help chosing between anthias and/or wrasses

[salt newbie01]

I have a 75 tank which currently has a large but nice maroon gold strip clwon and a small male hosting in a large (18") green bubble tip. Also there is one lonely green chromis. And that's it!!! I want to add some more life to the tank. I don't keep a lot of coral in the tank due to space. that green bubblke takes up a third of the tank!! I also have a torch that tenticles have approx a 10inch reach on them. With these 2 I have to be carefull what corals I add because they will get stung. I have some various zoas and an enchinata piece. I am mainly looking for some open water swimmers. I was thinking maybe a male lyre-tail anthias and maybe some wrasses - on the wrasses I don't know whether to get all males or decide on one species and get one male with several females. Do you all think the combo of an anthias and several wrasses would work or am I asking for trouble?? If the later maybe you could give me some suggestions.

Thanks in advance

 

[jandlms]

I am not an expert on either group, but I believe that many Anthias require a steady supply of food to survive. If you aren't willing to put the time in with multiple feedings you may want to go with Wrasses. Also, your name implies a certain newness to the hobby. If so, MAYBE the Anthias are something to try after you gain some more experience. I think they are great fish but wouldn't want you to shut down the hobby because of a bad experience with a challenging group of fish.

 

[salt newbie01]

Thanks for the response - I am aware of the feeding requirments - I have a stay at home wife who can help with a feeding or 2 during the day. I am more concerned with compatability with each other and tank size. Like will a single anthias get along with several diff male wrasses or a male with a harem?? Any one know how these species would get along??

Also the name just stuck ( hate to change + I have zero creativity with names!! )- I have kept my reef tanks for approx 2 years and had about 15 years experience with freshwater. guess I will have to come up with something though...

 

[twon8]

i think you might have a problem with the maroon, they are very mean. wrasses and anthias should get along as long as the anthias are introduced first.

 

[salt newbie01]

Well I'm glad to hear the anthias and the wrasses should get along. With a 75 gallon tank if I add 1 male anthias then how many wrasses could I safely add? Would it be better to get several males of diff. types or should I just get one type and get one male with several females? Is there one type of reef safe wrasse anyone would recommend due to personality, beauty or ease?? Thanks for the help!

Believe it or not my maroon is actually not as bad as some. She is fine so long as new fish don't get to close to her anemone. Even then I have not seen hr actively chase the fish away - and has never pestered another fish. I don't think she will be a problem. She is NOT the typical gold stripe maroon. Thank goodness!!

 

[cee]

I have 2 unrelated anthias (lyretail and purple queen) and 4 wrasses (marble, fairy Lubbocks, fairy lineatus, and fairy rhomboid). They've been together about 1 year, and no problems with compatability. They do have occasional spats, but no damage done and over in a second or two. I only feed 1X per day.

 

[salt newbie01]

Cool! thanks Dave - I totally forgot about your combo's! You have some beautiful fish.

 

[MarvinsReef]

paired Lineatus fairy or paired Hooded fairy or paired HI Flame fairy wrasses would be awesome for color and movement in the tank..

 

[salt newbie01]

Sounds very pretty Marvin but also VERY expensive!! I have seen pics of the lineatus - but haven't searched for the others yet. They are soo pretty - I would like to have a several diff species in one tank - but I just don't think my tank is big enough!

I am leaning towards the carpenter's, filamented or the McCoskers Flasher wrasse to get me started with wrasses. Does anyone have any experiance with these particular species? I have read on diff sites that some of them like to bury in the sand if stressed, has anyone observed this behavior? I think I would like to get 3 - one male and 2 females - anyone see any problems with that??

 

[salt newbie01]

could some one fill me in on what the big diff between a flasher and a fairy wrasse? Is it just physical or is it about their care and what they need as well.

Thanks

 

[detguy123]

fairy and flashers have the same care..need a top on the tank feeding is the same..the only real aggressive flasher that i have had was the eightline flasher out of the red sea..he was mean. and did not like any fairy that it was in the tank with..fairys and flasher wrasses do not need sand they hide out in the rocks to sleep...the three that you want are really nice flashers my favorite is the line-spot flasher..p. lineopunctatus..they are hard to find sometimes but are around the same price as the other three that you are looking for

 

[detguy123]

here are a few pics of the linespot flasher i was talking about
pics of him in the specimen cup

pics of him flashing

here are a few pics of my carpenters that i had..pretty fish but they seem to come in kinda rough sometimes

 

[salt newbie01]

Thanks for the info. The main diff I see in them seems to be size. It looks to me like the flashers are smaller. At least in most of the pics I have seen. Your right that line spot is beautiful!! So many great wrasses so little water space!!LOL. Great pics by the way. Did you have him with females??

 

[detguy123]

no females..i tired to get a couple and i could not tell if they were carpenters or line-spots they look like each other..but the male killed all three females..and yes flashers do stay smaller for the most part..but there are fairys that stay small too like the lubbocks,yellowfin, koi, social, red velvets..they all stay around 3"

 

[salt newbie01]

It sucks that they look so alike when little. That is the one thing I hate - I have a LFS that gets really healthy fish and has told me he will special order whatever I want. But I am afraid that I will ask him to order me a trio of line spot flashers and will wind up with a male yellow fin and female carpenters!! I wish it was easier to tell them apart. There are lots of pics of the fish as adults but most of those are of males. It would be nice to see a group of photos of juvi wrasse's of the diff species and of some of the females.

thanks again for the info and help