Fairy/flasher wrasse together

[Still_human]

I've only recently started really getting into fairy wrasse, but I can't seem to get definitive information on keeping them together. It was my understanding, stemming from firsthand experience, albeit pretty limited, that at least some of the common ones(lubbocks, carpenters, etc) can happily live together with different species, even in small tanks, but as far as in general, everyone seems to have different opinions(well, of "yes" and "no", anyway).

So, overall can different species live together? In any dynamic-males/males, famales/females, males/females, males&females/males, m&f/f, m&f/m&f

"/" = different species

 

a tank full of many different fairy&flasher wrasse species would be absolutely jaw dropping!!!!

Edited February 14, 2018 by Still_human

[monkiboy]

hunter has a wealth of information he has put together for us as hobbyists in a few articles over on r2r, check them out. 

 

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/all-about-reef-safe-wrasses-in-aquaria.28/

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/cirrhilabrus-complexes-inferiority-need-not-apply-1st-revision.352/

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/pairing-wrasses-thats-not-how-any-of-this-works.3/

 

welcome to wamas and if you need anything, shoot us a PM - always happy to help!

[gws3]

I have a good bit of experience with fairy wrasses. In my experience the flasher wrasses often don't do well long term. Fairy wrasses are a better bet.

 

I'd suggest avoiding "super males". While they look amazing and yield instant gratification, they ship poorly and often have swim bladder issues that always result in death. This is especially true for the deep water Australian species (lineatus, rhomboid). I have lost a supermale rhomboid from shipping stress and multiple lineatus due to swim bladder. Losing $300 fish hurts your morale as well as wallet.

 

I think the most enjoyable approach is to buy a bunch of juveniles. They are much more hardy than the large ones. They take a few years to grow into adults but this is very fun to experience. Also, they establish natural pecking orders as they mature and are less likely to quarrel. With full grown males you often experience aggression and have to be strategic with how you introduce them and definitely need to use acclimation boxes.

 

Generally if you try to avoid species that look similar you will reduce the fighting.

 

I highly recommend hawaiian flames. The juveniles are realtively cheap, and they grow up quickly and turn into beautiful males. Great personalities. The pair in my 300 was raised from 1.5" juveniles. I think they are both becoming more male, but they don't quarrel.

 

A very important thing is a mesh canopy. Fairy and Flashers will all jump eventually. Egg crate is too large, I learned this the hard way with a pintail in QT. I also recently lost my labouti out of my 300 when I had the mesh covers off to take pictures.

 

If you want multiple M/F pairs just try to get ones that have different body colors. This chart is very helpful:

 

[Still_human]

Wow, thanks so much, both of you were very helpful!!!

About that chart, I don't really understand. Is the bold fish at the top the fish that they are saying how all the fish in the same box do together, based on the box color? Otherwise I have no clue how to understand it:/

[roni]

Wow, thanks so much, both of you were very helpful!!!

About that chart, I don't really understand. Is the bold fish at the top the fish that they are saying how all the fish in the same box do together, based on the box color? Otherwise I have no clue how to understand it:/

 

Pardon me if I'm not answering your question correctly but the bold is the complex, of which everything in that box is similiar in color/shape and shouldn't be mixed. The colors refer to relative aggression...i.e. scott's fairy wrasse is very aggressive.  In general, depending on the size of your tank, you can mix individuals/pairs from different families together.  For example, I've mixed a pair of flame wrasses in a tank with a single male rhomboid without a problem but wouldn't try two different wrasses from the rhomboid complex together.  hope that helps. 

[Still_human]

Pardon me if I'm not answering your question correctly but the bold is the complex, of which everything in that box is similiar in color/shape and shouldn't be mixed. The colors refer to relative aggression...i.e. scott's fairy wrasse is very aggressive.  In general, depending on the size of your tank, you can mix individuals/pairs from different families together.  For example, I've mixed a pair of flame wrasses in a tank with a single male rhomboid without a problem but wouldn't try two different wrasses from the rhomboid complex together.  hope that helps.

 

 

Ok, so anything in the same box is just flat out NOT ok to mix, and the colors just express how bad it would be? Or are the species within the lowest aggression color(yellow) box ok to mix, the medium color(orange) box is questionable, and most aggressive color(red) box is not ok?