Why/How I'm catching my Melanurus Wrasse! (CAUGHT!)

Melanurus Wrasse, usually a fantastic utility fish in most reef aquarium -- unfortunately is being rehomed in my case, due to a very specific set of circumstance. I am currently battling Aiptasia (and Asterina Starfish, to a lesser extend); Aiptasia Eating Filefish has not yielded any result, nor has F-Aiptasia provided any long-term win. As a result, I will try my hands on the Berghia Nudibranch or the good ol Peppermint Shrimp. Before I could do that though, I would need to remove my Melanurus Wrasse from the display tank because the wrasse would hunt down the nudi or shrimp in a hurry. Along the same line, I plan to try Harlequin Shrimp again to address the Asterina Starfish, and in order to introduce a shrimp, once again the wrasse may provide to be a challenge. Thus the path forward is clear...
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Chapters:
0:00 The 3 fish I am trying to catch... (well, one was already caught)
2:02 What? Hippo Tang??
3:25 Why the Melanurus Wrasse?
7:11 Yellow Tang's HLLE, why and how I plan to treat it
8:28 Let the fishing begin!
9:41 This is for all the doubters!!!
11:23 Yellow Tang does not care
13:19 The moment of truth.
15:02 Melanurus Wrasse off to a good home!
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Instagram: @inappropriatereefer
Email: [e-mail]

[@multanemo]

Hey friend, the nudis are nocturnal and that wrasse is diurnal. They’ll never, ever meet. Trust me, I used them for years with wrasses. Hope that helps!

[@InappropriateReefer]

This is excellent news, I will be a bit bolder when re-introducing a wrasse into the system even when the Nudis are still around. Thank you for the info!

[@thoricdavid8174]

Dude that helps me too!

[@multanemo]

Introduce the nudis at night. By the time the wrasses wake up, they will have hidden already. I have also read in this thread that they won’t eat big aiptasia. Let me qualify that: snmall ones won’t, but when mature, 1 adult will kill the largest of aiptasia. What happens with these nudis is they usually starve, so you’ll have to repeat the process every couple of months, which can be costly if you don’t breed them. Long term, aiptasia can be controlled through limiting nutrients, but that’s a double-edged sword in a hungry tank. I had mostly nocturnal aiptasia, they’re a lot smaller than the garden variety. Finally, the best way to fight aiptasia is to never get them in the first place. That means quarantine, which is not feasible for everyone.

[@frankpohl8746]

I put a weight on top of the door making it close faster.

[@Chefyoursis]

As a uk reefer, 90% of videos you see they don’t show that aptasia and pests are super common and don’t show a way around dealing with it, so props to you sir for promoting all your bad as well as good

[@InappropriateReefer]

Thanks! I have no shame and nothing but the ugliest truth for everyone. ;-)

[@thoricdavid8174]

I used nudis on my 30 gal. I bought 3 of them and a month later, and ever since my tank has been free of pest nems! Been clear for 6 months.

[@InappropriateReefer]

That is excellent to hear and congrats! I wish to have the same success

[@je3902]

I tried the nudibranch route. While I thought all were cleared from my tank, they always seemed to miss one, and now I am back into the original problem. I am in the acceptance phase of this misery and now just zap aiptasia with kalk and tank water on sight...appears to be effective, but you have to pay attention.

[@InappropriateReefer]

I agree with you that I don't think the Nudis (or Shirmps.. etc) would get every last pest, they would likely come back. It is likely as you said to just knock the pests back to a more manageable level until the next outbreak, when we would require their help again! Maybe a rental business is in order?

[@trentdingo]

A few months ago I added nudibranch to my system to hit the aptasia. My sixlines, melanurus, and Harquelin tuskfish did not prohibit them from breeding and consuming all the aptasia. It did take a month for the population to start laying eggs and become effective against the aptasia.

[@InappropriateReefer]

This is excellent to hear, I'd feel better re-introducing wrasse to the system when it comes time, thank you!

[@Venom-kf6jp]

I love my melanurus. Glad he went to a good home. Keep that flow high! lol. I like zoas.

