Fairy wrasses

[yikai]

Hi reefers. Just a short thread on the various species of wrasses from this family. Some basic information regarding the individual species. Hopefully this can help give you more information regarding these fishes and can help you ID your fish too. Hoping to do more of such topics for other family of fishes such as tangs, angels etc.

Shall start with wrasses first since they are very common and popular fishes. And also because they're one of my favourites

Fairy wrasses or velvet wrasses are zooplankton feeders, and are thus reefsafe. Not only are they hardy, they add a splash of colour to any tank and are very good candidates for reef tanks. All fairy wrasses are sexually dichromatic, which means you can differentiate males and females from their colouration. All of them are hermaphrodites too, which means that females can turn into males if certain conditions are met in their harem. Please feel free to contribute or fill in missing information if i am unable to provide them.

all pictures are from the internet and credit should not be given to me, but instead to the website it came from.

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Adornatus.

Sometimes known as debelius fairy wrasse. These fishes grow to about 2 inches or slightly more, and are obtainable from Indonesia shipments.

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Balteatus

The Girdled Fairy wrasse. Found in western central pacific, marshall Islands. Can are obtainable in Hawaii shipments. Grows to about 4 inches.

Below, a beautiful specimen. Photo credit goes to SRC member Hellbliss.

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Bathyphilus

The Hooded Wrasse. Found in the coral sea. Obtainable in Vanuatu shipments.

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Condei

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Cyanopleura

Blueside wrasse,Blue chested Wrasse. To about 6 inches in length. Obtainable from Indonesia Shipments

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Exquisitus.

The Exquisite Fairy Wrasse. Very widely distributed. From Indo-Pacific, to Fiji and Tuamotus and Africa. Can posess certain geographical variations depending on location. Have kept this fish before and find it moderately aggressive to peaceful. To nearly 5 inches.

Specimens from Africa hail bright pink markings on their face and dorsal region. Fiji specimens are mainly green, but trimmed with scarlet red on their fins.

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Filamentosus

The Whip Fin fairy wrasse. Commonly available and not expensive. Kept it once and it was quite aggressive..

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Flavidorsalis. Falvi meaning yellow and dorsalis for dorsal fin.

Yellow Fin Fairy wrasse. to slightly more than 2 inches. Commonly available via Indonesian and Phillipines shipment.

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Jordani.

The Flame Wrasse. Endemic to Hawaii only. To about 4 inches. Very beautiful but shy wrasse in my experience. Males sport a yellow belly with 2 horizontal eye markings. females are dull red and smaller. Found exclusively in Hawaii shipments. Hardy once acclimatised.

Here's a picture of one "flashing"

[mengyang_neo]

Very good information. =)

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Laboutei

Laboutei Wrasse. To 5 inches. Hardy and beautiful fish. Available from Australia shipments and Vanuatu

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Lineatus

Known as the Purplelined wrasse, lavender fairy wrasse, but much more commonly known as the lineatus wrasse. One of the "holy grail" as most people describe. Australia shipments. grow to 4-5 inches.

[yikai]

Cirrhilabrus Lubbocki

Lubbock Fairy Wrasse. Phillines and Indonesia. Small and colourful fish, commonly available, and inexpensive. Posses some geographical variation.

[dachkie]

the laboutei and linetus has amazing colours haven seen any1 like those yet, anyway i heard alot of complaints including myself that fairy wrasses tend to turn black in the tank after awhile , any1 know how to counter this syndrome? i wondering is it the food

[LaW]

the laboutei and linetus has amazing colours haven seen any1 like those yet, anyway i heard alot of complaints including myself that fairy wrasses tend to turn black in the tank after awhile , any1 know how to counter this syndrome? i wondering is it the food

food helps abit, but mostly is environmental. if theres 1 female or few female around a male, chances are fish will still dull off. you need more than just a couple of female or rival males to make them keep their color.

almost all fairy wrasse i kept tend to dull their colors off. be it flame or laboutei or naoko or condei. they will still dull off.

[yikai]

the laboutei and linetus has amazing colours haven seen any1 like those yet, anyway i heard alot of complaints including myself that fairy wrasses tend to turn black in the tank after awhile , any1 know how to counter this syndrome? i wondering is it the food

hi dachkie. yes laboutei and lineatus do have amazing colours. specimens like this have been in singapore before. the most recent aussie shipment from LCK had around 4-5 really alpha male lineatus with striking colours.

some fairy wrasses will fade colours like condei's wrasse. the most famous example will be scott's fairy wrasse. have to understand that in the wild, these fishes live in super large harems consisting of 1 alpha male and 10-20 females. so he can flash at them whole day. in the tank, its impossible to recreate this. so colour wise, this will be 1 reason they fade. another reason cold be food. certain things they eat in the wild we cannot replicate at home. so far, in my experience, exquisite and rhomboid have not faded their colours so far. if anything, the colours improved. will like to try the ultimate test to see if i can retain the colours of a scott fairy, or at least lessen the dullness.

most fairies as far as i know retain their colours pretty well. its the green and blues that are hard to keep! btw dachkie faster set up ur tank! then throw in all the wrasses. sure will be super nice ya?

anyway, will comtinue updating this thread with more improvements after my 1 week holiday.

[dachkie]

lol 1 more month to go before i can scape the 2nd half of the rocks then can go wrasse hunting, maybe we should also list down what are the aggressive wrasse in terms of least agressive to most ( excluding 6 and 8 line).

[ReDDeviLs]

the laboutei and linetus has amazing colours haven seen any1 like those yet, anyway i heard alot of complaints including myself that fairy wrasses tend to turn black in the tank after awhile , any1 know how to counter this syndrome? i wondering is it the food

u nv see my old tank thread!

LOL! think some pics gone too..reshuffle my photobucket.

[Digiman]

Cirrhilabrus roseafascia

Wide range, available from Vanuatu (rare, deep), Fiji (rare, deep), Cebu (relatively common, deep). Here only obtainable from Vanuatu shipment and is very expensive (at $300), we've no Cebu shipment if not roseasfascia are most commonly available from Cebu and cheaper.

Largest of all fairy, up to 7+ inches. Slightly aggressive and will lose colour fast in a brightly lit tank.

[Digiman]

Cirrhilabrus luteovittatus (velvet multicolor wrasse)

Readily obtainable from Marshall Islands thru Hawaii shipments. Up to 5 inches and slightly aggressive. LCK, CF and Iwarna frequently have this wrasse and inexpensive.

Also lose colour easily in v bright tank.

[yikai]

thank you digiman. haven had time to do a proper thread of these fishes. will do it soon if i have the time.

[kueytoc]

Sigh !...in memory of moi sexy ROSIE mate.

[Digiman]

Sigh !...in memory of moi sexy ROSIE mate.

May i know how did it die? Is it a difficult wrasse?

[kueytoc]

Not a difficult wrassey I must say but mine alpha-stud at 4 inches showpiece size was super shy. Always hovered inside crevice and waiting for pellets to drift by. I think it perished either due to intestinal worms or not enuff food to sustain its health recovery considering that it has travelled a rather long & stressful distance across the Pacific Ocean.

In fact, I bought a pair & the poor ole' stressful female didn't even pull through the 1st nite. Sigh !...painful memorie$...mi$$ed the pinky beauty.

May i know how did it die? Is it a difficult wrasse?