Something wrong with my bird wrasse?

dianapickles · 02/03/2016, 02:22 AM

Hi guys,

So I've had this male bird wrasse for about a week now and he seems to not want to come out of his hiding spot. He's been acting all sorts of strange.

At the beginning he was slightly bullied by a damsel and I just took the hiding as him getting away from the damsel ...but for a week now? I'm starting to worry.

Is this normal behaviour for these fish? He does come out now and then and has a little swim around the tank albeit rarely, and he darts right back into his cave at the sight of me so I'm worried he's not getting food.

He also appears to be healthy apart from the fact that he bashes this one rock when he comes out. I thought this could be ich but there are no visible signs for the entire time I've had him and no other fish are scratching/flashing or seem stressed.

Dkuhlmann · 02/03/2016, 05:21 AM

Did you deworm him before putting him into your tank?

Sapelo · 02/03/2016, 05:35 AM

Maybe it's just me, but in my experience wrasse seem to take longer to acclimate to a new lighting and tank system than other fish. It's one reason that QT is such a good idea, it gives them time to recover from their journey (or journeys). My last one took about two weeks before he was out with my lighting s schedule and behaving "normally"

dianapickles · 02/04/2016, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dkuhlmann

Did you deworm him before putting him into your tank?

......... I thought I wasn't new to the hobby till I just read this.

dianapickles · 02/04/2016, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sapelo

Maybe it's just me, but in my experience wrasse seem to take longer to acclimate to a new lighting and tank system than other fish. It's one reason that QT is such a good idea, it gives them time to recover from their journey (or journeys). My last one took about two weeks before he was out with my lighting s schedule and behaving "normally"

I hope so. I told my LFS guy and he just seemed to brush it off, so I'm hoping that it's just an acclimation/recovery thing. I heard they actually like to lay on the sand a lot so maybe he's just laying in his cave.

I don't usually quarantine my fish (I know it's a horrible risk) but it's just too much to keep going. I always buy my fish from the same LFS fwiw.

02/03/2016, 02:22 AM	#1
dianapickles Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: Australia Posts: 171	Something wrong with my bird wrasse? Hi guys, So I've had this male bird wrasse for about a week now and he seems to not want to come out of his hiding spot. He's been acting all sorts of strange. At the beginning he was slightly bullied by a damsel and I just took the hiding as him getting away from the damsel ...but for a week now? I'm starting to worry. Is this normal behaviour for these fish? He does come out now and then and has a little swim around the tank albeit rarely, and he darts right back into his cave at the sight of me so I'm worried he's not getting food. He also appears to be healthy apart from the fact that he bashes this one rock when he comes out. I thought this could be ich but there are no visible signs for the entire time I've had him and no other fish are scratching/flashing or seem stressed.

02/03/2016, 05:21 AM	#2
Dkuhlmann Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: NW Iowa Posts: 8,823	Did you deworm him before putting him into your tank? __________________ Previous tanks: 200 gal fowlr 9" Emperor Angel and many different butterfly fish 4" maroon clown and several other fish, 50 gal sump, 40 gal mixed reef/fish mostly softies and LPS. Current Tank Info: 40b 750 gph 45 lbs lr, 2"-3" sand, 165w full spectrum dimable LED, 20 gal sump/refugium 30 lbs lr, Bak Pak 2 skimmer, 4" sock temp 79-80, sg 1.026, NH3 0, NO2 0, NO3 <10, ph 8.2, calc 400, mag 1300

02/03/2016, 05:35 AM	#3
Sapelo Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: North Georgia Posts: 869	Maybe it's just me, but in my experience wrasse seem to take longer to acclimate to a new lighting and tank system than other fish. It's one reason that QT is such a good idea, it gives them time to recover from their journey (or journeys). My last one took about two weeks before he was out with my lighting s schedule and behaving "normally"