[@EsteGlez]

This was exciting to watch 😁

[@InappropriateReefer]

Thanks for watching!

[@volteface69]

Merci pour cette vidéo !!!🙏🙏🙏

[@BryznsReef]

Good ol blenny video 🤣 your anacropora is growing like crazy!

[@InappropriateReefer]

Thanks for watching all these times! ;-)

[@RogueAquariums]

Nice job in trapping the melanarus wrasse Mok-yi. I have had mine for approximately four years and I think he eliminated my peppermint shrimp which I put in there. I do have a CBB, and he has kept the aptasia at bay. I think it would be a great idea to put the nudis in to help eliminate the aptasia. 👍

[@Brad.Hobbies]

Peppermint shrimps have been great at cleaning aiptasia for me in the past, they like to be in groups. I find 6 to make a good team in a 4 foot system. It's my opinion you're doing this your hardest way to the easiest way 😂🤙

[@InappropriateReefer]

lol! I'm afraid the Peppermint Shrimps would also tear up my corals!

[@Brad.Hobbies]

@@InappropriateReefer that's fair, I haven't had any problems with them but I could see that with some of the LPS as shrimp tend to be opportunistic feeders.

[@simonlockley-evans3925]

I love your videos, man, and you are such a great guy to be creating content in the hobby. That tank looks awful right now, though I've got to be honest. I've seen your tanks look so much better in the past. I'm not saying it to be horrible. You probably know and are just going through the journey to get it looking great again, I'd assume.

[@coltonmantolino602]

my 120 was infested with aptasia. introduced 5 large bergias to my sump / overflow and they ate all my aptasia no problem even with having a yellow coris and tamarin wrasse in the tank. so its def. doable with wrasses

[@InappropriateReefer]

Interesting that you introduced them into the sump & overflow instead of the display. Did they eventually make their way into the display and took care of the Aiptasias, even with a Yellow Coris around?

[@coltonmantolino602]

@@InappropriateReefermy overflow and sump had a large population of aptasia so introducing them there first helped with boosting their populations and they eventually made their way to the display. And as someone mentioned in your comments I too noticed that the nudis would only come out at night so my wrasses never really had any chances to pick them off.

[@mostlycorallites4018]

Soaking nori in selcon helped me a ton with my yellow tang when I had it

[@homegrownfrags6531]

BERGHIA FOR THE WIN, EVERYTIME!!!!

[@Joseph-pr2lq]

I got a peppermint that made a snack of a Ny Knicks torch I’d never use them again.

[@samoryTure]

Give the aiptasia the one two treatment. Peppermint Shrimp and the copperband. They took care of all my aiptasia in less than a week. I went overboard with the peppermint. I bought 3 fisrt and thought they died. And got two more. It happened the first 3 were just hiding in the rocks. Filefish is useless, at least in my case. It ended up eating my duncan and other LPS.

[@homegrownfrags6531]

Yep filefish are so hit and miss, and it seems more miss than hit, did the same to me amd then went for zoos 😢

[@InappropriateReefer]

yeah this time the filefish did not work for me. The last 2 I tried in the past eventually started eating the aiptasias but not this one. I have second thoughts on the Copperband since I have clams and may need to feed frozen food every day (I don't at the moment), and peppermint could work, though afraid they may pick at other corals.. figure I'd try the Nudis first and then Peppermint if the Nudis don't work out!

[@ReefAdventure]

Nice video! I will follow 😊

[@marcflynn254]

I have caught some many fish out off my own and other ppl tanks in the uk with a small fishing rod tip 2 lb line size 22 hook easy no stress pice off brine strimp job done hope that helps

[@dnyceli]

Yes!!! 🙌

[@cesar68033]

I also caught my wrasse with that same trap but I use the extra large size one he was the last fish to get in there. I could’ve caught every fish in my aquarium 20 times before that wrasse and I ve added Berghia 6 of them and I put them in my sump 1st and I’ve noticed a difference in my sump but they are eating slow and I’ve only been able to see 4 of them so far hope they still all alive

[@schukls993]

Do you tie the fish trap to something and like cut the line, or do you hold it tight and wait while trying to trap, or do you kind of sideways it until it gets caught like I am trying right now? Thanks, I am regretting not getting the nyos trap as well lol. my royal gramma is so skittish. She hides all day and darts out for food and runs back. I have no idea what I am going to do..

