Can I Add Juvenile Flasher Wrasses with Existing Male To Create a Harem? – 02/06/08
Hi,
<<Hello>>
I have had a male Paracheilinus octotaenia wrasse - eight lined fairy wrasse
<<Is actually considered a “Flasher” wrasse. Do see here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/paracheilinus.htm>>
- 3 1/2 inches - for 3 years -he's mostly been wonderful but sometimes seems a bit stressed.
<<Indeed, these wrasses do much better in haremic groupings. Frankly, I’m surprised this one has survived on its own for three years>>
I've been thinking of getting him some females for a while.
<<A good move>>
I also have a Foxface rabbit, 2 percula clowns, 2 blue-green chromis, 1 black cap basslet, 1 mandarin dragonet, 1 kole tang and 1 navarchus angel. I have a 110 gal reef tank with a 30 gal sump/refugium; it is designed with plenty of swim room and caves.
<<Mmm, I see… Though pretty much “filled-up,” I think a couple female P. octotaenia would still be a good addition>>
Here's my question: I would like to add 2 female wrasses for my male. It is difficult to find these fish
<<Likely due to their geographic distribution (Western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea)>>
but I just saw 2 juveniles (2 inches) available!
<<Excellent!>>
I've been reading about adding and I've seen very different advice....
1) Take my wrasse out and add them all together (... but there is no way I can catch him!)
<<Not necessary, in “my” opinion>>
2) Add larger wrasses (my male is pretty big...I've never seen females for sale that are larger)
<<Indeed…not plausible/possible in this instance. And again in my opinion, it’s best to introduce smaller “subordinate” individuals anyway>>
3) It should be fine...
<<Well, I guess that depends on your definition of “fine.” There will be some initial posturing by the male…as well as some “herding around” just to show the newcomers who is boss (and not gently)…but yes, things will settle down after a bit and all should be “fine.” On a very positive note…the addition of the females should result in improved social interaction/health/vigor/color of this male>>
Etc, etc.
So, after reading and reading some more, I am confused and coming to you...
<<For more opinions? [grin] >>
Would you recommend adding 2 juveniles, planning that they will grow into females, into this tank with my male to make his harem?
<<I would… And just to note, these fish are protogynous hermaphrodites…they all “start out” as females>>
…or do you think that it is just too risky?
<<Not at all>>
Thank you very much for your time and expertise,
Beverly Ash
<<I hope this proves helpful. Eric Russell>>

Flasher Wrasse Stocking Question... Too Many Wrasses 12/05/2007
Good Evening,
<Good evening Jonathan, Mich here.>
After reading all of the information about the Flasher wrasse(*Paracheilinus)* species I am left looking for an opinion for stocking my specific tank. I have a 28 gallon Nano-cube (if you are not familiar with the line there is roughly 25g of swimming space with another 3 gals partitioned in the back for filtration and skimming. My tank has been cycled for almost 4 weeks and I just added a small mushroom colony and Zoa colony over the last week. These are already starting to grow larger. The tank also contains 3 species of snail (about 24 total),
<Hopefully 3 species with different diets. other wise I'd worry about starvation.>
a dozen hermits,
<Not a fan.>
and a pair of cleaner shrimp.
<Like these!>
In a few more weeks I will be ready for fish (assuming my tests stay good) and I have been very excited about stocking this tank with Flasher wrasses since before I even purchased the tank.
<The plural form you use here concerns me.>
Your site has provided the most amount of info from the web that I have been able to find to date, so thank-you very much for that!
<There is much here. I'm glad you have found it helpful!>
Now for the actual question:
<OK!>
Will 25gal be sufficient to stock this tank with a trio of *P. mccoskeri *(1 male, 2 female)?
<I would not do this. Generally this should not be done in a tank of less than 100 gallons.>
If not would the *P. attenuatus* be a better choice?
<No, your tank is much too small to house three wrasses. It is questionable if it is big enough for just one.>
Long term the plan is to also have a clown goby (haven't settled on a specific one yet)
<OK. But I would only recommend one wrasse and possibly this goby in a small setting.>
and possibly another interesting invert, along with several more corals.
<Need to be careful here with the potential for allelopathy.>
I appreciate your time and dedication to this "hobby"
<On behalf of Bob and the rest of the crew, we thank you for your kind words. Mich>
-Jonathan

