Chronicles of keeping tamarin wrasses

It is actually quite interesting - one internet source you read says 1 thing about theses wrasses, another says something else totally contradictory.... But they all agree, these fish ship horribly, and are very hard to acclimate to aquarium life.

Here's a good article that I think is pretty accurate - http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2002/Fish.htm

Thought I'd share my attempt with you guys - lets all hope I'm successful!

I received these guys on 10/30 from Les @ Wet Pets Hawaii - originally got 2 females, and 1 male. One female was pretty much DOA, she was also the one with the most "bag wear" from rubbing on the bag during shipment. I am toking her loss up to shipping stress.

Male - day 1


Female - day 1



You can see both of these guys are missing scales... the male is just resting on the sandbed and swimming around a little. After about 2 hours, he disappears into the sand. The female does the same after about an hour in the tank.

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I received them on Friday - I don't see either of them again until Monday - the female comes out during the day. I attempt to feed her some mysis, but scare her back into the sand in the process. She was biting at the glass though, so there is interest in food..

Tuesday - no fish

Wednesday - both fish are out and about!! Totally cruising the tank, pecking at the rockwork, hunting for pods

Male- day 6


Female - day 6


They are particularly interested in pecking at my cyano, spitting out the cyano, but I assume eating the pods underneath. They also exhibit the "blowing" technique where they blow off a rock, and then eat the treat they expose.

I am going to try to "trick" them into eating some arcti-pods by placing them on the rock they graze on and see if that works over the next few days

and thats it for today

Neat looking wrasses Joanne.

Keep us posted how they do,hoping for the best for ya

Those are beauties. Glad to hear they are out and about more. How are they today?

Originally Posted by chris&barb

Those are beauties. Glad to hear they are out and about more. How are they today?

I am super pleased to say, that my food presentation theory is working like a charm

Got the male to eat a ton of arcti-pods last night by squirting them onto the rock where he was grazing - once he got a few mouthfuls he was following my dropper around the tank eating straight from it, instead of off the rock.

The female is a little more determined to ignore me, she hides in her corner when I mess in the tank, so when I'm showing her food she's not actively "grazing" - but she did take a few bites here and there... I'm sure she will come around as she becomes more dependent on the male

So - current Plan -
#1 - get them recognizing the dropper as food and coming to me, rather than me going to them
#2 - slowly change them out to meatier foods, and more vitamin rich foods
#3 - get them practicing eating out of the water column as well as off the rocks
#4 - fish trained!!

wow.........such a cool thread joanne! ......they are GORGEOUS fish and I'm so glad that they're eating and now swimming about for you! I really like your plan of attack.....it's been a few days so have you started this plan? if so, are they following it for you? (if so, a video of this feeding plan would be soooooooooooooooooo cool!)

Beautiful fish, glad they're eating for you.

Originally Posted by spinycheek

Beautiful fish, glad they're eating for you.

me too I was soooooo nervous (heck, I didn't even start this thread until I felt they were actually going to eat)

Originally Posted by Barbara

wow.........such a cool thread joanne! ......they are GORGEOUS fish and I'm so glad that they're eating and now swimming about for you! I really like your plan of attack.....it's been a few days so have you started this plan? if so, are they following it for you? (if so, a video of this feeding plan would be soooooooooooooooooo cool!)

thanks Barb - they are so amazing, I get locked into watching them quite often, its ridiculous. I think the dog is even convinced I've disowned him for the fish.

on the eating front, they are eating, but they aren't going out of their way to "eat" - I still have to put the pods in front of them, and then they still just take a few bites here and there....

they are always cruising the rocks and eating - and their bellies look "full" so I'm hoping they just aren't that hungry as they are getting a lot from the reef as well. I really want them to voraciously eat!! haha but, it is still early.....

At least they aren't darting into the sand when I try to feed them now - which is so great!!

IMO the male (against internet rumors) seems to be adjusting to the confines of a tank better than the female. When she isn't hunting for pods with the male, she is walking the corner of the tank - up, down, up, down - for hours.....

Although the male still has quite a bit of scale and fin damage, but he doesn't appear stressed, so I'm just monitoring him and hoping he will just heal up naturally without my intervention

Anyhow - pics - Day 10

Really great photos too! Do they bother the corals at all?

