My New Fairy Wrasse (Pics)

[MtnDewMan]

I picked the beauty up today. I hope he/she does well ... I have been considering one of these for a while and was happy to see a relatively healthy one today.

[Ninong]

Chuck,

Nice looking Cirrhilabrus solorensis. Are you going with just one for now or do you plan or keeping a pair? Also, have you taken any special precautions to prevent jumping?

I keeping drooling every time I see a nice C. scotorum or Paracheilinus octotaenia in The Marine Center's weekly e-mail specials. They had a picture of a gorgeous 4" supermale Australian Scott's Fairy Wrasse a couple of weeks ago but by the time I called them Monday morning all of the supermales were already sold and all they had left were 2"-3" specimens from Australia. They have been showing a picture of a beautiful male Red Sea Eight-Line Flasher Wrasse for the past two weeks but I haven't bothered to call them yet because I'm not sure if I want to go with it or hold out for an Australian Scott's. Besides, I would have to make some modifications to the top of my tank to prevent jumping.

Good luck,

[Poseidon]

WOW!!! that is an AWESOME fish!!!!!

It really puts mine to shame, maybe if I get a second one of them will really color up???

[Poseidon]

where did my text go???


What I said was nice FISH and I hope mine colors up like yours, maybe I need to get a second one....

[MtnDewMan]

How do I tell if it is a male or female? A pair would be nice. I plan on cutting some egg crate to fit the back opening I have in the canopy area. That worked before for another jumper type fish I had in the past.

Poseidon, that is a nice looking fish as well.

Ninong, if we know how to sex this one, then I would like to look into a pair.

[Ninong]

How do I tell if it is a male or female? A pair would be nice. I plan on cutting some egg crate to fit the back opening I have in the canopy area. That worked before for another jumper type fish I had in the past.

Poseidon, that is a nice looking fish as well.

Ninong, if we know how to sex this one, then I would like to look into a pair.

Chuck,

I don't remember seeing pics of female Solar Wrasses lately. I just checked The Marine Center's pics and all they show is one male and it looks a lot like yours. I can't say for sure because I can't seem to access FishBase right now. I keep getting a message telling me I have to log in with my member name and password. Must be something new.

I am familiar with some of the flasher wrasse colorations because I have been checking them out lately and I am familiar with all of the color varations in C. scottorum, both male and female, and from either the Cook Islands or Australia; but the only pics that I remember seeing of the Solar Wrasse (aka Tricolor Wrasse) look just like yours and similar to the picture on The Marine Center's website. The Marine Center always shows male pics because they are more colorful.

Since yours is a member of the Cirrhilabrus genus, I assume it will have a maximum total length (male) of approximately 10-12 cm. If yours is more than 7 cm it could very well be a male. There is no trick to pairing these guys up. All you have to do is get one that is considerably smaller than the one you already have. If you had a dozen or more to look at in a single tank you could probably tell which ones are still female. The problem is that the collectors collect mostly males because they are more colorful and easier to sell.

Fairy Wrasses are just the opposite of Clownfish in the gender determination department but it works out the same, just different end result. Clownfish are protandrus hermaphrodites that have to become males before they can become females (protandrus means male first). Once female, a clownfish can never revert back to male. Fairy Wrasses are protogynous hermaphrodites (female first) that must become females before they can become males -- the dominant gender. But, unlike Clownfish, male Fairy Wrasses can and do sometimes revert back to female under certain circumstances -- too many males and not enough females.

To form a pair all you need to do is find one that is considerably smaller than your present fish, unless your present fish is really small -- less than 2.5" -- in which case it might be easier to find one that is considerably larger. You do NOT want to stick two males together because they would fight each other viciously trying to determine which one undergoes the sex change. In most cases in a relatively small aquarium environment one would probably kill the other.

How large is your present fish?



P.S. -- I actually called The Marine Center a couple of weeks ago but I was too late, they had already sold out all of their Australian supermale Scott's. The guy wanted to sell me two small females but I decided to hold off until I could find a nice male. He was actually shipping out four females to someone with a 375-gal tank that same day. If I had a tank that size I would probably go for it because it would be fun to watch the interaction as the four females worked out which one was going to become male. I'm not so sure I want to experience that in my little 120-gallon tank -- not enough room for the inferior fish to escape the harrassment of the more dominant one. I think it would be safer for me (and you) to make sure that I have one that is clearly male and one that is clearly female from the beginning. If possible, the female should be introduced a couple of weeks before the male but you can do it the other way around and hope that the male doesn't harrass the new female too much before he figures out that she is not a threat.

