[papa.250]

I was curious on how many wrasse I can add to may 120. Right now I have a golden fairy wrasse and a red margin wrasse in my quarntine tank for two weeks now. I was going to get a laboute and a male and female scotts on Friday. I was going to throw my laboute in my 20 with the the other wrasse and stick the male and female scotts in a 10 gal till they are ready will they be ok in the big tank. should I put the male scotts and laboute in the 10.. what are some thought. Thanks

[Ninong]

Hi papa.250,




There is no easy answer to your question. Some people have kept more than one species of fairy wrasse in a tank as small as yours -- 120-gallons -- without problems but others have not been so fortunate.

I had a horrible experience when I tried to keep a pair of Australian variant Scott's in my 120-gal tank with a pair of Lineatus.

What are the approximate sizes of each of the fish you are trying to add? How many of them are obvious terminal phase males? Are any of them larger than 5"?

Of the species you mentioned, the male Scott's will probably be the most agressive, especially if he is really large (meaning larger than 5"), and he is likely to assert his dominance over all of the other fairy wrasses, including those of other species.

P.S. -- Make sure your tank is jumper-proof! Fairy wrasses all jump. They jump frequently and high!

[papa.250]

the red margin wrasse is a male 5 inch big boy, golden fairy wrasse is about 2.5 inches still not sure if juv. or female. the female scotts is 2.5 and the the male is 4 + . the laboute is about 2.5, To throw more in to the mix I have a very small 4line and a 3 inch male equisite.

[Ninong]

I guess what I was wondering was whether maybe there was only one obvious large terminal phase male and all the others were still females. Looks like you have at least two, and possibly three, males.

I don't know what will happen when you add them but it might be best to add them all at once. Either that or hold the two largest males out and add them at least a week after the others.

[papa.250]

one other quick question, if i have that red margin wrasse with that golden fairy wrasse in the same hospital tank, I know for sure that that red margin wrasse is a male do I want to seperate them hoping that the golden turns to a male. This is all knid of new to mw i know I love wrasse family. When I pick up those scotts it sounds like I should not keep the male and female in that same 10 gallon hospital tank. Thanks for your help. I know that golden might stay in that 20 gallon forever it cost to much money to gambe with.

[Ninong]

In my experience, which was with the exact same size tank, my terminal phase Australian variant Scott's dominated my female Lineatus and prevented her from progressing to male. This particular Scott's was a mature female that was left alone in my tank for five weeks awaiting the arrival of a replacement Scott's supermale because the original supermale didn't survive the stress of January shipping. During that five weeks, she progressed to male. The original male, the one that didn't survive shipping stress, was exactly 5.25" long. The "female" was approximately 4.25" long when I first got her but she grew to about 4.75" long during the next five weeks alone in my tank.

I tried adding a pair of Lineatus and a mature Scott's supermale to the tank that already housed the previously female Scott's for five weeks all by "herself." "She" immediately killed off the Lineatus supermale and nearly killed the incoming Scott's supermale. The incoming Lineatus female was too fast to be caught by the killer Scott's.

The two Scott's (~4.75" and 5.25" at this time) and the female Lineatus (~4") eventually settled down and got along with each other but that process took exactly 10 months! The first 10 days was pure hell and then things gradually improved over the following months to the point where the two Scott's began acting as a mated pair -- believe it or not -- right at about the 10-month mark. During the first 10 days after the new Scott's and the pair of Lineatus were added to the tank, the resident Scott's confined the incoming supermale Scott's to a single spot in a cave and did not allow the new fish to eat or come out until the 10th day. And during that time, the resident Scott's completely chewed down the dorsal fin of the incoming supermale Scott's. The victimized Scott's was allowed to come out after ten days but it was obviously subservient to the resident Scott's. They were both just over 5" in length at that time. The dorsal fin grew back over the next few months.

The pecking order in the tank was that the original female, now male, Scott's was the boss and the only fish that displayed to the other two fairy wrasses in the tank. The incoming supermale Scott's occasionally displayed but not exactly to either of the other fairy wrasses in the tank. The dominant Scott's displayed to both the other male Scott's and the female Lineatus. The subservient supermale Scott's did not display to or harass the female Lineatus like the dominant Scott's did.

I eventually ended up with two supermale Scott's who acted as a mated pair and a female Lineatus who had to stay out of the way of the dominant Scott's. Both supermale Scott's retained full supermale coloration but after 10 months together, they suddenly began displaying "courtship" behavior -- carouselling and resting together on the sandbed with their flanks actually touching.

P.S. -- Just so there is no confusion, the resident "female" Scott's was about 4.75" long when "she" killed off a 5.25" supermale Lineatus and nearly killed a 5.25" long supermale Scott's. In spite of the fact that "she" was about half an inch smaller than the incoming supermale Scott's, "she" completely dominated him. "She" was obviously a male at this point. It is possible that "she" was a male when I got her but they were sold to me as a pair and the coloration was not the same. Also, the male was a good inch longer than the female originally. That male died within 12 hours. The shipping water was very cold (63F) because the temperature had dipped into the low 20's the night the fish were shipped from Dallas.

[papa.250]

I will probably add just the scotts male and female to my main tank and keep the labouti, golden and redmargin in my 20.