Potters Leopard Wrasse.........Advice required

[mutley29]

Saw this fish in a LFS tank at the weekend and was just blown away by its colouration and overall beauty.
i would dearly love to have this fish in my 180 Reef
problem is everything i read about it says stay away/difficult to keep, does anyone out there have one?, that they could give me some pointers about the fish.
would have to get one online as the LFS specimen was NFS

Any assistance appreciated

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

I have never kept one, but I have seen leopard wrasses kept in large reefs succesfully. The requirements are similar to mandarins, in that they need lots of live rock to pick over.

 

[John_Brandt]

If you are asking about Marcopharyngodon geoffroyi, they are almost a complete lost cause. The whole genus is nearly impossible to keep alive for any meaningful length of time.

Dan can you give specific references to where you have seen these wrasses thriving, and for how long? (I'm not trying to be spiteful, I'm actually trying to determine if the genus should be regarded as 'unsuitable for captivity')

 

[mutley29]

Did a bit more digging and found the exact fish to be
Macropharyngodon ornatus.
If its as bad as you say, i won't go near it.
Its a beautiful fish, am definitely not going to get it if its destined to die in short time

Thanks for the info

 

[Anonymous]

Hi John,
Of the top of my head I can think of a few:

Terry Seigel has been keeping melagris for some time. Here's his description: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/ ... torial.htm

Reef and Fin in CT has had one, not sure of the species, in their display tank for some time. They moved, don't know about its current status.

Gary Marsjhak (not how his name is spelled!) in the Upstate Reef Society (in NY) has a couple of species. I believe he has kept the Black Leopard wrasse for a number of years, a species I have never seen. I can't give you a link because RC seems to be down...

 

[Anonymous]

Nother link:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/hcs3/index.htm

RC is back up. I couldn't find a decent thread, but the name is Gary Majchrzak and he has 4 leopards in his tank.

 

[John_Brandt]

OK Dan, that is good to know. Thank you for the links, I know Terry and will talk to him about the wrasses next time I see him.

But really, by and large these fish do really crummy in captivity. They usually starve it seems.

It makes little difference that it is M. ornatus rather than geoffroyi. After dealing in many hundreds of them, and hearing of other aquarists experiences with them I feel they both have a very high mortality rate in captivity. Having said that, I don't think they are of the highest degree of difficulty.

 

[Jime]

I kept one for 3 years and when I moved gave it to Aquarium City. They've had it in their Soft Coral tank for almost 2 years now and it is doing great. Unlike mandarins this fish will eat frozen food. That being said I recently purchased a different leopard wrasse and have not seen it since.

 

[smokinreefer]

i have a regular leopard wrasse for a few months now, in my 180.
it loves frozen mysis and has grown like a mofo!

but i have also heard that leopards in general are iffy.

 

[WRASSER]

mutley29,



maybe it's volume, or maybe what other fish you have in the tank, proper acculumation, i don't know. in my 150 i had a leopard and he did fine, i took him out to make room for my harlequin tusk. the tusk didn't make it, i should have kept the leopard.


good luck,


wrasser 8)

 

[WRASSER]

mutley29





OOOPPPS, nice PIC.....





wrasser 8)