Six Line Wrasse - MIA

[ging]

Yesterday I got a Six Line Wrasse -(Pseudocheilinus hexataenia) for Mr. Mohr

He was eating well at the LFS active and when I brought him home he was doing the same, swimming all over the tank. Well, today he is no where to be found, didn't jump out not floating and cant seem to find him anywhere. I even put in some flake and he didn't come out. My question is, will they hide for a bit and come out when they are comfortable. I have now in the 60gal, 2 fire fish, 1 maroon clown, 1 bi-color blenny, 1 flame angel, 2 peppermint shrimp (small) and 2 cleaner shrimp. Could one of them killed him?? I have had my fish for over 4 mths and the last fish I got was over a month ago and have had no disappearances since I have had the tank. Any advice or info ??

ging

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm don't say you purchased it for me. ;-)
Is this an open top tank, have overflows or do you have a refugium or hang on skimmer ? They do tend to jump when first being established in a tank so you might want to look into these.
The Maroon Clown on the other hand could be the problem or the Six-line is just hiding out in the rocks.
I'd give it a few days.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Quillen]

It seems like you said that your maroon clown is fairly young, I think, tend to be more "set in their ways" when they get older. Maroons can be agressive (each fish has a little different personality), but it seems that you would notice a ragged fin or some kind of behavior first (unless you intro'd another clown in

). My maroon is the best and most social fish I have in my 40, only keeping fish from being immediately around the anemone. Have any corals that might like an expensive snack? I'd keep looking and if your wrasse doesn't show up, take a close look at if anything is bullying.

 

[ging]

Didn't get it from you got at the LFS

You always respond with the Scientific Name which I think is cool

I don't have a refugium and have checked all of the skimmers, and the floor. The clown and the wrasse didn't seem to fight when I was watching, but you never know. I will be patient and hopefully he will show up. If I turns out that they are fighting should I bring back the Wrasse or will they make peace. All of the info that I have read on them say that they are not really aggressive and reef friendly. I hope I didn't make a mistake and put the wrasse in jeopardy.

Thanks for the help David

ging

 

[ging]

Quillen,
Well the clown is young and stays almost always on the green bubble coral. He has never been aggressive to any of the fish that I have put in the tank, and he was the first fish that I put in the tank. The only other corals I have is frogs, mushroom, 2 bubble corals, finger coral, xenia, green star polyp and a button coral. Sigh... I don't want to lose a fish, he was really neat. I hope that I have not made a bad choice in picking that type of fish.

 

[Quillen]

I have never had a problem with a wrasse in my friend's tanks (even those that had clowns), I think it was a fine fish decision. Hopefully it is just hiding and getting all comfy in your tank. If your clown just snuggles up in its bubble, I doubt he would give a wrasse the time of day (such cliqueish fish). Some of the larger bubbles like fresh fish, but you can normally tell when they are eating and there would be a body later (heaven forbid) if it did.

Umm... I don't say this very often, but sometimes weird things happen, too. Keep your eyes open, check inside your cabinet if you have one (incase it went carpet surfing with an open backed cabinet), and GOOD LUCK!

 

[ging]

Well I do have to 2 Australian Shepards and 3 cats, hopefully he stayed in the tank and is chilling under some rock. I will keep looking and hopefully I can post later that he is motoring by with a fish smile.
Thanks Quillen

ging

 

[naesco]

Sometime wrasses disappear for a few days and than reappear. In a few days it will probably show up.

 

[fishtalk]

It is hiding. I had one hide for 3 days straight.

 

[davelin315]

How does your bubble anemone look? Well fed? I've had some aggressive clowns that would grab anything they could and drag it into their host anemone (do maroons go into bubble anemones? think they do, but haven't had a maroon in years since all the TR ones I see around here are pretty sad looking), including a maroon years ago that decided he didn't want seahorses as tankmates (that's why you need a species tank for seahorses!).

On the other hand, it's probably just hiding. I bought 4 firefish about 6 weeks ago, and thought that my dusky jawfish had gotten a little too predatory, but then after 2 weeks all 4 came out after me not having seen them once since I put them in. Unfortunately, I have only seen 3 over the past 2 days, and again I'm suspecting my jawfish is not going to eat for a few days.

 

[ging]

Well it is still MIA

I have a bubble coral, am I confused or is a bubble coral and bubble anemone the same thing ?? I have bent every way I can and cannot see it. (but I did see a dead crab) The maroon clown is so small, and never bothers any of the other fish. I cant imagine it killing it. Is there a special food I can get to coax it out and eat ?
ging

 

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by davelin315:

I bought 4 firefish about 6 weeks ago, and thought that my dusky jawfish had gotten a little too predatory, but then after 2 weeks all 4 came out after me not having seen them once since I put them in. Unfortunately, I have only seen 3 over the past 2 days, and again I'm suspecting my jawfish is not going to eat for a few days.

I wouldn't jump to blame your Jawfish that fast. ;-)
For some reason people keep thinking that species of the genus Nemateleotris ( Firefish ) are peacefull schooling fish ) they are not. Unless you have a mated pair the others will kill each other off and relatively quick. I'd suspect that's what's going on in your tank.
Just thought I had to correct you.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[davelin315]

Ging, sorry about the misread on the bubble anemone/bubble coral. No, they're definitely not the same thing. The crab may also just be a shed exoskeleton (or you might have a problem in your tank, since crabs are usually somewhat resilient).

David Mohr, thanks for the info on the firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica - busted out the Burgess Atlas for this post

). I didn't know they are aggressive towards each other (in fact, they all live in a tiny little crevice under a piece of rock in my tank), chalk another error up to bad advice from my LFS which encourages you to buy a school of them. And the reason I suspect the jawfish (Opistognathus whitehursti) (by the way, does the male or female carry the eggs in its mouth?) is because of past behavior (guppies were a favorite food before I reconverted the reef to fish only back to reef tank) and the fact that there's this funny long bulge in its stomach....

[ August 01, 2001: Message edited by: davelin315 ]