Aquarium hobbyists may not agree on much, like how to set up an aquarium, how to acclimate livestock, or how to efficiently deal with nutrients, mineral replenishment etc. But whether you have a freshwater tank, a reef aquarium or even a pond, most of us can probably get on the same page about the excitement of adding new livestock to our aquatic displays.
Judging by the viral popularity of our latest video where we add a new fish to our Montipora peninsula reef tank, our viewers loved it too! After all, when we set up aquatic environments capable of supporting life, every step of the way we daydream and imagine how new corals, fish, clams, anemones and plants will look in the aquarium, and how they will do over time.
This is precisely why it was so fun adding a new, completely different reef fish to this five foot reef tank, which is currently populated by tangs, damsels, a few basslets and a dottyback. The African Exquisite fairy wrasse, Cirrhilabrus exquisitus, has always been one of our favorite small, ornamental labrids and we were fortunate to pick up a really nice male at one of our LFS.
The slender, active & colorful exquisite wrasse fit in very well with the established aquarium fish population, probably because there are no others its size or shape, and no others which like to swim around the top half of the aquarium like it does. Unlike many other much more gaudy aquarium fairy wrasses, the exquisite fairy wrasse needs an ideal environment such as a medium to large reef tank to really come into its own, and become the superstar ‘terminal phase male’ that it can.
Hopefully we get to see some nuptial displays from this fish soon at which point we’ll be sure to circle back and show him off some more!