[Ninong]

Chuck,

I forgot to give you the link to the picture of one on The Marine Center: http://www.themarinecenter.com/wrassesolorensis.htm
That's a male because they always post male pics.

Here is a link to one on Live Aquaria.com: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...=21&pCatId=369
According to them, it's max. adult size is 6". That would make it probably the largest Fairy Wrasse. I don't think a male Scott's gets larger than 5". (P.S. -- I just checked something by Scott Michael and he says that male Scott's Fairy Wrasses can get to a maximum length of 6" and females 4.5".)

[MtnDewMan]

Thanks for the info Ninong. I am familiar with The Marine Center. Maybe I will do what you suggest and try to find a small one, this one is probably 2.5 to 3" nose to tail. So there is a chance maybe for pairing one up in the future.

Good info here, thanks for the suggestions.

[almostdiva]

Chuck,

He's fabulous looking!

My LFS had one in last week, too. They must be "in season" or something. I passed on him -- he looked pretty good though.

The C. solorensis are a "junior synonym" for the C. cyanopleura. If you look at this link, http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/fi...brus/index.htm

I think that Poseidon's looks like a "full fledged" (if you can say that about a fish... cyanopleura. What about the rest of you???

[Ninong]

The C. solorensis are a "junior synonym" for the C. cyanopleura. If you look at this link, http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/fi...brus/index.htm

Not anymore.

That was a misidentification: http://www.fishbase.org/Nomenclature...me=cyanopleura

FishBase no longer considers it a junior synonym of C. cyanopleura.

[FISHme]

Nice FISH Dewman !!

[Minh Nguyen]

Chuck,
I is almost two weeks, how is your wrasse now? I always want a wrasse in my tank but I don't want to cover the tank yet.
Minh

[MtnDewMan]

The wrasse is doing great. I have yet to see it fly to the top of the tank ... YET ... haha ... A model citizen too.

[Reefland]

The wrasse fever must have bitten You and Ninong. They are both great looking fish for sure!

[MtnDewMan]

The wrasse fever must have bitten You and Ninong. They are both great looking fish for sure!

Your Turn !!!

[seaham358]

Here's my Scotts Fairy, He was the prize fish in the tank. Had him several months when one day I was feeding the tank and he shot up through a .5 gap in the back of the tank and landed behind my 125 in the middle it took me several min to get him out. Put him in a bucket for a while to clean him up and them back in the main tank. he looked good but the next morning the sally lightfoot crab was trying to kill him. Put him in my refugium and he Died that day. I have been looking for another but have not had any luck.

[7thheaven]

wow...
they are so beautiful fishes.....

I want to keep fairy wrasse....

Does it sleep and hide in sand?

Can I keep it in bare bottom tank?

I have 125 gallon F/O tank (bare bottom)

;;

[7thheaven]

I have already read this....
Wrasse Only Tank Help

^^

but I want some more infomation...

Thank you in advance~!!

[Ninong]

I want some more infomation...

Thank you in advance~!!

Here is some more information: http://www.reeftectonics.com/ Click on Library, then Genus and Species Accounts, then genus Cirrhilabrus.

Here is a quote from that article by Scott Michael: "Fairy wrasses are quite durable once they have bounced back from the trauma associated with shipping. But, unfortunately, larger individuals often die in transit, or never recover from the shipping process. To you collectors and wholesalers out there, that are not already familiar with this fact, it is important that you ship these fish in big bags with plenty of water."

My own personal experience was that even though the vendor used a very large bag with lots of water I still lost the 5.5" long supermale. The 4" long female made it in reasonably good shape and recovered from the trauma of shipping within about 48 hours but the male was in bad shape on arrival. I now believe that these fish should be acclimated with extreme care upon arrival and recommend using a slow drip method over at least three hours and perhaps as long as eight hours if the fish looks to be in trouble when you open the bag.

Somes wrasses sleep in/on the sand bed and some wedge themselves into the rock structure. My Scott's Fairy Wrasse usually sleeps in the rock structure but she did sleep on the sand bed wedged under the rock structure at least once (the first night in the tank).

I think a sand bed would be better if you are keeping wrasses but you could probably keep Fairy Wrasses in a bare bottom tank if you want to. I wouldn't keep any of the wrasses that bury in the sand in a bare bottom tank because the lack of a sand bed would probably freak them out.

The Fairy Wrasses are rather docile fish and I wouldn't put them in a fish-only tank with any aggressive fish.

[MtnDewMan]

Nice info Ninong

I don't have a deep sand bed for mine, but the wrasse does disappear into some hole or crevice in the rockwork at night.