hawaiian rainbow cleaner wrasse

[ryguy886]

So like the title says, I have purchased a hawaiian rainbow cleaner wrasse and I can't seem to get him to eat anything. I have read that they enjoy a variety of foods which I have tried everything it seems. I am almost to the point of bringing him back to the LFS. Do any of you have experience with this particular fish? and if so, what do you feed them???

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[h0bite]

So like the title says, I have purchased a hawaiian rainbow cleaner wrasse and I can't seem to get him to eat anything. I have read that they enjoy a variety of foods which I have tried everything it seems. I am almost to the point of bringing him back to the LFS. Do any of you have experience with this particular fish? and if so, what do you feed them???

Thanks,
Ryan

Try frozen cyclop-eeze, hikari mysis, they are sameller. Mine eat everything.
See ya

 

[ryguy886]

thanks. I will try the cyclop-eeze. I have tried the hikari mysis as that is what I feed the rest of my tank and he doesn't really seem to get it?

 

[evolved]

This species is notoriously difficult I'm afraid; quite the abysmal survival rate.

 

[Dmorty217]

Try live foods, brine and black worms anything that will help him eat. Like mentioned above they are very difficult to get to eat prepared foods. I hope you get lucky and the cleaner starts eating. Next time but one from DD at least that way you know the fish is eating prepared foods ( more than likely) since they rarely sell fish eating live food only

 

[Dmorty217]

Also the mysis maybe too big for him to eat

 

[triggreef]

Live brine and blackworms til you can get him switched over to frozen. Once he takes the live you can also try rogers reef food or fish frenzy. Those sometimes are hard to find. Thats why I say live brine first. easiest fastest and most likely to be accepted.

 

[triggreef]

Also if you can get live blackworms they are great but some smaller wrasses including my cleaner, seemed scared of them at first. I tried for months with some fish not looking at them. I started dicing the worms up into tiny chunks and that got a lot of fish started on them that wouldn't look at them before.

 

[alton]

A bunch of large fish with parasites? It is a cleaner wrasse

 

[DopeCantWin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byNOXyEcj_s

Is how they eat. I made the same mistake. Got the fish to eat Rods/Mysis, he still didn't make it. Survival in aquariums is in the 1% or less isle. If I were to do it again, I wouldn't get him and return instantly if I acquired for any reason. They should be left in the ocean.

 

[h0bite]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byNOXyEcj_s

Is how they eat. I made the same mistake. Got the fish to eat Rods/Mysis, he still didn't make it. Survival in aquariums is in the 1% or less isle. If I were to do it again, I wouldn't get him and return instantly if I acquired for any reason. They should be left in the ocean.

100% agree with you.

 

[rlpardue]

The secret weapon is Reef Caviar. My hawaiian cleaner wrasse goes bananas for it. It's small and soft and he likes it. I think I just got lucky with my specimen, and I don't recommend buying them. So far I've had him for 9 months, I'll claim victory when I hit 24 months...

 

[ian03]

I've had my Hawaiin cleaner for six months now, He eats Mysis, Lobster eggs and New Era Aegis flake. He seems to be doing well but I do feed heavily. Hope you get him feeding soon.

Ian

 

[triggreef]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byNOXyEcj_s

Is how they eat. I made the same mistake. Got the fish to eat Rods/Mysis, he still didn't make it. Survival in aquariums is in the 1% or less isle. If I were to do it again, I wouldn't get him and return instantly if I acquired for any reason. They should be left in the ocean.

100% agree with you.

These opinions are so bogus. We are all in the hobby to keep things better off "left in the ocean". :deadhorse:

They can and are kept in captivity with great results. But there are many people that dont research and take the time to figure them out. Look at leopard wrasses for example. Many try and fail. Even after learning about them there are still a ton of casualties. I'm ashamed to say how many I killed to get the 5 healthy ones I have.

But I guarantee that out of a dozen cleaner wrasses I would be able to keep 10 long term. And long term is not 20 years for a cleaner wrasse like it is for a tang.

The guy is looking for help. Help him. Don't beat the dead horse telling him what a mistake he made.

If everyone left gonipora's in the ocean, no one ever would have learned how to keep them. Same with every last thing you put in your tank.

