Peacock Wrasse

Peacock Wrasse

The Peacock Wrasse (Macropharyngodon bipartitus), also called the divided or vermiculite leopard wrasse, is one of the most beautiful small wrasses in the hobby — males in particular blaze in green, orange and electric blue. Like all leopard wrasses, it is as delicate as it is lovely, with feeding the central challenge. It is firmly a fish for established, microfauna-rich reef systems and experienced keepers.

A charming trait of the leopard wrasses is their habit of burying themselves in the sand to sleep and when alarmed, vanishing beneath the substrate and re-emerging unharmed.

Natural Habitat & Origin

Macropharyngodon bipartitus is found in the western Indian Ocean, where it lives over areas of mixed sand and coral on lagoon and seaward reefs, picking continuously at the substrate for tiny invertebrates and burying in the sand at night.

In captivity this makes two things essential: an open, fine sand bed it can bury in, and a mature tank rich in the small live foods it grazes.

Care Requirements

Maintain stable marine conditions: salinity around 1.024–1.026, pH 8.1–8.4, and a temperature of about 24–26°C (75–79°F). Reaching about 13 cm (5 inches), it should be kept in a mature tank of around 200 litres (about 55 US gallons) or more with a soft sand bed deep enough for burrowing. A secure lid is important, as wrasses jump. The tank's biological maturity — ideally with a refugium supplying copepods and amphipods — matters more than its size.

Diet & Feeding

The Peacock Wrasse is a micro-carnivore, feeding on small benthic invertebrates picked from sand and rock. Feeding is the defining difficulty: newly imported specimens often refuse prepared foods and rely on natural microfauna. Provide a mature tank with abundant live copepods and amphipods, and tempt it onto frequent small meals of frozen mysis, enriched brine shrimp and finely chopped seafood. Watch its condition closely — a thin leopard wrasse needs immediate, frequent live feeding.

Behavior & Temperament

This is a peaceful, non-aggressive fish that bothers no one, spending its day foraging over the sand and rock and its nights buried beneath the substrate. It can be kept singly or, in a large tank, as a compatible group. Its delicacy, not its temperament, is the limiting factor.

Tank Mates

Pair it with calm, non-aggressive reef fish — other peaceful wrasses, gobies, anthias, cardinalfish and similar — that won't outcompete it for food. Avoid boisterous or greedy tankmates. It is fully reef-safe, leaving corals and ornamental invertebrates alone, and is an excellent choice for a peaceful, mature reef.

Breeding

Macropharyngodon bipartitus is a protogynous hermaphrodite and pelagic spawner; rearing the larvae is not achievable in the home aquarium, so trade specimens are wild-collected.

Common Health Issues

The overriding risk for this species is starvation in an immature or under-fed tank, so feeding response and a mature, copepod-rich system are the priorities before acquiring one. Leopard wrasses are also sensitive during shipping and acclimation. Like all marine fish they can be affected by marine ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) and marine velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum), though their sand-burying habit means quarantine tanks need a sand bed. Choose a feeding specimen, provide a mature reef with a deep sand bed, and this exquisite wrasse can thrive in the right hands.