Fairy wrasse question
 

Will a fairy wrasse decimate the pod population in a tank? I have a 120 with a mandarin, I am assuming I shouldn't add a fairy wrasse but just want opinions and experiences about this.

Yup, fairy wrasses are pod eaters, ime. The blue sided fairy wrasse I had in my BB 120g for almost two years, before an unfortunate tank disaster, was almost 4" long. It was a strong swimmer, ate stuff off the rock, and slept cozied up in a hole in the LR.

i have 4 fairy wrasses in my tank and have never seen then hunt pods at all. they all eat flake, mysis, cyclopeze... i feed them 3 times a day and they are always hungry following me as i walk around the tank. i would think that if you keep them fairly well fed your pods are safe. they also are very peaceful and social fish.

A little different scenario but I have a 130 gal with a mandarin and a 6 line wrasse. They both eat pods, however the wrasse eats everything else too. They have been together for about 6 months and seem fine, so far so good. I do however have a lot of live rock, I'm sure many would say too much.

reply
 

You should be ok with both in a 120g. I had a manderin and a 6 line in a 54g and that didn't work, but if you have enough LR you should be able to support both if you feed the fairy frequently.

hes not asking about a sixline wrasse that hunt pods all day, hes asking about fairy wrasses.

I had a six line, it ate pods too. And my clown eats pods, he thinks he's a fairy wrasse.