Neptune Aquatics

Wrasses, a cup of sand, and BB?

kurplunk

kurplunk

Guest
BARcard
So i was reading Jason's thread about the wrasses, and i didn't want to hijack his thread. So i'm asking my question here. He mentioned that Ian puts a cup of sand so that his wrasses have a place to hide and sleep. Does this cause a problem with sand being blown around in your display? And how important is sand to wrasses? I find right now all of mine sleep in crevices in the rock.
 
I had a coris wrasse (H. chrysus) that used to hide in the rocks, as my tank is bare bottom. Of course it is probably preferable to have sand around, because when they get frightened, the first thing they will do naturally, is hit the sand. Some species of wrasse create a cocoon and sleep in the rocks, such as Pseudocheilinus. Personally, I don't think it is entirely necessary to have sand present, as they hide in the sand to mainly avoid predation ... something that hopefully isn't occurring in our reef tanks :) My tank only had a blenny in it at the time, so I didn't have to worry about other fish freaking the wrasse out.
You could probably have a cup of sand hidden somewhere in your display for the wrasse to sleep in, but eventually the sand will slowly get thrown out of the cup over time when the wrasse buries itself. Though bear in mind, people will have different opinions of varying degrees on the matter.
 
I know that my Mystery sleeps in a cocoon. I have a total of 4 wrasses and they seem to do fine. I just wasn't sure since this barebottom thing is new to me.
 
Daniel, did yo see the cup of sand in my frag tank? i used the tall clear cup (large frag cup) with 2" of sand in it. This prevents the sand from spilling over or getting blown out. I was using the medium cup at first, but each time my leopard wrasse hides under the sand, some it it spills out. With this taller cups, the sand stays in.
 
Daniel not all wrasses need sand. Wrasses like yellow coris, radiant, and leapords need sand. Fairy wrasses do not need sand. My container is about 6-8 inches high. Its acrylic from tap plastic. About 4" wide sand is only about 1" deep right now. It was about 2"s but over the coarse of a year it has slowly been blown out of the container.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top