank mates are 2 clowns, royal gramma, cardinal and the solar wrasse. Typical snails and a few hermits. Might give up on the wrasses.....:cry:

Oh don't give up !!!
I bet you have a crab or more that you need to catch.
You never see them right now .... 'cause you keep feeding them :mrgreen:
Seriously, get a red light, or set up a trap or something.
Think 'crab trap' like when they harvest 'our' crab food.

I will get me a red light and figure this out...whatever it is has expensive taste!

I'm not sure how your tank is set up, but check your sump if there's any way that they could get in there... I found my Solar in there, starved to death long after he'd gone missing. This would not however explain the chunks missing from the wrasse you still have.

No sump on this tank, just a canister filter and there's no way it got sucked up. I haven't found the crab....yet. My other tank is cycling now, going to pull out a large piece of lr and move it over to give me a bit of room to look around.

Found the radiant wrasse in the sand, he came out for 3seconds then dug back in. Guess he's not ready to come out yet but glad he's still in there!:biggrin:

Wrasses are like that. Provided there is no crab or other devil-like critter in there, it is very common for wrasses to disappear for even a week when first introduced. They just hide...even if you look for them everywhere. Wrasses are very emotional... :lol:

When I put my 3 McCosker's Wrasses in the reef I didn't see any of them for about 6 days, then I saw one, and an hour later they were all out swimming about like nothing happened. When I added the Yellow Coris Wrasse he hid for 3 days. Some wrasses hide in the sand, some hide in the rocks.

Nice the radiant is still alive. I was gonna suggest to keep an eye out for worms. Eunice worms are nasty little buggers. If you are switching tanks make sure you freshwater(RO) dip all the live rock that you are gonna transfer, you will be amazed on what you will find. Just a thought.

Thanks for the info on dipping the rock, I know I've got bristle worms (i think thats what they are) in the one I moved to the sump tonight, ammonia is at 2, hoping to kill a few off...I have corals attached to a lot of the rocks, when I transfer will have to figure that out...:lol:

I probably pi$$ed the wrasse off again, I hope he comes out, he's so pretty! I didn't know these guys were so "emotional", my solar wrasse never hid when I first got him.

Did I miss something or are you saying that the tank that the wrase are in has an ammonia reading of 2 ppm? :eek:

No I think she's talking about her new tank that she set up is at 2 for ammonia and the rock she put in that sump has the bristle worms and the wrasses are in her current tank

Wrasse and other fish/corals are in my 55 gl that's been running for almost a year. I'm cycling a new tank, there's nothing in it except sand and live rock...and ammonia ATM. Won't move everything over until it's ready!

Wrasses are annoying like that. I have a leopard wrasse that disappeared for a whole month. He was pretty consistent with his wake/sleep patterns and actually went to bed pretty late so I always saw him. When I first noticed him missing I checked for him on a couple of weekends in case he changed his routine and decided to wake late and sleep earlier. Still didn't see him so after a month I wrote him off and labelled him MIA. Went out and bought a new leopard wrasse. Two days later I noticed him out and about hanging ten with the new leopard wrasse. Now I have two leopard wrasses and an increased bio load :neutral:

PS. anyone want a leopard wrasse ? :lol:

My latest yellow wrasse became dog food when he decided the grass was greener on the outside :cry: I had the whole top covered in egg crate except for one little corner! Crafty!

That's a nice story, I would take your wrasse in a heartbeat if I were closer to you.

Just as I was getting ready to leave this morning, I looked at my tank and my radiant wrasse was out swimming around. The solar wrasse was checking him out but no aggression. Dropped some food in to see if he'd eat and he was fine.

well my radiant wrasse is finally spending most of the day out and let me take some pics...hes starting to pose a bit but the solar wrasse is a bit of a camera hog..lol

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...3/DSC_0856.jpg

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...3/DSC_0822.jpg

It's so beautiful !

+1 !!

Ohh I really want one! Glad it's doing well.

I'm glad he is out now. I was also going through same thing with a orange back wrasse when you radiant went missing. He was gone for a month due to a wrasse-hole melanarous

Thanks, the red is awesome! Definitely a cool looking fish i think!

Has the orange back come out yet? I've been watching how everyone behaves and theres no issues. Once I knew where the radiant was hiding, I realized the solar kept an eye on the spot but they don't bother each other.

Yeah in the last few days the orange back has been making a definite stand. But there are five wrasses in tank with two very dominate males