Last Friday I brought in a yellow tamarin wrasse. Planned to get a leopard but this guy was the only option. He was 4 weeks at the LFS (in a bare bottom tank) and was lying on his side on the floor. I examined him and saw that he was essentially looking intact and gave a fight on his way to the net. I skipped quarantine and added him while shutting the lights off He immediately started eating from the heavily algae-covered rocks instead of hiding in the sand. However, he swims in a strange way sometimes as if he has floating problems. This morning I almost got a heart attack as he was lying on the sand looking dead except he was breathing. I went to get an antibiotic and the net to get him out and try a last-minute treatment. When I was back he was swimming normally and brutally biting the substrate (you could hear the sound almost like a Bengai cardinal). Later he ate from the mussel and some bloodworms. Any advice as to how to keep this guy? Is it possible that after 4 weeks w/o sand he used to play dead instead of "diving in"? View attachment 3006879
Also here is a time-lapse of my substrate at night to show how densely populated our tanks can get:
Recommend to use a big screen
He is doing very well agrassively claims his share of the morning mussel, and searches all day for food. He is very active and goes to sleep early in the sand.
