Dragon Wrasse

fishoholic · #1 03-10-2010, 02:32 PM

Just wondering if anyone on here as ever kept a dragon wrasse in their tank.

Mostly wondering about how aggressive they really are, how much more likely are they to jump from a tank compared to other wrasses, and do they really move around/knock over large pieces of rock?

noirsphynx · #2 03-10-2010, 03:37 PM

Haha, Laurie are you thinking of adding "one more fish" perhaps the one we saw on Sunday

monocus · #3 03-10-2010, 03:46 PM

i just gave my dragon wrasse to j&l last week(my harliquin tusk was terrorizing it)-it was fairly peaceful,except to snails and shrimp-but it was surprising what it could lift.as long as your rock weighs at least 5 lbs. it's ok-but it did tear off some small coral for its nesting area(branch hammer stuck on with reef epoxy).it usually burried itself in the sand at around 5 pm for the night

fkshiu · #4 03-10-2010, 04:11 PM

Dragon wrasses change appearance quite dramatically when they reach adulthood (and not for the better in most people's opinion). They also get stronger obviously and more ornery and are therefore more likely to cause chaos. I've got an old Marine Aquarist magazine somewhere that has an excellent dragon wrasse article. I'll see if I can dig it up.

Zoaelite · #5 03-10-2010, 05:11 PM

I would stay away from them If I were you, I had a similar species (The Red Corris) and every day I would come home to all of my corals and all of my frags flipped over. If you think catching an open water swimmer is hard try catching something that likes to hide in your sand (After 2 hours I finally caught mine in a 50g tank). Beautiful species but its called a Rock Moving wrasse for a reason.
Levi

viperfish · #6 03-10-2010, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoaElite

I would stay away from them If I were you, I had a similar species (The Red Corris) and every day I would come home to all of my corals and all of my frags flipped over. If you think catching an open water swimmer is hard try catching something that likes to hide in your sand (After 2 hours I finally caught mine in a 50g tank). Beautiful species but its called a Rock Moving wrasse for a reason.
Levi

I know exactly what you mean. When I removed my Formosa Coris, I pulled every rock out of the tank and still couldn't find it.

fishoholic · #7 03-10-2010, 07:36 PM

I should mention it would be going into an open top 230g FOWLR tank that has a very aggressive lunare wrasse and a large miniatus grouper. My thoughts are that the dragon wrasse would be aggressive enough to hold it's own against my other fish. The rocks are pretty large in that tank so I guess I should be ok and there are no frags or corals for him to turn over. I also know that they change as they get older but I still like how they look.

Yes Dawn, I am thinking about the one we saw on Sat. that dragon wrasse has been there for over a month (almost 2 months I think) and he has a cool personallity at the store.

fishoholic · #8 03-10-2010, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fkshiu

Dragon wrasses change appearance quite dramatically when they reach adulthood (and not for the better in most people's opinion). They also get stronger obviously and more ornery and are therefore more likely to cause chaos. I've got an old Marine Aquarist magazine somewhere that has an excellent dragon wrasse article. I'll see if I can dig it up.

If you could find that article that would be great.

#9 03-10-2010, 09:59 PM

goggle them Articles I have read say when juvenile they are peaceful and shy but when they mature they are known as rock movers. they will eat all shrimp and snails they can catch their jaws most be very powerful. They will redecorate your tank moving corals where they want them. they will also kill and eat smaller fish. I looked at one a while back and decided no not for my tank after reading quite a bit on them.

Bill

fishoholic · #10 03-10-2010, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bvlester

goggle them Articles I have read say when juvenile they are peaceful and shy but when they mature they are known as rock movers. they will eat all shrimp and snails they can catch their jaws most be very powerful. They will redecorate your tank moving corals where they want them. they will also kill and eat smaller fish. I looked at one a while back and decided no not for my tank after reading quite a bit on them.

Bill

I did read all that, I was wondering what peoples personal expirences with them were/are.

I have a FOWLR tank with very aggressive fish in it. My main concern is if he'll be aggressive enough to hold his own against my other fish. I don't want my grouper or lunare wrasse to kill him or chase him out of the tank. There are no corals or inverts in that tank and the LR in it is fairly large pieces, my 8 inch grouper hasn't knocked them over with all his digging, so they seem fairly secure as well.