Six-line Wrasse using its environment 1/29/08 Our Six-line Wrasse has an interesting behavior I would like to share with the community. When presented with a large piece of food too large to swallow whole (such as a ghost shrimp, or a shed hermit crab claw), he carries it in his mouth to a hard surface and tries to break it up by rubbing or hitting it against the surface. If his first attempts fail, he swims about looking very determined and/or pathetic with the mouthful of food. It's very amusing to watch. <Cool! Thanks for sharing with us.> -Amanda <Best, Sara M.>

"Hey bob" (Pseudocheilinus) I got a question for you. I have a little 2,inch six-line-wrasse in my 40,gallon reef tank, I have about 45,pounds of live rock in the tank, I was wondering if he can feed naturally on the good stuffs on the live rock or do I have to feed him? thanks in advance, your phish friend Carlos! <Yes to both. The wrasse will feed on the live rock, and you should offer other foods daily. Please read: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/pseudocheilinus.htm. Bob Fenner>

- Mystery Wrasse - <Greetings, JasonC here...> Just purchased a 5 bar mystery wrasse from Marine Center. The only other fish in the 75g tank is one percula clown that could care less about the wrasse. He's been in the tank for 48 hours now, and shows himself more now than then. However, I can only get him to eat Mysis shrimp, and only 2 at that. Otherwise, he let's the shrimp go right by. If I can't put it right in his grill, he won't chase it. He also has a white spot on his tail, only visible from one side. Doesn't look like ich because it's too large (I believe). How do you start a bottom dweller eating? <Give it time... there's a lot of stress related to capture, shipping, holding, more shipping, and then final placement in your tank. It's going to take a week or four for this fish to feel at home. The fact that it eats anything at all is in you favor.> He's about 2" long, and my tank parameters are all zeros. <Cheers, J -- >

My Big, Fat Sixline Wrasse! Hi, I have a 3/4 grown 6 line wrasse. His behavior is normal, but he gets quite a bulging stomach, I am not sure if it could be because he is the only pod eater in my 55 g tank, and he spends all day picking over the rocks, but I also wanted to check if it could be worms or similar, anything I should be worried about? Thanks, Alastair <Well, Alastair, one thing that you'll find is that these guys tend to eat as much as they can, as often as they can! As long as the fish appears to be eating well, and the stomach does not appear to be deformed to one side or another, then you're simply looking at a really well-fed wrasse! If you are still suspicious, do observe the fish carefully for a while to assure yourself that the fish is behaving normally, without any potential symptoms that could indicate disease. Hope all works out well! Regards, Scott F.>

New Six Lined Wrasse...What and How much to feed? Hi!  <Hi Kristin, Leslie here this morning>  I just bought a six-lined wrasse, it is the only fish in my tank and I don't plan on getting more fish. I have a large population of copepods right now. Since the wrasse doesn't have competition do I still need to supplement his diet with other foods? <Yes I would. Unless you have a plan to replenish the pod population or have a refugium where they can reproduce at a good rate. Scott Michael recommends feeding these fish at least 2 times a day, less if kept with live rock.> I don't want to overfeed since I have read on your site that they can eat and eat. I have frozen Mysis shrimp, frozen Prime Reef, Ocean Nutrition brine shrimp plus (flakes) and New Life Spectrum all-purpose pellets available to feed it right now. I guess my question is, which of these foods are best for the wrasse and how much/often should I be feeding it considering the copepods?  I would supplement with feedings once a day. <They eat meaty foods, so any finely chopped meaty seafood would be just fine. The Mysis and Prime Reef would be good place to start. Varying the diet is very important, so be sure to offer other meaty seafoods. How much to feed is a good question. I have seen it answered many ways. I read somewhere most fish have a stomach about the size of their eye so you can estimate the quantity like that or just watch him during the feedings give a little when it's gone give a little more. Start with a couple of pieces of Mysis. Usually what they can consume in a minute or 2 should be plenty.> Thank you! Krystin <You're most welcome! Best of luck with your new charge. HTH, Leslie>

Eradicating bristleworms with a Sixline Wrasse Hey we recently bought a rock with a variety of corals on it and last night realized that it was infested with bristleworms I would like to keep the population in check and heard that six-line wrasse would help. <Sixline Wrasses indeed will consume a quantity of Bristleworms. However, I see no reason for you to remove any. Bristleworms are extremely beneficial to the reef aquarium, and I would recommend 1 bristleworm of 5 hermit crabs any day. As for keeping the population in check, Bristleworms will die off or reproduce to adjust their numbers depending on how much uneaten organic debris (bristleworm dinner) is available in your tank. If you do not feed a lot, chances are that the population will die down on its own. The opposite is true if you overfeed.> But we have beautiful (unidentified) feather dusters (the fan is no larger than a nickel) and wonder if the wrasse will eat them as well. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you so much for your time. <Your Wrasse will very likely consume your feather dusters. There are certainly individual wrasses that will not, but it is a hit or miss chance. Hope this helps, Mike G.> 

Six Line and Pod Relationship  - 01/24/06 I have a 40 gallon reef tank (2 years old). <Cool.>   I recently added a small sixline wrasse (approximately 1 1/2 inches) which is the only copepod eater in the tank.  Tankmates are: hermit crabs, corals, 1 pair of percula clowns, and three bar gobies.  I am wondering how often I need to replenish the copepod population?  I have found a couple places that I can order them online.  Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. <Six-Lines are skillful pod hunters it could easily destroy your population every few weeks. The bottled products are great to seed tanks but they are expensive for regular usage. At this rate it will be quite pricey to keep buying culture pods, so why not spawn your own? Look into a refugium, a small hang on variety such as those offered by Eco-System and CPR would be a great addition for your tank.> Thank you, Pam Vlatas
<Adam Jackson.>