Three questions (worms, wormfish, not-so-wormy wrasses)
Bob-
It's been over 2 years since I've picked your brain, so I'm going to indulge with 3 questions:
1) I just bought a "Trap-em" bristleworm trap for my nanoreef, b/c of my first ever infestation after 3 years. When I checked at midnight, it was full of worms; in the morning it was empty. Do you have any suggested mod.s to contain them?
<These are posted in FAQs files on WetWebMedia.com under Polychaete, Bristleworms...>
2) I can't find any info on the Curious Wormfish I put in my main tank except for the Fishbase info. It stays hidden under the crushed coral 90% of the time and seems to come out at night. No one picks on him.
<They do hide... generally more than this!>
3) Is it crucial that filament wrasses be kept in m/f pairs? I've got a small female that seems to be doing fine.
<Not crucial... males look, behave "better" in the presence of females... Bob Fenner>
Thanks,
Steve

I want the wrasse, but not the cyanide
>Hi to all,
>>Well HELLO Bry!  Fancy meetin' you here.  ;)
>I haven't asked any questions for a while as I have been busy redesigning my tank and getting it set up.  It has now been running for about 3-4 months this time around.  I have a 55 gal corner bow, 20 gal sump 15-20 X turnover rate, 60 lbs of liverock, 4" DSB, and quite a few snails, blue leg hermit crabs, tons of bristle worms, brittle stars and various pods.
>>I remember from your post on RDO.
>I decided on the list of fish to keep before I set up the tank, and conferred with several of you on different choices.
Here is the list that was decided on:
3 Carpenter Flasher Wrasses (2 female and 1 male)
2 PJ Cardinals
1 Fire Goby
1 Pearlscale Butterflyfish
1 Longnose Hawkfish
They were to be added in that order, with a minimum of a month quarantine.
>>Sounds pretty good to me.  But, I've become particular to Banggai cards, myself.
>Now for my problem.  The Carpenter Flasher Wrasses are hard to find.  
>>Oh yes they are!  But GORGEOUS.
>I have also heard a little bit of rumor that they are being caught with cyanide.  So, I am wondering,   
>1.. Have any of you heard of a company that has Carpenters that are guaranteed to not be caught with cyanide?
>2.. If not, is there any way to tell by looking at a live specimen if it was in fact captured using those means?  I have not read of any kind of test that can be done by the time the end user (me) receives the fish, but I was wondering what your thoughts on this are.
>>Well, IIRC, Budhaboy suggested going with Mary Middlebrook.  Matt Wandell, as well as NKT (sorry, don't know his real name) seem to know of where to find the "hard to find" fishes, and the only places I know of are wholesale ONLY. (Sea Dwelling Creatures would be the first place I'd look, but they will not sell to you, and I've seen them at Quality Marine as well.)  Have you Googled?  Now, let's see if we can sort out whether or not cyanide caught.  The issue is that the only test I know of requires the fish to be killed.  Beyond that, we look to point of origin: Paracheilinus carpenteri hails from the Indo-Pacific, so we could surmise that there's a good chance that, even if not actually caught with cyanide, they may have been exposed.  Check this link on http://www.fishbase.org (bookmark that!) http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=4843&genusname=Paracheilinus&speciesname=carpenteri
>3.. If I can't find this fish, could you suggest a replacement that would go good with the other fish in my list?  Thanks once again for your time and a great website.  Bryan Flanigan
>>Digging in my memory banks here, I recollect something called a "mystery wrasse" (our own JasonC has a very nice--and hard to come by--specimen), there are also picture wrasses, as well as other fairy wrasses.  If you go for Red Sea animals you'll be more certain to avoid the cyanide issue, as well as with Australian animals.  If you see that an animal hails from Indonesia or the Philippines, you might be concerned with cyanide exposure.  IIRC, it's not as widespread in Fiji or Bali, two other areas to consider.  I don't know if there's a wrasse site quite as dedicated as that Japanese goby site (that site is da bomb), but it's worth a Google, eh?  Do feel free to contact Mary at http://www.seacrop.com because even if she can't supply you with the fish, she knows at least as well as anyone I can think of what the chances are of being able to determine whether or not an animal's been exposed.  Talk to you soon!  Marina

Flasher Wrasses
Hi All,
<Tyler>
I am the new owner of a 55 gallon tank. I'm planning to make this into another reef tank. I absolutely love Flasher Wrasses. Would four (1 male, three females) be too much for a 55? If this sounds right, would I be at my maximum for fish? Thanks. 
<Mmm, I would try just a trio, one male... with lots of live rock... some other fishes might fit in... as long as they aren't too large, aggressive. Bob Fenner>