[@InappropriateReefer]

Ha good question! I usually tie the string to the tank stand to keep the door up (but not too tight) and let the fish get used to feeding from the food floating out of the trap, when I feel like the fish is a bit bolder, I would pull a bit of slack from the string and hold the string up closer to the top so the door would come down smoothly, instead of getting stuck due to friction, if that makes sense. For royal gramma, I may try to move the trap lower to middle/bottom of the tank and close to the rock work, and drop some frozen into the food section of the trap. I think eventually it would get comfortable enough to swim in for a quick bite. The longest I have kept the trap in has been around one week. Eventually I have been able to catch all the fish that I targeted with this trap, just needs a little time! One more thing I would try is maybe a small mirror inside the trap; some fish reacts pretty strongly towards it. Good luck!

[@schukls993]

@@InappropriateReefer Thank you for your tips! I finally caught her.... lol I just needed to learn to be more patient and let her get comfortable eating in the trap. I think I will catch fish much faster next time. You just have to learn to be patient. I was trying to catch her every other day at first. I did go on a trip or I would have caught her sooner. Thanks again!

[@QuitoWarrior]

Wow your tank has grown so much since you first started it. Are you loking how it's developed?

[@InappropriateReefer]

Things fill out quick once the corals get going, first year was very bare! Now I just need to curate a little more and pick which corals to continue growing and which ones to move!

[@pasci0057]

I added bergiha at night when i had a yellow coris wrasse and a leapord wrasse… no issues for me with wrasse as the nudis are nocturnal

[@InappropriateReefer]

Good to know, I'd feel better in the future when I reintroduce a wrasse (probably a Leopard), thank you!

[@johncondoleobat]

Cool entertaining!

[@InappropriateReefer]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@MultiJono123]

Just a heads up peppermints can take a liking to hamers and torch killed my hammer had to remove it also stripped a patch off my birdsnest lol

[@InappropriateReefer]

That's my fear!

[@ThatDaveGuy77]

Have you thought about getting a Molly miller blenny to take out those aipitasia?

[@InappropriateReefer]

I have in the past, but a bit gun-shy from blenny nipping at clam mantles!

[@staraquascaper734]

Hi what’s the name of that trap please ?

[@mattystraffy]

Why don’t you try with a chelmon rostratus for aiptasia? Berghias could finish into wavepumps

[@InappropriateReefer]

I'm afraid of it picking at clams (esp since I have two small ones) and may need to start feeding frozen food... hoping to keep the system as low-maintenance as possible!

[@carlosbarajas382]

You can ask your local fish store..store credit

[@grampskraka6976]

Get rid of the activated carbon for the yellow tang, give it a few months and you will see a huge difference inhabit before and after pictures of my yellow tang that happened to.

[@InappropriateReefer]

I'll likely cut back on the activated carbon... I do some some large leathers & gorgonians in the system that I am running the carbon for to keep the chemical warfare at bay, the large leather is not as happy in the corner, so I may rehome it and then cut back on carbon. Thanks for the rec!

[@foxchase725]

melanaurus are easy enough to replace (and cheap) id cut my loses and get a smaller one next time. wouldnt bother asking someone to even attempt trying to catch it. smaller one also means you get to watch it grow

[@InappropriateReefer]

I agree with you. I think I'd try a (small) Leopard Wrasse in the future when it comes time to re-introduce a wrasse!

[@TonysCorals]

time for a 200 gallon :) And peppermint shrimp would eat the aiptasia I put them in and I cant see any aiptasia in my 200 gallon now I put them in sump to get the ones down there and I dont see any there too. But you have to get the right species of peppermint shrimp some eat LPS and thats no good!

