Cleaner Wrasses

[adnoh]

My lfs just got a shipment of cleaner wrasses and i see them cleaning the other fish non-stop, so much that the fish were chasing them away. My tangs often swim to my cleaner shrimps to get cleaned but the shrimps dont do anything, should i get the wrass, is hard to raise?

[localhost]

I've read many places that cleaner wrasses die in captivity due to starvation. Not enought parasites available due to the limited fish it can clean. A single fish in the wild has hundreds/thousands of fish available daily to clean, instead of just 6.

Many also say that removing this fish from the wild causes a larger impact on the ecosystem where they are removed more than most other species. A neon goby is reportedly a better fish for the task that are normally tank-bred.

Actually the main diet of these types of wrasses is mainly dead skin, scales, fish slime and parasitic copepods. The evidence of them actually having any effect on other parasites (C. irritans especially) has been nil.

Some can actually adapt to captive aquaria but it's few and far between.

Cheers
Steve

[AquaReefer]

Yeah we Have one in our system at work that we do not sell. He love when we get new fish in, cleaning away. Also he is eating live adult brine and Nori.

[tecwzrd]

My lfs has about 3 at all times but never sells them because of their dismal survival rate in captivity. They only survive at the lfs because they get new shipments in twice a week and have something to clean/eat. I would personally never buy from a lfs that actually sold them

[austinsdad]

The cleaner wrasse seems to be a choice of some LFSers to help clean new arrivals of other fish. You don't want to bring them home. I agree with the neon blue goby choice for cleaners that also eat regular foods. I'd try to get a mated pair. Very small fish.

[adnoh]

I just asked the lfs and they would not sell them. I told them to order me some neon gobies. Can I have both the blue and yellow neon gobies in the same tank?

[austinsdad]

Not sure, but I wouldn't try it.

Nor would I. You will actually find the blue's will cohabitate in a tank better than the yellows but I would not mix them unless a larger tank. Even though rather small fish, they seem to aquire rather large territories.

Cheers
Steve