Cleaner Wrasse

[jen20147]

Saw a Cleaner Wrasse at Petco, didnt buy him because we got ich from Petco when we bought an Anemone there. I called the fish store that we prefer to shop from and the guy who answered said that Cleaner Wrasse should never be kept in captivity because they only eat parasites, so when you dont have parasites, it will die.

Anybody else hear this??

 

[superman]

Yes, the vast majority of cleaner wrasses do not live in captivity. SOME will eat other food, but will iwther away over time. Not a good choice for a marine aquarium.

 

[Aquascaper]

Also there is a 'false' cleaner wrasse which harasses your fish and nips them rather than cleaning them, Nav had one a while back

 

[Navarre]

Yep i had a false cleaner and what a nightmare that was!!

The problem withcleaners is that they do feed exclusivly on parasites. In the wild this is not a problem as the fish will cue up to be cleaned and the wrasse gets a supply of food.
With an enclosed tank this means the fish will soon be rid of parasites and then the cleaner has no more food to feed upon.
There are reports of some cleaners taking other foods but the problem is that their digestive system is not designed to eat anything else, the food they intake wil not be digeted coreclty and eventually the wrasse will starve to death even with a seeming readiful supply of food. Definately not a fish that should be kept in a home tank. There are reports on hawaian cleanrs being more successful but to be honest i still feel they should not be kept (unless you feel its a rescue case). The other down side if of course that the cleaner will constantly harass other fish to be cleaned in its consant need for food. This can of course stress out the other fish

 

[jen20147]

it makes you wonder why some places wont stock them and other places, like one we went to today, has like 20 of them. I guess some people will just stock to make money.

 

[Navarre]

alas that is the case. Sadly there are also LFS that have little knowledge on the liverstock they are getting. I know of many shops that sell zoos and when you ask the assistant if they are aware of the deadly toxins they produce they simply have no idea. Sadly this is true with many fish as well.. Shops buy them and are simply ignorant to their needs.

 

[L200]

How long would you expect a cleaner wrasse thats feeding on flake,cyclopeeze,lancefish,brine shrimp,mysis to last just as a rough idea??

 

[Aquascaper]

How long would you expect a cleaner wrasse thats feeding on flake,cyclopeeze,lancefish,brine shrimp,mysis to last just as a rough idea??

About as long as a piece of string

 

[superman]

DON"T BUY THE FISH. You would then be supporting the trade of these which contributes to the killing of thousands of these fish a year.

 

[plecoguy]

i agree, dont buy the fish. i work in a private fish store (ma and pa style store) and we have a 125 gallon saltwater tank that we sell only the corals out of. we do have a cleaner wrasse in that tank, and he has been there for years, he readily takes flake, brine, and a food that my boss makes (shrimp algae, and a bunch of other stuff). even with this one success story, we will not carry the fish in our store for sale, too many die.