Lunare Wrasse (Thalassoma lunare) questions...

[rageybug]

My wife picked up a new fish the other day and decided to put it in the tank to surprise me. She saw the wrasse in the LFS and thought it would look nice in our reef tank. She put it in three days ago and I have not seen any of our hermits since. Is this guy a hermit muncher? I did look for some info but all I can find is that it is not reef safe, but no specific reason why. Any idea why it is not considered "reef safe"?

Any sudjestions on how to get a 3" wrasse out of a reef?

I can't believe the LFS sold her this fish knowing our only SW tank is a reef. In my wife's defence, she is pretty new at SW and did not think before she bought...

[rageybug]

*** UPDATE ***

The hermits just showed up. Our yellow watchman goby dissapeared a few days ago (it was pretty old) so I imagine the hermits were just doing a little "clean up"!

[kaybee]

Not reef safe in the sense that it may attempt to eat invertebrates which are often stocked in reef tanks (crustaceans, mollusks, etc). Should be okay with corals. Hermit crabs should be fine as long as they stay within their shells.

That 3" lunare wrasse will grow to be a 10" specimen (at which point they're capable of eating small fish).

edit: if you haven't noticed by now, Thalassoma sp. wrasses have insatiable appetites combined with the proficient ability to acquire it. So with what you have in your tank I wouldn't be surprised if it eats 75% of the food you feed to your fish (the remaining 25% will be what your other fish will get).

[rageybug]

Yes, this fish can EAT!!! OMG it just inhales everything I put into the tank. So far I've only tried flakes and a frozen mix and it goes to town on it. I feed the tank several times a day so I can ensure everyone gets enough to eat. I am not looking forward to this fish reaching full size... argh...

My two damsels are not afraid of the larger wrasse and eat right along side of him!

We will be doing some major tank changes in the next year or two, including the tear down of our existing 70g reef. I guess I will relocate the wrasse when we do that.

Do you think my shrimp are going to make it with the wrasse? We have a very large coral banded and the biggest peppermint I've ever seen.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I would expect the Coral Banded to be ok as they can be ill tempered themselves, mine fends off a full grown Solar Wrasse. The Peppermint would be one I'd be concerned about, it's hard to say. One other thing I don't think has been mentioned, don't get too attached to any tube worms or feather dusters you may have, the wrasse could very well chow down on them. They are a beautiful fish for sure, I can definitely understand your wife's intentions. :)

[rageybug]

We lost our only feather duster a while ago so I'm not concerned. I believe it got overrun by my glass anemone problem.... but I guess that will have to wait for my next thread...

[rageybug]

I wish she bought the 6-line wrasse from the LFS instead... and it was $5 cheaper!

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

LOL, now there's a great fish. If you can ever find a Solar Wrasse, I highly recommend them as well. I was planning on a Sixline for my tank until I saw the Solar. Wonderful fish and a great reef inhabitant.

[rageybug]

We had a 6-line about a year ago but I found it belly up on the carpet. They aren't kidding when they say 6-line wrasses can jump....

I love how they can move their eyes independantly like a chameleon.









My spelling sucks today...

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

That is rather interesting. Lawnmower Blennies do the same thing. I have a picture of my Lawnmower looking forward with one eye and backward with the other, it is really kind of creepy. LOL

[rageybug]

Maybe he was drunk.... I look the same way after a long night at the bottle.

[cocoa_pleco]

ive had a fullgrown lunar for over a year now. he likes coming over to see me and hes playful, but the only invert ive ever been able to keep him with was a coral banded shrimp. hes killed alot of snails, crabs, a tridacna clam, and other stuff.

[rageybug]

So far it would appear all of my inverts are still alive. Even my peppermint shrimp is running around still!

[labnjab]

Thats good news. Maybe he'll be a keeper

I was worried about my hawkfish eating some of my inverts when I added it, but so far so good. The one thing he did do was killed a firefish shortly after adding it

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Nice. Sometimes you can get away with combos like that if the shrimp is added first. I know with Niger Triggers they recommend adding the Shrimp first if you are going to attempt the combo, maybe it will work the same way with the wrasse. Anyway, I hope your luck continues, I'm really interested to see how this combo works long term.

[rageybug]

We sold our Niger Trigger several months ago. That thing would eat just about anything that moved. Shrimp in our FOWLR tank would have been nothing but an expensive snack!