Christmas (ornate) Wrasse Not Eating
Hi Bob/all,
I brought back a Christmas wrasse (I think it's an ornatissimus) from vacation in Hawaii last Saturday. It did ok on the plane, but looked like it was ready for more room when I put it into my aquarium. My blue (hippo) tang, currently king of the hill and eating like a horse, immediately started picking on it, causing it to bury itself in the gravel night and day.
<Normal and necessary for this fish to bury itself at night in the sand. Unusual to be buried during the day. Agreed, probably scared.>
I've since moved it to the sump, to be by himself.
<Doesn't sound like a good home unless your sump has a refugium, too.>
However, he hasn't eaten since I've brought him home. I've tried flake, frozen brine shrimp, and frozen shrimp. Do you think live brine shrimp would help?
<Perhaps as an appetite stimulant, but poor nutritionally. Maybe try some frozen bloodworms, too.>
Or, if one of these guys fails to start eating, he usually keeps failing and he's a goner?
<No quick reactions please.>
Thanks. I've enjoyed your website, definitely my favorite reference. Tim
<Good luck. -Steven Pro>

Halichoeres chrysus (yellow Coris wrasse)
We purchased a yellow Coris a little over a week ago and the LFS told us it was eating flake and frozen food.  So far we haven't been able to entice it to eat anything--we've tried frozen Mysis, krill, blood worms, daphnia, brine shrimp and formula 1 flake. No luck with anything.  It seems to be checking the rock and bottom for copepods etc but we doubt there is enough in the tank to sustain it.  Any suggestions?
<Live brine shrimp. Brine will not serve this fish's nutritional needs for a long period of time, but it will likely get him started feeding. Gradually wean him off the brine with some Mysis>  
We would catch it an return it to LFS but it hides in the sand at the bottom and, only comes out a few hours a day.  
<Are there other fishes bothering the Coris? He may be hiding from them or he may just be checking the place out. Sometimes it takes several days or a couple of weeks for fish to adjust to captivity and sadly...occasionally fish never adjust..>
Thanks for the help.
Karen
<My pleasure! David Dowless>

Yellow wrasse and flatworms 2/17/04
It has been a couple of weeks since  I got a yellow wrasse to take care of some flatworms. I am happy to say that I  can not find any flatworms anymore so either they're all eaten or they are in hiding.
<once in a while I'm right about some things <G>>
Anyhow, along with the flatworms, the wrasse has also eaten all the little white pods on the glass and rocks (and I had LOTS).
<heehee... yeah, they are funny that way. Most wrasses are this thorough on microcrustaceans>
How do I go about re-introducing pods into the tank without a refugium?
<there is no other way to sustain them with active predation in the tank. That's one of the reasons why refugiums are so very beneficial. I feel most every tank should have one>
I was told by my LFS that the wrasse shouldn't be able to eat ALL the pods.
<ridiculous>
Was wondering if perhaps I don't feed enough.
<nope... no worries. This wrasse and so many other fishes would have reduced the pods just the same (Pseudo's, mandarins, etc)>
Tank is 55G with also 2 ocellaris and 1 cleaner shrimp and snails/hermits. Feeding is 2-3 times a day alternating between Cyclop-eeze and Spirulina flakes (I think there's enough at each feeding because they stop eating even tho there's just a
little left). I also feed 2-3x/week some SF bay frozen food (the Marine cuisine blend). Is this feeding regime good enough for them?
Thanks.
<emphasize frozen foods like the Cyclop-eeze (and mysids, minced krill, fish roe, etc) rather than the brine shrimp based products (weakly nutritious at best). And do look into getting some of the internal refugium kits to help with pod growth. Anthony>