Originally Posted by spinycheek

Really great photos too! Do they bother the corals at all?

nope - not at all - although I have seen them nip at my clams once or twice - but all the clams are wide open, so I think it was a confusion thing or something....

they might start knocking corals over though in the future to find pods - we will see I could care less tho - I've got plenty of other critters who knock things over already, 1 more one hurt....

these look wonderful! I can't wait for more updates.

just awesome! ...I'd be glued to the tank too! I'm so happy they keep getting more comfortable...are you culturing pods to make sure there's enough? are you gonna keep trying your plan for a few more weeks?

the male's "scars" don't seem to look as bad as they did last week...is that the case or is it just the pic?

I am so excited about this thread and look forward to updates frequently!

Originally Posted by Barbara

just awesome! ...I'd be glued to the tank too! I'm so happy they keep getting more comfortable...are you culturing pods to make sure there's enough? are you gonna keep trying your plan for a few more weeks?

the male's "scars" don't seem to look as bad as they did last week...is that the case or is it just the pic?

I am so excited about this thread and look forward to updates frequently!

uhhh nope - no pod culturing, these guys gotta learn to love to eat what the chef prepares for them everyday like all the rest of the inmates

And yeah - the male is healing up nicely - I was worried for a bit, he was looking like his mucus coat was totally destroyed there for a few days, but he seems great now.

they both lost some fins and scales tho the other day as my hawkfish decided to do some racial profiling - which is why there is the eggcrate divider in the tank now - wrasses on 1 side, everyone else on the other

ohhhhhh - and videos from my cell phone, sorry, no music today

WOW.............awesome videos joanne! .....they're eating quite a bit from the tube you put in there yet still poking for pods! very cool to see that in action....thank you for sharing this! so your hawk fish was picking at them? what kind of hawk fish do you have? I've never heard of that behavior....glad you caught it early!

Originally Posted by Barbara

WOW.............awesome videos joanne! .....they're eating quite a bit from the tube you put in there yet still poking for pods! very cool to see that in action....thank you for sharing this! so your hawk fish was picking at them? what kind of hawk fish do you have? I've never heard of that behavior....glad you caught it early!

yeah - well it was quite obvious - I had to pull my male wrasse outta my overflow twice in about 30 minutes - the lil would lurk under a ledge and dart out at them!

he's a falco hawkfish - but a huge one!! gotta be fully grown - so he's a little tempermental......


today I came home to the wrasses on the "community fish" side of the blockade, and the hawkfish on the "wrasse" side - so hmmm, since there was no one else to chase, and only 1/2 the tank to chase him in, I managed to net him and get him out!!! mwahahaha to jail he goes!!!

now he gets to live with my clarki in my QT tank - until I feel his attitude has adjusted.... maybe a few months

OK - wrasse feeding update

The male BEGS for food the instant I walk in front of the tank - he has decided mysis taste way better than what he can pick off the rocks or out of the sand.

So, I've started weaning them off of 100% mysis onto my frozen fish food formula (a homemade mix of vitamins, seafood, nori and whatever all ground up)


To present the food I've been defrosting it with my mysis and feeding it to them out of the feeding dropper. The male regularly takes the larger pieces, and the little female pics at the smaller stuff like the bits of cyclopeeze, etc.

Their chewing habits make it so I have to feed them slowly... squirt in some food, wait for them to chew it, squirt in some more... like anthias....... but they are still fat and happy!!!

Woo! nothin like a fat and happy fish to make you smile

Gorgeous fish! Craig was right you do have a nice Wrasse!

and the updates keep getting better and better! ......so I guess those tank dividers really don't work that well eh? .......do the wrasses now have full use of the tank?

haha yeah - they have full run of the tank now again - and everyone is perfectly happy and no more jumping

So fish list in the tank with these guys now is
- 2 tamarin wrasses
- 1 lieutenant tang
- 1 starry blenny
- 1 dusky jawfish


with all the feeding I've been doing I think my blenny is gonna explode tho - he has one heck of a beer belly!!

Turkey day video surprise!!