Martini5788
New member
Oh my gosh that is too funny!! There is no way I could do that
Do shrimp eat parasites off of fish?
- Thread starter bigj11
- Start date
Actually, it is pretty easy. They were good at picking out residue of breakfast too so no brushing after the first dive of the day. :idea:
Newsmyrna80
Active member
:eek2::eek2
k...they kinda freaked me out a little:lol:
k...they kinda freaked me out a little:lol:
ThRoewer
New member
The first statement is clearly false.
And the idea that fish get cleaned for the feel good effect - seriously? The fish may get a good feeling out of it but what would be the shrimps motivation to do it?
I think I stated that they don't remove ich, velvet, brook and the like.
First of all these diseases are exceptionally rare in the wild, at least at levels that would give a shrimp a meal. And then most of these parasites are so small that the shrimp has no chance to pick them off the fish with any efficiency.
The parasites the shrimp is proven to remove are the ones most common in the wild: parasitic crustacean and worms that are on the skin and in the gills.
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
Pretty sure no one was disagreeing about what the do in the wild, the issue is the false hope they provide in the home setting for ich and velvet in particular
Exactly. However if you wish to employ Google Scholar you will find that the fish do seek out cleaning behavior because it "feels good" and the shrimp do get something out of it, that is "dead skin". Parasites found commonly in the wild are uncommonly found in the aquarium and this is an aquarium focused board so anything that encourages aquarists to buy cleaner wrasses or cleaner shrimp for the purpose of solving a problem occurring from lack of quarantine needs to be challenged. If you actually read the initial posters question it had to do with solving his ich problem with cleaners.
My focus here is not marine biology research papers (despite being rather well read; I recommend Steven Spotte's book, Captive Seawater Fishes: Science and Technology) and I know pretty well what they do in the wild having spent about 3000 hours photographing fish behavior in the wild.
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I agree. There are also some fish that do not want to be cleaned. Ever. And these fish can go a bit bonkers in a smallish tank where they perceive they are being harassed by a cleaner.
eatbreakfast
New member
You are failing to account for the affects of having damaged or dead scales on a fish, as research has shown that these make a fish more susceptible to parasites and disease.
As for the "good" feeling fish get, this has repeatedly been shown to reduce cortisol levels, which in turn strengthens about every aspect of fish health, especially it's immune system.
Add to that the fact that research consistently shows that fish that have access to a cleaner are in significant better health than those that do not have access.
They are not a cure-all for disease and parasites, but they most certainly can help maintain fish health, speed up recovery of sick fish and reduce susceptibility to future infection.
I agree with all of the above, and I seem to recall the cortisol study in my original answer 7 years ago. That does not change the fact that the OP seven years ago was trying to solve his potential ich problem using cleaners. Would you really have advocated a cleaner to solve the OP's issue? Seriously? Do you really want to encourage the average reader of this forum to use cleaners to prevent parasite issues? If your answer to any of those questions is yes, we have to agree to disagree.
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eatbreakfast
New member
Their benefits are pretty clear. And while cleaner wrasses are not for everyone, I have personally noted better success in tanks over 120g with a lot of fish, they are quite helpful for the overall health of aquarium fish and would recommend them for the average aquarist that can meet these requirements. Cleaner shrimp can be recommended for nearly all tanks.