[@InappropriateReefer]

The picking of coral is what I am fearing! (and the low confidence of getting the right type)

[@arods_reef]

You have radions. Just put your live demo on to red lightning on only and that would make it easier to catch your hippo

[@InappropriateReefer]

Good idea

[@KentuckyReef]

My hippo has started picking at my sps. Time to go!

[@InappropriateReefer]

Picking at SPS as well?? Ok I think my guy's days are numbered, lol

[@sandyraymondlowewong9705]

Impressive catch! For aiptasia, why not try the molly miller blenny? Make sure you don't get the wrong fish. Biota carries captive bred ones and they guarantee it'll eat your aiptasia.

[@InappropriateReefer]

Yep, I got the wrong Blenny in the past (got an Atlantic Oyster Blenny instead). I never really considered the Blenny as main Aiptasia control because I feel like Aiptasia is not their main diet? I will double check, they could turn out to be awesome. Although I would be concern of it picking at clams.

[@sandyraymondlowewong9705]

@@InappropriateReefer You might to check with Biota if the molly miller blenny if they would pick on clams. When you got that blenny (Atlantic Oyster blenny), I thought it didn't look like a molly miller blenny. I had a molly miller blenny in the past and while I never saw them eat it, the aiptasia just disappeared.

[@InappropriateReefer]

@@sandyraymondlowewong9705 did you have a pretty big infestation of aiptasia initially, or was it just one here and there? curious how aggressive the blenny goes after the aiptasias.

[@sandyraymondlowewong9705]

@opriateReefer I only had a few mid-small aiptasia. I read that the molly miller blenny would eat it and they're also great algae eaters as well so I got a wild one from my LFS. I was quite skeptical at first but after about 7-10 days, they all disappeared. It's still in my tank as a prevention. I never saw another one since. I don't have any clams so I have no idea if it'll go after it. Biota has CB ones. They claim they'll eat the small ones as well as bubble algae too. Maybe try contacting them to see if they will go after your clam. If not, it'll be the perfect fish for your tank. Also, you might also want to consider a springer damsel for flatworm control. They're a very peaceful as well.

[@justincarpenter9612]

Link for the fish trap? Love your videos

[@InappropriateReefer]

On Amazon: amzn.to/4cqtWyR -- thanks for the love!

[@justincarpenter9612]

@@InappropriateReefer thank you 😊

[@queencityreefs]

🙌🔥💯✌️👏

[@rhombifer566]

They definitely do Nippet corals that's the reason I would use to get rid of it not that the tanks too small the tanks plenty big enough but they definitely are not safe when they get bigger😊

[@InappropriateReefer]

Another vote for Hippo not as reef-safe... thanks for the data point!

[@rhombifer566]

I've kept saltwater fish for 30 years and at least 3 to 4 blue tanks in that 30 years. I've tried to keep not one of them was reef safe once they got big not one.

[@InappropriateReefer]

@@rhombifer566 That's what Danny from NY warned me about as well, and now I see enough comments to confirm. May I ask what type of corals yours went after, and roughly what size they were when they turned?

[@rhombifer566]

Mostly LPS corals also would bite off Zoe's when I had Wood pretty much attack. Any kind of soft corals and LPS squirrel. The last one I had mostly just attacked LPS corals

[@InappropriateReefer]

@@rhombifer566 Thank you for sharing your experiences, much appreciated!

[@rhombifer566]

There plenty of room for blue tang

[@isiahsanders7466]

At this point you just letting them grow. Like the ones in the top of your tank should be manually took out. Yea you can get a file fish and hope they do the job but why not get in there and help?

[@pjgoblin3435]

Berghia will not touch large aptasia they will only eat small ones, I would invest in a troop of peppermint shrimp.👍

[@revZ098]

U gotta be careful with peppermint shrimps. Mine went after my jawbreaker mushrooms. Ultimately they had to go. But they did clear up my aquarium of aptasia within a week

[@InappropriateReefer]

Thanks for the heads up on the larger aiptasias, I did not realize that. Looks like a level of manual removal would still be necessary. I'd probably try Peppermint next as I'm afraid they'd go after coral as @revZ098 mentioned (esp since I have Jawbreaker mushrooms too!)

