Six-line Wrasse

About

The six-line wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia) is one of those fish that looks almost too pretty to cause trouble. Six vivid horizontal stripes of orange and blue running the length of a slender body, accented by a false eyespot near the tail. But spend a few weeks with one and you'll quickly learn that the personality is every bit as bold as the coloring. In the wild, this species ranges widely across the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea down to South Africa and out to the Tuamoto Islands, typically living in shallow seaward reefs where it picks its way through coral branches in loose, small groups. It's a genuinely secretive animal in nature, but captivity tends to bring out its more assertive side. In the aquarium, this wrasse is in near-constant motion, methodically patrolling every corner of the tank in search of small crustaceans, worms, and other invertebrate prey. It's a useful hunter of pest organisms like flatworms and small bristleworms. The trade-off is temperament. Mature fish can become genuinely aggressive toward smaller or more passive tankmates, particularly when space is limited. It's a good fit for reef tanks with plenty of live rock and hiding spots, but tankmate selection deserves some careful thought.