Disposition of lubbock's wrasse?

[Delphinus]

I have a single Cirrhilabrus lubbocki in a 90g, fish tankmates are a pair of A. ocellaris.

The wrasse is an absolute nervous wreck. If there is any movement whatsoever within 6' of the tank, he goes and hides in the rock.

I have, and have had, other fairy wrasses and their personalities have not been this bad. I know to an extent these are nervous fish in general (and tend to be jumpers), so this could just be a moot question, but .... I'll ask anyhow:

I guess I'm just wondering, could C. lubbocki simply just be a shyer fish than other fairy wrasses? Or is the fact that he is a single fish in a tank, most by himself, contributing to this? Would the addition of other lubbock's help or hinder this?

The reason I ask is I also have a pair of C. cyanopleura in a different tank, and the difference in personalities is remarkably striking. I understand that at the best of times, personality can be hit and miss but I mean the difference is quite striking. The cyanopleuras will come to the front and top of the tank whenever someone walks by, eager for any scrap of food to be put in the tank. To feed the lubbock's, I have to put food in the tank, and quickly retreat to the minimum distance, otherwise he won't even eat.

To continue the comparison, I've had the lubbock's since December, and the cyanopleuras since January or February. Of course the cyanopleuras were also quite shy and nervous at first, but they have settled in over time. They can of course startle easily too, but it's not as bad as the lubbock's.

So I guess are these guys just different on account of general behaviours of the species, or is it that they're paired up that the behaviour tends to be a little different?

[Willow]

i have a lubbocks in with 2 other fairy wrasses and he is usually front and center for attention and food. he regularly displays himself and isn't one to hid much until it's bedtime, infact until i got the other fairys he crusised around all day with my clown. i wonder if you just got a scaredy cat? ive actually heard that lubbocks will school if you get enough of them together.

i just picked up what im thinking maybe a female lubbucks yesterday, she won't come out of the rocks for any reason unless it's for some cyclopeze, then it's a dine and dash.

btw my tank is also a 90 with lots of rockwork.

[trilinearmipmap]

I don't know if the concept of dither fish would apply here, in FW it is common to use a group of small non-shy fish to encourage another fish out of hiding. If the wrasse sees smaller fish out in the open swimming around maybe he will figure it is safe to come out.

[Delphinus]

Dither fish, yes, perhaps that what would help (or another, but less shy, lubbock's). I would have prefered to buy a pair but only one was available at the time, haven't seen any others since then (not that I've been looking particularly hard).

Willow can you tell any discernable clues to identify male vs female with the lubbock's? How large is your male? Your female sounds like mine, I wonder if it's a male/female thing to be shy or bold?

Although by herself/himself for so long now (5 months) I would wonder if it's turned into a male by now?

Guess I just have a 'fraidy cat ...

[Beverly]

Tony,

I would put a few more fish in with it, ones that you want in there, of course. I suspect that by itself it feels easily threatened.

Male fairy wrasses are also brightly coloured compared to females. Here are pics of what appear to be a male lubbockis. Look anything like yours?

http://www.themarinecenter.com/wrasselubbocki.htm

http://store1.yimg.com/I/marinedepotlive_1845_4229196

[Delphinus]

Not really, although .. kind of? Mine has more colour in it. Peach colour, yellow, orange, purple.. a very pretty fish in fact. I'd post a picture of him (her?) but I can't anywhere near him (her?) with a camera.

[Beverly]

If your fish has more colour than those in the pics, I would suggest it is male.

[Delphinus]

Meant to say "has more colours" (subtle difference). The vibrancy of the colours is, I understand, something one can use to make a guess, but without a clear case of both onhand it's hard to know what to look for.

Nevertheless, this fish has been on its own for 5 months unchallenged, would that not make the likelihood of being male that much greater?

But then .. the fish is only 2.5" long.. if they don't reach sexual maturity until a larger size, then maybe heshe's simply not there yet?

[Willow]

my what i think is my female is a red/pink colour. it's pretty sketchy trying to id some of these wrasses as there as so damn many counting all the variations. my male is about 2 and a half inches long.

you really need to ask james about fairy wrasses as he seems pretty knowledgeable about them. he is also bringing a ton of different varieties of them into oa now.