Cleaner Wrasse

[leecara]

i will / well i was going to be getting one so ive been doing some reaserch and it sais that they will only lives weeks in capitivity and that they are hard to keep heres a example
site 1
Though a wonderful addition to a tank, cleaner wrasses should not be bought. The reason being is that the removal of them from the oceans impacts in such an immensely negative way, that the coral reefs suffer greatly. Our hobby is threatened by the possibility of sanctions in the USA. We should make every possible step to prevent that from happening. One way to do this is to use only sustainable methods of capturing organisms, removing cleaner wrasses not only hurts the wrasses, but the entire eco-system revolving around them. A much better idea would be to use neon gobys as a parasite remover, because they are easily bred in captivity.
site 2
As recently as the mid 1990's, the Cleaner Wrasses were regarded as a beneficial addition to the marine hobbyist's aquarium. Tens of thousands of these little fish have been brought into the industry. Out of those, there is just a sprinkling of reports describing any sort of success in keeping this fish alive.
With the increased knowledge of their specialized requirements, and the extreme difficulty of sustaining them in captivity,
cleaner wrasses are no longer recommended for the home marine aquarium

what your view on this etc......

 

[Matty P]

I have had a Red Sea Cleaner Wrasse for about 5-6 months and have had no problems at all, although they are relitively hard to keep in captivity.

Matt

 

[leecara]

well they do look good but my main reason getting one was for eating white spot but now i reckon i i wll be going with neon goby but if people have any more info well you know were to post it

 

[Matty P]

Neon Gobies are nice little fish as well.

 

[leecara]

thanks for the info
if you want to see how my tank goes through with the stocking list i have a t.journal as you can see in my sig i will be soon posting by stocklist on it

lee

 

[tmreynolds]

well they do look good but my main reason getting one was for eating white spot but now i reckon i i wll be going with neon goby but if people have any more info well you know were to post it

IMO, get a cleaner shrimp, or neon goby for control of ich. Cleaner wrasse need very large tanks with hundreds of fish before you should consider one.

 

[leecara]

i have 2 cleaners so thats good i will probaly add a neon goby aswell and i will not be adding a cleaner wrasse

 

[Matty P]

yeh cleaner shrimp are great additions too.
I have 2 scarlet cleaner shrimps, 2 sand sifting starfish, 20 turbo snails and a Red Sea Cleaner Wrasse (avatar) for my clean up crew.

Matt

 

[andywg]

If you want some decent information on cleaner wrasses, then you can't go far wrong with Bob Fenner:

This is the genus of obligate Cleaner Wrasses most celebrated for establishing stations in the wild that are frequented by "local" reef fishes and pelagics for removing parasites and necrotic tissue. Perhaps shocking to most aquarists, all the Labroides rate a dismal (3) in survivability, even the ubiquitously offered common or Blue Cleaner Wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus. None of the Labroides should be removed, not only for the fact that almost all perish within a few weeks of wild capture, but for the valuable role they play as cleaners.

...

On with the issue at hand. One of the wrasse family's fifty eight genera is Labroides, with five described species. The most commonly available is the black, blue and white lined Labroides dimidiatus; the other four have other colors, cost much more money (a few to several tens of dollars U.S.) and should not be offered to the hobby, or encouraged to be so by their purchase.

 

[Lynden]

If you can find a Labroides that is eating, it will prove an easy fish to keep. I've owned three of them (the first two were before I knew how dismal their survival rates are) and of those three, two survived well until they were killed by a "tank epidemic". One simply hid away and died.

 

[andywg]

If you can find a Labroides that is eating, it will prove an easy fish to keep. I've owned three of them (the first two were before I knew how dismal their survival rates are) and of those three, two survived well until they were killed by a "tank epidemic". One simply hid away and died.

But it is not just them living in the tank.

The wrasses treat hundreds of fish in the wild. Think of the effect on that area of the reef when the wrasse is removed from its cleaning station.

 

[Lynden]

Agreed. I bought my last one from a place that had had him for months; they were not going to order any more for the above reason.

 

[Allen]

I bought one last week and hes feeding on everything I throw in.

Flake, Frozen Brine Shrimp, Atremia.

I guess I was lucky.

 

[Lynden]

Labroides dimidiatus often feeds in captivity. The problem is, as above, that the cleaner would have serviced many fish in the wild and he no longer gets to do so. This leaves the wild fish in a potentially dangerous situation, as they will be at risk from parasites.