Now, if you don't have a tank, and your just lurking here telling all the crazy reefers keeping things that should be left in the ocean that they should be left in the ocean... then go for it. lol

 

[DopeCantWin]

These opinions are so bogus. We are all in the hobby to keep things better off "left in the ocean". :deadhorse:

They can and are kept in captivity with great results. But there are many people that dont research and take the time to figure them out. Look at leopard wrasses for example. Many try and fail. Even after learning about them there are still a ton of casualties. I'm ashamed to say how many I killed to get the 5 healthy ones I have.

But I guarantee that out of a dozen cleaner wrasses I would be able to keep 10 long term. And long term is not 20 years for a cleaner wrasse like it is for a tang.

The guy is looking for help. Help him. Don't beat the dead horse telling him what a mistake he made.

If everyone left gonipora's in the ocean, no one ever would have learned how to keep them. Same with every last thing you put in your tank.

Now, if you don't have a tank, and your just lurking here telling all the crazy reefers keeping things that should be left in the ocean that they should be left in the ocean... then go for it. lol

We're talking about the Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/labroide.htm

"The obligate cleaner Labroides wrasses should remain in the ocean, and you should knowingly spend your money on hardier species."

That's from Bob Fenner. We're not talking about Leopard Wrasses or any kind of general cleaner wrasse, and quite frankly I don't want to know how many you killed, when the number should be 0.

Like I said, I have a tank, a 210 and I've had this fish. This isn't the story of the Blue Tang living in a 20 gallon tank, this is a fish that has a nearly 100% short term mortality rate in aquariums.

He isn't the first one to try, and he certainly won't be the last. I'm saying this specific species should first be figured out how to keep by Marine Biologists, then we can give it a shot. Other fish with at least a somewhat lower mortality rate I have no problem with.

 

[triggreef]

We're talking about the Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/labroide.htm

"The obligate cleaner Labroides wrasses should remain in the ocean, and you should knowingly spend your money on hardier species."

That's from Bob Fenner. We're not talking about Leopard Wrasses or any kind of general cleaner wrasse, and quite frankly I don't want to know how many you killed, when the number should be 0.

Like I said, I have a tank, a 210 and I've had this fish. This isn't the story of the Blue Tang living in a 20 gallon tank, this is a fish that has a nearly 100% short term mortality rate in aquariums.

He isn't the first one to try, and he certainly won't be the last. I'm saying this specific species should first be figured out how to keep by Marine Biologists, then we can give it a shot. Other fish with at least a somewhat lower mortality rate I have no problem with.

Wouldn't be the first time I dis-agreed with fenner. The guy may know his stuff, but what a poor attitude he has.

If you have 100% success rate on leopard wrasses, your one of very few.

 

[rlpardue]

I think success with difficult fish is usually due to foods offered.

For what it's worth, I have read that L. dimidiatus collected off the coast of Africa have a better survival rate than those from Hawaii and other Pacific locations. Every once in awhile I'll see an African one on LADD for a higher-than-usual price...

 

[Allmost]

Ive had one for 2 years now. have killed 2 before it.

IMHO ... it depends on the individual fish ... my first 2, never even showed ANY interest in any food ... my 3rd one ... he EATS everything, even picks AEFW from my acros ! takes pe mysis, pellets and ...

I didnt do anything different, so I can say prety much its up to the fish ...

maybe 3rd one was collected from somewhere else though as Lee pointed out above.

 

[triggreef]

Ive had one for 2 years now. have killed 2 before it.

IMHO ... it depends on the individual fish ... my first 2, never even showed ANY interest in any food ... my 3rd one ... he EATS everything, even picks AEFW from my acros ! takes pe mysis, pellets and ...

I didnt do anything different, so I can say prety much its up to the fish ...

maybe 3rd one was collected from somewhere else though as Lee pointed out above.

:bounce1: :beer:

I think the poor survival rates of the ones that do eat has more to do with the food, and the amount of times a day the food is offered.

And the collection method, and distributor, And the guy at the fish store, and the guy that buys it.... Lots of variables.

My only point was if we gave up on everything that was a little hard to keep at one time or another, there wouldn't be much in our tanks.

 

[rlpardue]

Hehe, to be honest I only pulled the trigger on my lucky cleaner wrasse b/c it was $4. I killed one before that.