Longfinned Fairy Wrasse

[edit] Overview

This is a beautiful fairy wrasse that engages in a marvelous display where the color intensifies and the fins are spread to increase its apparent size. You can keep a male with one or more females (males are red with white belly and have huge pelvic fins, while females are orangish-red with fine blue lines along the body and a dark spot on the caudal peduncle).

[edit] Feeding

Carnivore. Feed meaty foods, preferably several times a day. Color-enhancing rations will help maintain its pigmentation.

[edit] Aquarium Compatibility

Females are rarely if ever aggressive toward their neighbors, while males have been known to chase other wrasses, anthias, and dart gobies in smaller tanks. This fish is most likely to be combative with relatives that sport similar colors (e.g., Cirrhilabrus rubripinnis). It is more often attacked by larger, more belligerent ­fishes (including aggressive damselfishes, hawkfishes and sandperches). Keep one male per tank. Even in large tanks, males may seek each other out and battle.

[edit] Breeding/Propagation

Egg scatterers that produce pelagic eggs, often in midwater mating rituals. Both eggs and larvae that drift with plankton in the water column and settle back onto a reef at about the time of metamorphosis. These are among the most challenging types of marine fishes to propagate in captivity.

[edit] Notes

This species spends its day cruising about the tank, often near the substrate, in search of food. It swims in the characteristic fairy wrasse bobbing motion. The aquarium must be covered to prevent jumping.

Category: Species