Red sea cleaner wrasse diet

[Moort82]

Larabicus quadrilineatus is supposed to be really difficult to feed when adult as the diet switches to sps polyps. I'm not considering one myself but have seen one in the lfs and it got me thinking, if its a juvi which is taking just about anything offered and apparently fat and happy. Do you still have trouble in the future with them reverting to their natural diet when mature and requiring sps polyps? Or does lack of appropriate food (in terms of sps) and substitutes like frozen fare etc mean that by getting them as juvi's makes success easier? the one they have had in for 6 weeks or so and it looks like its doing amazingly well.

 

[jannima]

My Red Sea cleaner wrasse has been doing great in my tank for 10 months. It eats everything, including dry flakes, pellets and.......SPS polyps. :headwally:

 

[evolved]

All cleaner wrasses are best left in the ocean.

 

[SDguy]

All cleaner wrasses are best left in the ocean.

I'm not sure such a sweeping statement is applicable today. Seems many people, including myself, have success with the common cleaner, when collected out of Africa.

 

[evolved]

Ah, but success in a closed system does not speak to the impact their wild collection may have:

Technical paper as to their benefit on a wild reef (and therefore, impact if they're collected): PLoS ONE: Long-Term Effects of the Cleaner Fish Labroides dimidiatus on Coral Reef Fish Communities

 

[snorvich]

I'm not sure such a sweeping statement is applicable today. Seems many people, including myself, have success with the common cleaner, when collected out of Africa.

I agree.

 

[SDguy]

Ah, but success in a closed system does not speak to the impact their wild collection may have:

Technical paper as to their benefit on a wild reef (and therefore, impact if they're collected): PLoS ONE: Long-Term Effects of the Cleaner Fish Labroides dimidiatus on Coral Reef Fish Communities

And as I mentioned in the last thread about this topic where these papers were talked about, the next portion of the discussion should be about the health of the reef and the fecundity of the species... because otherwise there is no reason for the fish not to repopulate.

 

[evolved]

Understand your position and argument, however I saw no reason not to bring the same information into this thread as it's applicable. All I can attest to is the studies/information I am aware of to date, and all of those point towards wild collection causing an impact. I agree the populations will eventually rebound, but at what rate and therefore what cost?

 

[Moort82]

Leaving the interesting arguement aside, i'm actually someone who'd never keep a cleaner because i don't believe longterm that the fish population in my tank is anywhere near appropriate so even without the ethical question i know its not for me, does anyone know if the diet would switch?