Cleaner Wrasses - Do they help!?!?

[drewbles99]

Does anybody have experience with cleaner wrasses that they can share? I am curious how effective they are at really removing parasites. I have bit of an outbreak that my tank is fighting and my fish have a few spots (see post: How quickly can I assume...)

I really wonder if a cleaner wrasse or other parasite removing creature would benefit the tank or just increase the stress load.

Thanks for you thoughts!

 

[tuwhada]

I have to tell you they aer not very hardy fish. I tried to get one and it died within a day. Also at the lfs that I work at they come in all the time and they just suddenly die. I would recommend a cleaner shrimp. When I put one in my tank the fish swam right up to him and put his body in front of him.

Good luck

Christina

 

[snapcrackler]

You may want to avoid getting one because they are an important part of our ocean reefs and there is only a relatively tiny amount of them that "set up shop" in the reefs with 2-3 wrasses per cleaning station to clean LOTS of fish in the ocean. Since they mainly eat parasites they would be not happy in a reef tank either.

 

[flatzboy]

Drewbles, I am going to my LFS to get one today they got a shipment in yesterday but I didn't make it there because my mom had to work late. My clownfish has some parasites and I'll let you know how he did with cleaning. I also put a cleaner shrimp in there but the clownfish hasn't let him clean but he sure does like to clean my hand.

 

[steve-s]

Cleaner wrasses are probabley the hardest fish to keep in a closed sytem. The foods they require cannot be provided for properly and they often starve or slowly waste away. When "cleaning" a fish in the home aquarium they are not actually removing any protozoans. They are scavanging fish slime and scales off other fish in abscence of their natural foods which is not C. irritans. Please read ... Labroides wrasses

The next best hope is either a sharknose/neon boby or as mentioned a cleaner shrimp. These too offer false hope. In the wild, animals of this nature have success due to the fact the fish is not in a closed system like our tanks where they can become re-infested. These "cleaning" animals may offer temporary relief for the fish but do absolutely nothing to rid the environment (your tank) of the pest parasite.

If you seriously wish to have a parasite free environment for your fish, setting up a >>quarantine tank<< and properly introducing all new fish this way will be the surest and safest method.

Cheers
Steve