The Wrasse Lover's Thread!

[i cant think]

One reason I don’t get photos of my Vivian’s often… 1 of those was a success

And the Vivien and Mr Pinkstreak!

 

[Slocke]

 

[Cael Gallery]

Makes me wonder, how do sand sleeping wrasses breathe under there? It's not like their gills or anything poke out. And supposedly they can stay under the sand for up to a week?

 

[Slocke]

Makes me wonder, how do sand sleeping wrasses breathe under there? It's not like their gills or anything poke out. And supposedly they can stay under the sand for up to a week?

True. They can presumably pull enough oxygenated water through their gills.

Does make me wonder how they fare in tank crashes caused by low oxygen? Do they perish first as they struggle to pull oxygen from the water or do they require less oxygen due to the more sedentary sleeping behavior and thus survive longer?

Also how do they prevent sediment getting into their gills?

 

[Cael Gallery]

True. They can presumably pull enough oxygenated water through their gills.

Does make me wonder how they fare in tank crashes caused by low oxygen? Do they perish first as they struggle to pull oxygen from the water or do they require less oxygen due to the more sedentary sleeping behavior and thus survive longer?

Also how do they prevent sediment getting into their gills?

I've heard that wrasses are actually more sensitive to low oxygen and are the first to die in tank crashes. So that doesn't make a ton of sense either.

 

[Cael Gallery]

How are razorfish (Iniistius pavo) for aggresion? A supplier here has some cool, almost black ones with a very tall dorsal 'spike'. They're a bit pricy though and i can't find much info. I'm assuming they wouldn't tolerate a tusk or a dragon wrasse considering their similarities?

 

[i cant think]

True. They can presumably pull enough oxygenated water through their gills.

Does make me wonder how they fare in tank crashes caused by low oxygen? Do they perish first as they struggle to pull oxygen from the water or do they require less oxygen due to the more sedentary sleeping behavior and thus survive longer?

Also how do they prevent sediment getting into their gills?

I’ve had crashes of ammonia and oxygen loss occur and guess what, these guys live the longest!

The sandbed I assume is a low oxygenated environment and with that, I can only assume they have learnt the adaptation of survival in these environments. And thus they don’t require a ton of oxygen compared to other species.

Sediment in the gills is an interesting one that I also want to know more about because it’s not like they have a specially designed net covering the gills or atleast not one we can see easily.

 

[i cant think]

I've heard that wrasses are actually more sensitive to low oxygen and are the first to die in tank crashes. So that doesn't make a ton of sense either.

Fairies and flashers are often first to go in this scenario - it’s not often a Sand sleeper dies first in a crash.
If the sand sleepers die first I find it’s often something else with the crash (usually a disease like uronema or brook).

 

[i cant think]

Ive spotted my pencils like this in the sand, although not often as my sand bed is 2-3 inches so they all totally cover themselves going at least half an inch under.

I was so close to a 2 in one shot last night but it was just too fuzzy.

 

[Cael Gallery]

Saw some interesting behaviour with my P.guentheri tonight. It would change from it's normal colouration to a 'flashing' pattern, with some stripes. The camera doesn't show it but it also went more of a lavender blue than green colour. It would swim to this same gap in the rocks, rest on it's ventral fins and sort of puff out it's gill while also occasionally striking. I'm not sure why it does this, it can't be the reflection as i was standing right in front of it and it didn't do it anywhere else in the tank. It still hasn't bothered any other fish. It was also quite late (11pm) when all the other wrasses had gone to sleep, so maybe it was just needed some sleep? I did turn the lights off after this.

Something i've noticed about this species is they never stop moving, like Thalassoma, but unlike them they swim rather more slowly with occasional random bursts of speed in a random direction. The swimming style reminds me a lot of harlequin tusks.

 

[Slocke]

Saw some interesting behaviour with my P.guentheri tonight. It would change from it's normal colouration to a 'flashing' pattern, with some stripes. The camera doesn't show it but it also went more of a lavender blue than green colour. It would swim to this same gap in the rocks, rest on it's ventral fins and sort of puff out it's gill while also occasionally striking. I'm not sure why it does this, it can't be the reflection as i was standing right in front of it and it didn't do it anywhere else in the tank. It still hasn't bothered any other fish. It was also quite late (11pm) when all the other wrasses had gone to sleep, so maybe it was just needed some sleep? I did turn the lights off after this.

Something i've noticed about this species is they never stop moving, like Thalassoma, but unlike them they swim rather more slowly with occasional random bursts of speed in a random direction. The swimming style reminds me a lot of harlequin tusks.

There was a bit of aggression from the other fish there and it looks to me like it was doing a bit of a “don’t mess with me” dance. I see similar when my fish first meet my eels

 

[Arkayology]

The exquisite wrasse is coloring up nicely

 

[i cant think]

The exquisite wrasse is coloring up nicely

I am so jealous of that photo and how clean it is

 

[Arkayology]

I am so jealous of that photo and how clean it is

Thanks! It was taken with my Canon T2i with a 60mm lens. It's an older camera, but it works OK. I'm a novice with it though.

 

[Cael Gallery]

There was a bit of aggression from the other fish there and it looks to me like it was doing a bit of a “don’t mess with me” dance. I see similar when my fish first meet my eels

Ah true, i didn’t even notice the stripey. That’s weird. He hasn’t bothered anyone but he always follows my declivis around very closely. I think he’s trying to school with him or something.

 

[tbrown]

Makes me wonder, how do sand sleeping wrasses breathe under there? It's not like their gills or anything poke out. And supposedly they can stay under the sand for up to a week?

I've had one stay under for 3 weeks.

 

[Cael Gallery]

Guentheri's aggression seems to be finally setting in. It chased the blunthead to the point where it was burying itself under sand, under rocks. Haven't seen it since. It sometimes chases the large yellow tail tamarin a short distance too, but nothing too bad. The thalassoma is definitely taking the brunt of the aggression. It completely ignores the wrasses that are smaller than it, the new guinea and melanurus.