Let Me ID Your Wrasse!

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matty0206

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Wrasse ID and question.

I bought this wrasse a few days ago after watching it in the LFS for about a month and am wondering if the id as a McCoskers is correct? From what I have found on line it looks to be a McCoskers and I believe a female but wanted to get some opinions. If it is in fact a female McCoskers I would like to introduce a male into the tank but not sure how I would go about that and if it's a good idea. Here are a few crappy pics:






Thanks.
 

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Hard to tell without dorsal fin extended, but it looks like a juvi male McCoskers fairy wrasse to me. Good looking fish.
 
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As stated on RC, it's either a McCosker's or a Yellow-fin (since you said it has one dorsal filament).

If the anal fin is red on the outer half -> McCoskers

If the anal fin is all yellow -> Yellow-fin

Regardless, it is a young male. In which case, you do NOT want to add another male of the same species. You could however add females of the same species, but females of any Paracheilinus species are hard to come by.
 
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matty0206

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As stated on RC, it's either a McCosker's or a Yellow-fin (since you said it has one dorsal filament).

If the anal fin is red on the outer half -> McCoskers

If the anal fin is all yellow -> Yellow-fin

Regardless, it is a young male. In which case, you do NOT want to add another male of the same species. You could however add females of the same species, but females of any Paracheilinus species are hard to come by.

Thank you, I figured I would post this both places to cover all bases. I am sure that the anal fin is red and there is one filament so McCoskers it is. I'm glad I asked now that I know it is a male, I will keep my eye out for a verified female. I see LA offers them but they are out of stock. If I can find a female do the pair easily or is there any tricks to that?
 
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Thank you, I figured I would post this both places to cover all bases. I am sure that the anal fin is red and there is one filament so McCoskers it is. I'm glad I asked now that I know it is a male, I will keep my eye out for a verified female. I see LA offers them but they are out of stock. If I can find a female do the pair easily or is there any tricks to that?
No worries.
Wrasses don't really "pair"; it's all about dominance and submission. But no, there's no "trick" per se; it's a male asserting his dominance over females.
 

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Cool looking wrasse! You should check out the Hawaiian Flame Wrasse they are beautiful especially the super males!
 

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I ordered a few wrasses from a nonsponsored online vendor that has strange customer service. In the order was a potters wrasse, this is what showed up gasping for air

ImageUploadedByReef2Reef Aquarium Forum1381420073.882620.jpg


I don't think it's a potters wrasse, from my preliminary searches using live aquaria it seems to be a female/juvenile divided leopard wrasse. Please confirm.

They also sent me this instead of a yellow tail tamarin wrasse but this is my favorite wrasse so I'll take it,

ImageUploadedByReef2Reef Aquarium Forum1381420267.911746.jpg


Pretty sure its a radiant wrasse. It's in bad shape upside down in the bag so I'm keeping it in my frag tank for a few hours. Frag tank is sand less so if it perks up a little (uprights itself and stays upright) it will immediately be going in the display. I know I know, no quarantine but I've had better success not quarantining wrasses, especially the diggers. They seem to do better in a mature system that they can pick at the rocks and due to space I only setup a quarantine temporarily with used water from my display, this doesn't work well for digging wrasses in my experience. I already have one radiant wrasse though, will there be problems with two assuming this one survives. This one is actually pretty big, about three inches and the one I already have is a little longer and a lot fatter, but not much longer. I have no idea of either one is a male or female.
 
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Yes, the first fish is M. bipartitus (not geoffroy).

The second appears to be H. iridis (radiant), but that top down makes it hard to tell.

Male/Female difference is subtle. Males have bolder colors, especially in the dorsal and caudal fins (which also have more distinct patterns).
 

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Yes, the first fish is M. bipartitus (not geoffroy).

The second appears to be H. iridis (radiant), but that top down makes it hard to tell.

Male/Female difference is subtle. Males have bolder colors, especially in the dorsal and caudal fins (which also have more distinct patterns).

Can I put that other radiant in with the first one? He seems to be doing a lot better on the corner of the frag tank. This one looks a little different then the one I have, it seems to be more red than maroon and the head doesn't have the green lines. The one in my display has more "stout" appearance than this other one. It's not even close to a yellow tail tamarin, I have no idea how they got those two mixed up. The leopard went straight into the sand I haven't seen it since.
 
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It sounds like you might already have a male and this one is a female. You can certainly try it, but you might get disappointing results (or it could work just fine). I would wait at least a day, however. Give that new guy some time to destress.
 

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Can someone tell me what this guy is? It was listed as just a "wrasse" in the LFS store. It is still getting more color and is so so happy now. In their tank it was just about brown and hovered in one corner of the tank. Since in mine, it swims like no other and will eat like a pig. I feed it LRS Reef Frenzy, along with the other tank mates.

Its a reddish color and has a whip fin. When extended, there is blue on the base of the fin as well as its tail. It also has blue on its tail and hints of the same color around its head and belly. It also has some yellow on the fins as well.

yqe9ypa8.jpg
 
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It's certainly a Paracheilinus (flasher) wrasse.

Without a clear photo of the fins extended, I cannot be certain on an ID, but from what I can see it appears to be a Paracheilinus filamentosus.

(moved your post to the ID thread, in case you were confused. :) )
 
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_Alex_

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Sorry best I could do with my iPhone and a swimming fish lol. Bought as a red wrasse lol

Really is pretty good description lol probably 3" nose to tail, does not borrow in the sand that I have seen. But was in a bare bottom for a year and now in a tank with sand.

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-Alex-
 
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