Melanurus Wrasse

Overview

The Melanurus Wrasse is a colourful, active fish with a green-to-blue body, fine pink striping, and a distinctive dark spot near the tail, popular for its hardiness and useful pest-control behaviour. It actively hunts small nuisance invertebrates such as pest flatworms and bristleworms, making it a common choice for keepers dealing with an outbreak.

It's one of the easier wrasses to keep, generally adapting well to aquarium life and accepting a wide range of prepared foods without much fuss.

As with other sand-diving wrasses, a soft, sufficiently deep sand bed is important, since burying itself in sand at night or when startled is a core natural behaviour rather than an occasional quirk.

Compatibility

Melanurus Wrasses are peaceful toward fish tankmates and generally coexist well with a wide range of community species. They can occasionally prey on small invertebrates like ornamental shrimp or snails, so this species is rated reef safe with caution.

They are not aggressive toward other fish and mix well with tangs, angelfish, and other peaceful to semi-aggressive tankmates.

Health & quarantine

This is a hardy, adaptable species with few chronic health issues, though a sufficiently deep, soft sand bed is essential for its wellbeing given its sand-diving habit. A standard quarantine period of two to four weeks is recommended, and this species generally acclimates and feeds well with minimal issues.