Need a wrasse or a couple wrasses to team up with Green Coris

[Brit’s Fish]

I want suggestions for a wrasse or two or even another type of fish who might distract my other fish from constantly beating up on my Green Coris wrasse. Maybe another fish or two that are constantly out swimming around?
My Green Coris is about 3 1/2” right now and a bunch of the other fish will chase him or nip at him. He’s in my 180g DT reef tank currently. I could move him to one of my other tanks but I’d rather not.

Other fish:
8” gold spotted rabbitfish
4” blue hippo tang
3 1/2” bristletooth tang
4” Hawaiian yellow tang
5” sailfin tang
Pair of breeding Spotcinctus clowns - female is 5”, male is a tiny bit smaller than her
Breeding pair of Banggai cardinals
3 Talbots damsels

I’m not looking to add too many more fish but the bristletooth tang, hippo tang and clowns are the ones I mainly see going after him. He’s not even bothering them and typically starts swimming away as soon as he sees them. Occasionally, he’ll put up a bit of a fight.

Tank is about 6 months old after moving it from my nephew’s house where it was set up for a little over 4 years. The tangs & rabbitfish have all been together for most of that time. The rest of the fish except the damsels came from other small tanks that I shut down over the last few months.

 

[fishguy242]

@Slocke ?

 

[Slocke]

I don't know if adding wrasse will help the problem or make it worse. Halichoeres chloropterus isn't actually a Coris wrasse so I usually call it a green wrasse or jade wrasse. It is generally a fairly large and aggressive Halichoeres wrasse. The only common equivalent to it is the checkerboard wrasse, Halichoeres hortulanus.


Other wrasse who wont get bullied come with an appetite for inverts. Do you have any?

 

[Tcook]

Going to be tough with those clowns.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

I don't know if adding wrasse will help the problem or make it worse. Halichoeres chloropterus isn't actually a Coris wrasse so I usually call it a green wrasse or jade wrasse. It is generally a fairly large and aggressive Halichoeres wrasse. The only common equivalent to it is the checkerboard wrasse, Halichoeres hortulanus.


Other wrasse who wont get bullied come with an appetite for inverts. Do you have any?

Thank you! I should probably call him a green or jade wrasse instead. I’m aware of his potential to become aggressive as he gets bigger (I keep telling his bullies that they’re going to regret their choices when he gets bigger lol) and honestly, I have always wanted a checkerboard wrasse too. They are just so cool. Maybe that’s an option?

I do have some cleaner shrimp and peppermint shrimp at the moment but they can easily be moved to another one of my tanks. Other than that, I have some hermits and snails of all types (nassarius, cerith, Trochus, 2 huge & old zebra turbos), a pincushion urchin and a large serpent star. I’m not too worried about those guys other than the shrimp of course.
The only thing I’m not interested in is something like a Dragon or Red Coris who is going to go as far as flipping rocks to get to food.

The tang gang could also be split up for a better end result as I have 2 other 120g DTs. A purple tang has already been banished to one of the other systems for being a jerk.

Going to be tough with those clowns.

I know… they’re very deceiving as babies! They remind me of Panther Groupers… so adorable as babies and then they turn into giant monsters. I have to admit, these are clowns that I relied on the advice of the LFS for and they said they would be just like any other Ocellaris in size and temperament. That was when I was still pretty new to this hobby. They are not aggressive to me at all but now that they’re actively breeding, things are changing of course. I’m not opposed to rehoming them. They’d actually be awesome in an aggressive tank.

 

[Slocke]

A checkerboard may work.
You could try a smaller Thalssoma like a Cortez/rainbow wrasse, Thalassoma lucasanum or bluehead, Thalassoma bifasciatum.
A smaller hogfish like Bodianus anthoides or a tuskfish of the Choerodon genus.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

A checkerboard may work.
You could try a smaller Thalssoma like a Cortez/rainbow wrasse, Thalassoma lucasanum or bluehead, Thalassoma bifasciatum.
A smaller hogfish like Bodianus anthoides or a tuskfish of the Choerodon genus.

Thank you so much! Exactly what I was looking for & they’re all really interesting fish, to me. I actually love Bluehead wrasses after seeing a ton of them on the reef in Jamaica, so that’s a really fun idea! Lyretail hogfish are also so cool and Harlequin Tusks are such incredible fish but it had not occurred to me. I stare at them any time I see one in a store… their colors are gorgeous.
Thank you again! Off to do more research on these babies!

 

[Slocke]

Thank you so much! Exactly what I was looking for & they’re all really interesting fish, to me. I actually love Bluehead wrasses after seeing a ton of them on the reef in Jamaica, so that’s a really fun idea! Lyretail hogfish are also so cool and Harlequin Tusks are such incredible fish but it had not occurred to me. I stare at them any time I see one in a store… their colors are gorgeous.
Thank you again! Off to do more research on these babies!

Oh
I forgot a bird wrasse

 

[Cael Gallery]

My suggestions would also be something like a Bodianus or Thalassoma species (my B.rufus never bothered anyone and everyone left him alone too) but they will definitely eat shrimp. My personal favourite is something like T.quinquevittatum. I've just added a 4" female to my 200g. It's stunning, extremely active and fast enough to avoid any aggression from my angels and tangs. Tuskfish are also pretty good. Bird wrasse are good, i have a female, it's very active but aren't as tough as the other wrasse i listed and can get bullied easier.