PinkFace/Glorious Wrasse, Thalassoma Quinquevittatum

It is important to copy the natural environment by providing plenty of nooks and crannies for the fish to explore. Hobbyists should invest in a jump guard to stop any unfortunate mishaps.

Quinquevittatum WrGlorious Wrasse Wrasse, Thalassoma quinquevittatum, also go by the name Five Stripe Wrasse. They are bright and charismatic fish, perfect for adding a colour and movement in a predator tank. They have spectacular, rich green bodies, covered in bright pink stripes.

Five Stripe Wrasse males and females are sexually dimorphic. Meaning they look different even though they are the same species. Females have white bellies and pink stripes on her cheeks. Whereas, males have yellow flashes on their underside, and deep blue, circular patches on their cheeks.

These fish live in the Indo Pacific. Their range is from Indonesia and Fiji. They also occur around: Hawaiian, Ryukyu and Tuamoto islands. They live on coral reefs and in lagoons. Females and young mostly prefer sheltered areas, compared to the males. Who can be found in loose groups above coral heads. Quinquevittatum Wrasse are protogynous hermaphrodites. Which means that, when they get old enough, breeding females transition into a male.

These wrasse have large diets and are active foragers. They are able to crack through mollusc, as well as catch shrimp and small fish. They can be described as ‘rock movers’, as they will overturn loose objects on the hunt for food. Quinquevittatum wrasse can also handle larger, armoured prey, thanks to their bashing technique. This is where they throw a prey item against a surface to break it up. These behaviours are interesting to watch.

When first introduced into the aquarium, live feeder brineshrimp or mysis shrimp should be used to entice this fish to eat. It eats very small invertebrates (amphiopods) that grow on live rock. The diet should also include live, small feeder shrimps (brine, mysid) and finely chopped marine meats.

For further information on keeping Marine fish please follow this link below

https://ornamentalfish.org/what-we-do/advice-information/care-sheets/caresheets-marine-fish/