Re: Flasher Wrasses
Thanks for the quick response! After the tank is cycled, should I add one at a time, or should I add the females first, followed by the male later? 
<The second process is best. Bob Fenner>

Pass on The Wrasse? (Fairy Wrasse Selection)... a much better answer
Dear Bob (or crew),
<Scott F. your Crew Member today!>
I have been looking through the site for info on Carpenter Flasher wrasses, but some of my questions I did not find answers to.  I've been looking at one that is at one of my  local fish stores but they only have one fish, 1) Are they ok to be kept single?
<While they can be kept as solitary specimens, they are far happier and will behave more "naturally" (if there is such a thing in captivity!) when kept in smaller groups of one male to several females. You might see some of the "flashing" behaviors for which they are known. In my opinion, keeping more than one male in a smaller tank is not advised, however.>
2) What do they eat?
<They will generally eat meaty foods, such as Mysis shrimp, enriched brine shrimp (noticed I said "enriched"?), and some of the prepared "Formula" foods.>
I have a Trigger, Coral Beauty Angel, 2 Perculas, Orchid Dottyback, and a Spotted Hawkfish.  3) Will the wrasse be compatible? 
<Well, the fish can work in such a community setup, provided that your tank is large enough, plenty of hiding spaces provided, and if the Trigger doesn't harass him too much...>
And what I have read on the site makes me think that this is not an easy fish to keep.  4) Are its chances of surviving low enough to not try the fish? 
<Well, Fairy Wrasses run the gamut from quite hardy to very touchy. This fish, in my experience, seems to fall somewhere in between. If it was collected carefully, handled well along the chain of custody from reef to your LFS, and if the fish is quarantined and eating, your chances are excellent for success.>
Sorry for so many questions, but I was amazed by the fish when I saw it, but I don't buy anything without researching on your site
Thanks a lot. Mike
<We appreciate the confidence in our advice, Mike! However, do get some opinions from fellow hobbyists who have also kept the fish, and do consult the writings of authors such as Scott Michael and Rudy Kuiter, who have written extensively on this group of fishes over the years. Take all advice (even ours!) with a grain of thought, and make your decisions accordingly! Good luck! Regards, Scott F.>

- Fairy Wrasse and Clown Gobies -
Hey Bob
<Actually, JasonC today...>
You will not remember me but you answered many of my questions back when you were working with the now defunct flyingfishexpress.com folks. <Seems like a long time ago.> Thanks for all that info, it helped me a lot.
I'm putting together a new system, a basic reef with a RBT anemone and 2 Percs (had them for years) under MH lights. The tank is a 110 gal, 30 high, 48 long, 18 back to front with a massive skimmer (Euro-Reef CS8-2), 20 gal refugium with 6 inch DSB, 35 gal total in sump.   There will be 4 Maxi-jets hooked to a wave-maker/controller, and I have not decided on the size of the Maxi-jets.  There will be corals in the tank, however the focus is going to be on flasher and fairy wrasse.  
If I do my home work, and pick the wrasse for size and color to offset aggression, how many individuals could my system hold? <I wouldn't go nuts with fairy wrasses - even though they aren't typically aggressive fish, mixing more than two species in your tank might lead to trouble. You could do male/female pairs of each.> Also, are the various clown gobies (Gobiodon sp) able to live with fairy wrasse? <Sure.>
Thanks for the help!
Rich
<Cheers, J -- >

Flasher wrasses 8/14/05
Dear Crew,
<Michael>
I have always had an eye for flasher wrasse.  I love their color and shape.  I have a 55G peaceful FOWLR.  I want to get a mated pair.
<Mmm, no such thing really>
  I have seen Paracheilinus carpenteri in a local store and just stared at it for an hour.  That was the fish I planned to add to my tank, however after reading the article, Flasher Wrasses, the Genus on your site, I like the looks of Paracheilinus flavianalis and Paracheilinus rubricaudalis (what is their max size in an aquarium).
<A couple, three inches...>
  Which of these three species would be best to have in my tank, or are they about equal.
<The latter... much depends on previous care, capture, handling...>
  I don't see the latter two species in any local stores, so I'm thinking I may have to go with the Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse.  Do the colors vary between fish?
<Yes... considerably... take a look at the pix of fishbase.org, Google Images...>
The two that are shown in that article are not as pink and showy as the one I saw in the store.  Is this different fish from different seas, or do these fish change color as they mature?
<Both location, time, care...>
Thank you for any personal preference and insight into these fish you can provide!
Mike
<Keep good notes, please! Bob Fenner>