Sustaining a true cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus)

[Steven Pro]

Something no one has mentioned yet is that the diet of both cleaner wrasses and cleaner gobies is remarkably similar. In the wild, approximately 3/4 of the food is gnathid isopods with the last quarter being scales and fish mucous that comes off with the gnathid isopods.

 

[Popeye]

I had one for almost 7 years. He ate what everthing else ate. Only died because I lost power and lost almost all my fish (but no corals, though).

 

[zemuron114]

I have had good success getting hawaiian cleaners to eat frozen. I've shipped 4 and all 4 have eaten frozen right away. Apparently they tend to eat frozen if there are a lot of fish in the system eating frozen. I dont usually catch them, only once in a while.

The Waikiki aquarium only keeps one cleaner in a HUGE tank with sharks, giant groupers, tangs, rays, etc. (tank must be 30K gallons or so)

The cleaner jumps around from fish to fish and does his dance to set up a station.. it is so cool. They recommend only one per tank, no matter how big and how many fish. I have never seen 2 cleaners in the same vacinity while diving. They just out compete each other for food and unless its the ocean, there isn't enough fish.

 

[GregM779]

I've had mine about 8 months now, it does eat everything including nori but they still require fish to clean, I have around 20 fish in the tank and although none of them are ever sick or have ich it is constantly cleaning them. Here's a pic of it cleaning my naso.

 

[jawwad19]

I have one in my tank now for about 9 months. I have pics, but dont know how to post them.

 

[zemuron114]

schelps,

you have a lot of fish for a 135 gallon! Im surprised that panther hasn't eaten your mandarin yet!
Does your ribbon eel eat? I thought they fare better in a community tank, not aggressive?

any pics????

 

[BMW///M3]

I have a cleaner wrasse I bought from.....I know, so shoot me.....petco about 6-7 months ago and I can't him to stop eating, he's a PIG, I have to shoo him away so the other fish can get food. He is a little bastard though, I put in a 6 line wrasse and he bullied him to death. Just last night I put in a school of 3 fire fish and when one wanders away from the group he darts at it and nips him. Any way to catch him? Or get him to stop being a bullie? I have a 70 gallon tank with a lot of LR and i'm afraid i'll never catch him due to his size and the amount of rock in the tank.....any ideas?

 

[landragon]

I have had one six+ months. Eats anyhting meaty or vegetably(?). Will not touch flake or pellet. Even when soaked. But none of my fish will so that is no big deal. Frozen, or live he gorges. Looks like pics of healthy wild ones. Cleaned some excess mucous of my baby hippo. Other than that I have not seen him do much cleaning. But I have never had an outbreak of ich or any other external parasites.

 

[CaptiveReef]

Watch it with Clams!!!!!

Watch it with Clams!!!!!

They are great fish, but you have to watch them with Tridacna clams. They have a habit of picking at the clams mantle.

CaptiveReef

 

[sphelps]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6870223#post6870223 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zemuron114
schelps,

you have a lot of fish for a 135 gallon! Im surprised that panther hasn't eaten your mandarin yet!
Does your ribbon eel eat? I thought they fare better in a community tank, not aggressive?

any pics????

I don't think I have too many fish, it's a fish only tank. Nitrate is steady at around 30ppm with 10% weekly water changes. Fish seem happy and health and seem to have plenty of room to swim.

My panther grouper will NOT eat any live food any more, in fact the only thing he'll eat is cocktail shrimp, full size krill and scallops. Even if I try and trick him by throwing in a gold fish really fast he'll inhale it but then he'll spit it right out.

My ribbon eel eats very well, it even eats flake food if offered. It's diet mainly consists of krill, shrimp and scallops (same as the grouper). This eel also spends most of his time in the overflow box, I'm not sure why he likes it in there but I've tried everything to try and keep him out but nothing seems to work, so now I just let him go in and out as he pleases.

This tank isn't that aggressive, most aggressive fish is the sebea clown and the lunare wrasse. Sure the puffer, and both eels enjoy the occasional live feeding of goldfish but they've never harmed any other fish in the tank.

I can post some pics later, when I get a chance.

 

[rocko918]

My Clearer wrasse is coming up on 2 years in my 75 gallon. I also have a yellow wasse in there as well. Only 1 tang. I do have a bunch of other fish in there as well. He eats everything that i put in the tank. As soon as my arm gones in to move something around he is cleaning it. He even pick on the noris on the clip. One of the most exciting fish in the tank, always on the move and comes right to the front of the tank.

 

[ezhoops]

I have a cleaner wrasse and neon goby in my 65 gal with 4 other fish and both the cleaner and goby eat frozen and nori. oh and the cleaner eats dead skin off my hand

 

[Mishap]

I've had a cleaner wrasse for about 6 months now and he is growing and eating readily. He eats brine, flake, and frozen.

As to Cleaner wrasses eating ich....they simply don't. As Steven Pro states in his article on Crptocaryon Irritans "One last note on Labroides wrasses, contrary to popular opinion, they do not consume Cryptocaryon parasites. They have demonstrated a strong preference for gnathid isopods, which make up between 77 and 85% of their natural diet (Grutter, 1997 & 2000). The remaining prey items are composed of scales, parasitic copepods, and non-parasitic copepods. So, regardless of whatever conscientious objections one may or may not have regarding their availability in the marine aquarium trade, they are not going to help in the battle against Ich. Also, since Cryptocaryon irritans is known to be rare in the wild (Bunkley-Williams & Williams, 1994), it would follow that it is unlikely that Ich makes up any significant portion of any cleaner organism's diet. This, coupled with how deep the trophonts embed, throws into question the effectiveness of any cleaner against Cryptocaryon irritans."

So if you are looking to control ich, go with cleaner shrimp. If you are just wondering if you could keep a cleaner wrasse, I'd say go with a neon goby instead. The only reason I have mine, is because we got an extra in at work and I didn't want to send it back to the distributor. I would much rather see these fish kept in the wild.

- Matt

 

[wds21921]

Nothing and I mean NOTHING is cooler than watching a cleaner shrimp ride around on your Naso Tang while he's cleaning him at the same time LOL!!!

I've known a few people including myself that have kept them up to or a little past a year and not fed them anything special. I think having food they like, as well as enough fish for them to graze on for parasites might be the key?