i just bought a 6 line wrasse today. i did a few min. worth of reserch. after i releasred it into the aquarium i did some more research. it said that the 6 line wrasse will bully the mandarin and win when it comes to copapods. any body have experence with these fish??? i head there kind of nasty fish. any help/advice will be greatly appreciated. thanks brett
its not a nasty fish per se, but it will likely out compete your mandarin for food.
I once had a blue Mandarin and a nice six line wrasse in my 75 reef tank for many years. They both grew fat and happy and lived a long time. i dont recall them ever competing. but there was plenty of live food for them to hunt and eat. But they both also took to frozen brine shrimp and small mysis.
But they both also took to frozen brine shrimp and small mysis.
i think thats the key. i know six lines will eat prepared food readily, but its very rare to have a mandarin eat prepared food.
I actually belive that you can train any fish to eat frozen if you have the patience. I know of a guy who is training (sucessfully) longnose filefish to accept frozen, pellet and flake foods. For anyone who doesnt know what these are, they are an obligate corralivore (eat only sps coral polyps) that are generally doomed to failure in home aquaria. He has sucessfully trained at least 6 of these that I know of. Its all about time and patience.
I wont say that its impossible, but i think the sucess rate is low. ive tried that twice with mandarins in the past. ive tried several techniques that ive read about online. its never worked for me.
i fed some mysis today and saw the 6 liner eating. good sign. worst case i toss one into the frag tank prob wrasse. hopeing it woulnt come to that. manderin is plesently plump. wrasse isnt doing to bad eather. i will keep u guy posted on how things go.