Paracheilinus cyaneus
| Difficulty | Low |
| Minimum Tank Size | 55 Gallons |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Water Parameters | 72-78 F, pH 8-8.4, Salinity 1.020-1.025 |
| Aggression | Peaceful |
| Size | 3" |
Peaceful, colorful and full of activity, the Blue Flasher Wrasse can easily bring new life to an established tank.
A member of the Labridae family, the Blue Flasher Wrasse hails from Indonesia and resides in the Central Pacific, Derawan Island, Sulawesi and the Togean Islands. They are one of the few wrasses who do well with small, passive marine fish, as they will encourage them to spend more time out of the rockwork.
Tank Specific Need
The Blue Flasher Wrasse should have a wide enough tank to dark quickly from side to side, as they will frequently do this while flashing their colors.
Tanks with Blue Flasher Wrasse should have tight fitting lids, with its cut outs well covered. While the Blue Flasher Wrasse may not jump frequently on their own, the quick darting motion can sometimes startle other fish into jumping.
If keeping multiple male Blue Flasher Wrasse you will need a large tank of at least 135 gallons. While the Blue Flasher Wrasse is extremely peaceful to most fish, males will still fight with other males when given too little room. This aggression can be curved with multiple female flasher wrasse, which will also increase the frequency of the males flashing display.
Finally the Blue Flasher wrasse does well when given plenty of rockwork to weave in and out of. When threatened they will duck into the rockwork before looking out from the shadows.
Tank Mates to Avoid
The Blue Flasher Wrasse is a great fish for any marine tank so long as it is not the target of larger, more aggressive fish. They will not show aggression towards most other wrasse, small fish or even inverts.
The Blue Flasher Wrasse will however harass very similar looking wrasse and may eat very small shrimp. Make sure your various shrimp are at least medium sized before introducing the Blue Flasher Wrasse.
Diet & Feeding
The Blue Flasher Wrasse should be a fed a diet of high quality pellets or flaked food. They will also enjoy both frozen and live brine/mysis shrimp.
The Blue Flasher Wrasse should be fed 2-3 times per day. They do not have large enough stomachs to survive off 1-2 feedings per day and will quickly become malnourished if they are not fed frequently enough. Unlike many wrasse, they will not pick food from the rockwork.
Keep the other fish in mind. The Blue Flasher Wrasse is quick and may steal food that slower fish are approaching. If you are feeding slow hunters, such as mandarins, you may need to distract the wrasse and feed the slow fish at the same time.
Note that the Blue Flasher Wrasse takes a while to eat a single shrimp, making mysis an excellent choice to distract the wrasse while you feed slower fish.
Breeding & Sexing
The Blue Flasher Wrasse spawns with Pelagic eggs, meaning they need massive bodies of water to breed successfully. As such, they cannot be bred in the home aquarium.
Unlike most wrasse, the Blue Flasher Wrasse is not too difficult to introduce to a female of the species, as they are far less aggressive than most others. There may be a few nips and some chasing, however the difference in coloration is very clear and should have the two pair easily.
Male Blue Flasher Wrasse are significantly more colorful than females. The males will show a distinct blue color on both their bodies and fins while flashing, while the females will be much more uniform with their body color.
