Success with cleaner wrasse

[steallife904]

Really like those blue pacific cleaner wrasses but hear they don't do well in tanks. I currently have a 150 with 9 fish (2 of them being tangs). I have tried a cleaner wrasse 2 times in the past but didn't end well. 1 time he kept jumping into my overflow and finally got trapped in the filter sock and died. Other time I had fewer fish and he just disappeared one day. Tank is years older now and more fish so....... on the fence to try again. Anyone manage to keep them long term?

 

[ReefWreak]

I thought I was "the one" who got a cleaner wrasse that ate prepared foods and it would do just fine. It lasted about 3 weeks. The entire time it seemed to be doing well, behaving, and most importantly, eating mysis shrimp and the arctipods or whatever the new cyclopeeze is. It just disappeared after 3 weeks. My wrasses and other small fishes are all fat and happy, and I even saw it eat (as well as clean fish, which was cool), but it just didn't make it through.

I wouldn't bother trying it again. I had the fortune of having the one cleaner wrasse that actually ate frozen foods, and it still didn't make it. So I'm calling it as can't be kept (though I'm sure someone out there has no problem keeping them, or went through enough of them to find one that survived and thrived).

 

[Dmorty217]

The ones that come from Africa have a much better survival rate than all the rest combined

 

[ca1ore]

I’ve had three African blue cleaners - first for 5 years, the second for 2 before it found a crack in the cover, and now a third for almost 3 years.

 

[steallife904]

Wish I had a way at the LFS to confirm where they are from. I was able to get mine to eat frozen but still didn't work out. Could go with cleaner goby I guess but the are so small I fear they will get lost in the tank.

 

[Dmorty217]

Wish I had a way at the LFS to confirm where they are from. I was able to get mine to eat frozen but still didn't work out. Could go with cleaner goby I guess but the are so small I fear they will get lost in the tank.

Also their lifespan is 2 years, which makes them not nearly as desirable

 

[Myles]

I've had better longevity over the years with cleaners then with fairies. One died prematurely after 17 months but most of the others lived 5-6 years and one made it 11 years. Other than getting them to feed initially, I've never had any problems.
Myles

 

[Silly clownfish]

I have only ever had one cleaner wrasse and I don't know the origin (it was in the 90's and that kind of info wasn't often known by LFS back then). Mine lived for about 2.5 years. It ate flakes and pellets. It's colors started to fade a few weeks/months before it died.

My flasher and fairy wrasse both jumped after a year or so. The flasher after near daily attempts (with hard bangs against the canopy) and needing to be picked up from the floor a few times, plus a few trips to the overflow. I have a full glass canopy and tight cutouts on my pipes.

 

[LargeAngels]

I've had a few over the years. They lived 2-5 years. LFS had gotten direct from Philippines. I was hesitant but that source had gotten other nice fish in the past and these looked really good. Ate just about anything. Mysis and flake seemed most popular.