I picked up a 2 Bluestar Leopard last week. Both were eating at the store before I got them. Brought them home acclimated and threw into my 24g JBJ cube that I am using for QT. There is plenty of sand for the fish wrasses to hide in. The first one I put in went straight into the sand and has been there all week. The other has been coming out daily most of the day and eating no issues. I did move comb the sand around 3 days ago to see if that other wrasse was still alive. Sure enough found her but she hurried back into the sand. Will she come out eventually or waste away in the sand? There was no aggression from the other wrasse and they were both in the same tank when purchased. Any thoughts or ideas?
Leopard Wrasse QT
- Thread starter Dipan Desai
- Start date
Yes, just leave her alone. Ive had wrasse hide in the sand over a week before.
Ok cool. She was fat and healthy when I got her so I know that buys me some time.
She might be hiding because of the other. That’s a tiny tank for 2 blue stars. If both are female you have a chance but both will most likely turn male and you will only have one. They should be kept a single
Both females. Once they clear QT both will be going in my 187g display
Keep live foods so she can eat. She will come out when lights are off. Live baby brine everyday is quick and easy or keep pods for her.
Sounds good. There are pods in there that were seeded a few weeks ago and I can see some hanging out on the corners of the glass. Will get some live brine going also.
Fish adjust differently to tanks and often this behavior can be intimidation from other or simply adjustment.
How were fish acclimated, and for how long?
Were they released under low light or bright light?
Lastly, are you medicating this tank, and if so - with what ?
I picked up a 20 buck hatchery. Water and desk lamp only needed. I use it for fish just landing after import until they get on my time and some sand sleepers don’t really ever come out in qt much.
Fish were slowly acclimated over 30 - 40 min to tank water. Released under daylight. No lights were on just ambient room light. No medication as of yet.
How were they acclimated- what steps did you take?
Put them in a new container and kept aerated and slowly added water over the course of 30-40 min until the salinity matched. Nothing else was done.
Also just looked in the tank and looks to be 100s of pods all over the glass so im sure there is live food for it to pick on if it does come out at night.
Close enough and eliminates poor acclimation
Not sure if your wrasse are still in QT, but my last batch had a sand sleeping coris in the bunch. It went through QT without any issues. Strong eater, etc. It immediately went into the sand as expected when I introduced it into my DT. Never to be seen again... I saw occasional sand storms which suggested some activity, but never saw it. Not uncommon for them to go into the sand for weeks which is why I didn't panic initially.
Lessons learned: Acclimation box with small sand container when introducing sand sleeping fish into an active tank. I suspect a number of other larger fish including wrasses bullied it back into the sand and eventually starved.
I have 2 coris in QT now about a few days away from introduction. I'm already getting ready with a small bed in the acclimation box.
Lessons learned: Acclimation box with small sand container when introducing sand sleeping fish into an active tank. I suspect a number of other larger fish including wrasses bullied it back into the sand and eventually starved.
I have 2 coris in QT now about a few days away from introduction. I'm already getting ready with a small bed in the acclimation box.
Yeah I ended up losing both in QT. 1 was eating and swimming around and looked fine for about a week and half then died. The other one stayed in the sand for 2 weeks When it finally came out was swimming wierd and died within an hour. Back to the drawing board.
Sorry for your losses there. They can be tough fish to QT, but don't give up. I've gotten plenty of wrasse through proper QT (14 days copper power at 2.0 then to observation). I usually try and get them into a non medicated tank first to make sure they eat before I start the copper and meds. Giving them a chance to fatten up as some don't eat well while in meds. Good luck.
Yeah they went into a non medicated tank. That was my plan to observe and fatten them up. Will try again.
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