[@revZ098]

@@InappropriateReefer i would try the ITC reef delete for the big aptasia and try some bergia nudibranchs for the small ones. Or maybe look for a copperband butterfly and put the yellow tang in the sump for a week or 2. Then reintroduce after .

[@InappropriateReefer]

@@revZ098I'm curious about the reef delete although initial reviews seems a little dodgy (main issue is having to train the laser on the aiptasia for a long time, and multiple treatments on each), wondering if you have had hands-on experience w/ it? I am curious about it. Would love a CBB if I can make sure it would not pick on my clams... !

[@revZ098]

@@InappropriateReefer yes i think they rectified this issue with the new updated version of the reef delete which is supposed to be stronger than the previous gen one. I dont have personal experience with it but i have read reviews of other people using the updated version and they had success with it .

[@jasonsylvander3089]

Caught my file fish eating zoas and my torch

[@Toozkek]

I added 6 nudis couple weeks ago and now I see how every morning aiptasia disappears one by one

[@InappropriateReefer]

This is excellent!

[@brianchristenson5802]

Will you sell me a fragrance of the golden rod? Please

[@InappropriateReefer]

If you are around Maryland, happy to!

[@danchac01]

I had a blue hippo tang in the past that ate zoas it’s probably hippo 🥴

[@InappropriateReefer]

Thanks for the bad news 😝

[@lifebidesign]

Wow the tank is a total mess looks neglected big time! Wonder how much more you can stuff in their, POOR Fish no swimming room :( Been watching your tank since you set it up I think you need a bigger tank since you already ran out of room. LOL

[@InappropriateReefer]

Tank is totally being neglected these days, lol! I did rescape the tank since and it is looking a bit more presentable, will show in an upcoming video! ;-) I think for my next time, I'd like to down-size to perhaps a 93g cube... that'd be my ideal size at the moment.

[@solomonsisland7500]

Get an Australian stripey aptasia killer!!

[@InappropriateReefer]

I was _this close_ to getting one! Ultimately heard that they may go after LPS so decided to try other solutions first

[@solomonsisland7500]

@@InappropriateReefer yes I’ve heard that as well but mine is a model citizen I’ve also let him clean up the frag tank as well

[@InappropriateReefer]

@@solomonsisland7500 to be fair I did hear that if you keep the stripey well-fed, it'd probably leave the corals alone! how do you like the fish itself in terms of personality?

[@solomonsisland7500]

@@InappropriateReefer he’s super chill, gets along with every fish in the tank, aptasia was huge issue in my tank because it was stinging my sps, and there was no way I was gonna use any chemicals, I almost lost hope til I got him now you’d be lucky if you find one aptasia in my tank

[@jaybeastn604]

OMG i would quit if i had aptasia like yours lol 3 years strong with none

[@InappropriateReefer]

lol you haven't seen my earlier tanks when I used tap water instead of RODI; you learn to live with certain things. 😆

[@jaybeastn604]

@@InappropriateReefer thats how i started with my first tank lol i never tested but visually it didnt look too bad.

[@bluereef9530]

Looks like you got a lot of over growth.

[@InappropriateReefer]

Absolutely, a house cleaning is in order!

[@Snake2s]

ss

[@larsschurmann4773]

be more responsible with your fish stocking. It's like every second fish needs to move out or dies just because you don't give a f*** for their well being. These are sentient vertebrates not some gadgets from Wish.Also the tank ist way too small for blue tangs

[@InappropriateReefer]

I agree with you fish stocking list could be better right from the start, although there are unexpected things that change with the systems or new information you learn along that way that warrants changes to the stock list. I disagree that rehoming fish is an issue, especially if they have been healthy and are going to a better home. I am in the camp of being OK with a small tang in a smaller size-appropriate tank if they could be moved to a size-appropriate system once larger. That said, I am glad there are more appropriate reefers like you out there speaking up for the animals.

[@dedbaux292]

ill take the hippo! from philadelphia 300 galloon!