cleaner wrasse

[Bass Master]

If a cleaner wrasse eats flake and frozen will it survive in an aquarium? Or does it get all of it's nutrition from parasites?

[joetbs]

No, it usually just eats parasites. They're best left in the ocean and shouldn't be imported at all. You'd have to have a huge tank, with many large fish to keep them healthy, and have health problems with the others in order to keep them fed(lose/lose situation). If you're looking for a good cleaner, neon gobies or cleaner shrimp are the way to go.

HTH
joe

[Bass Master]

Well, this one eats anything I put in the tank. My question is still "Does it get all of it's nutrition from parasites?"

[dc]

Well I've had mine for over 2 years, he eats anything and I've never seen him clean fish. I do see him scrape pods off the glass, he's fat and healthy so it must be ok.

[Bass Master]

dc-thanks for the reply. I do know that the survival rate of this fish is not good in home aquaria. The reason I purchased this fish was to clean a juvi. sailfin that I just acquired. It had ick when purchased. My cleaner shrimp were a little too "aggresive" for it due to it's size. The sailfin is now free of ick. Thanks again.

[EdKruzel]

They don't ship well so the survival rate for the species is low.

DC has been fortunate. In most cases this is a very poor fish to add to any tank for several reasons.

In the wild this fish has a fairly large cleaning station. Usually larger than most home aquaria. This means in the average tank the fish has customers to be cleaned whether they want to be or not. This constant harassment can cause excess stress which will lead to disease.

Next and even worse is that a full grown and mature Cleaner Wrasse will no longer clean at all. They develop an appetite for flesh.
Much like the mimic cleaner they remove large bites of flesh from the unwary host that swims by for a cleaning.

I would recommend passing on this species.

Take care,
Ed

[Bass Master]

Well, I just talked to a friend of mine that has a 550 reef and he wants it when I'm finished with it. He has lots of fish.. What amazes me is most people, judging form conversations at lfs, (I hang out quite often) know or expect this fish is not going to survive but they purchase anyway. I guess kinda' like I did, go figure.

[brett74]

Mine seems to be doing ok. Not that it has any real effect on parasites but it keeps trying.. It did get skinny after putting it in several months ago but then fattened up primarily on flakes. No problems and very easy to keep. Jus keep feeding the tank.