Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse Survivability

[Hugh Mann]

Everybody, this is Blue, my Cleaner Wrasse, photo bombing my Betta. Named after the raptor from Jurassic World due to its voracious eating habits. It cleans my fish extremely well, eats frozen foods and eats nori so aggressively that it kicked my former tomini tang off it to eat. It was swimming buddies with my lemonpeel angel, until the angel died of velvet.

I was told at my lfs, and by a couple other people to not expect it to live very long, due to they get most of their sustinence from cleaning fish, and I had at most 5 other fish with it, and apparently they can die pretty easy if perameters are off.

Fast forward two months, Blue is still very much alive and well, survived exploded nitrate levels, a bacteria bloom, an outbreak of Velvet that devastated my tank, and now two weeks into copper treatment, and this thing is trucking along like nothing has changed

Were these people lying to me about the fragility of cleaner wrasses, or did I get lucky and get the Terminator?

 

[Dragon52]

2 months isn't a long time & no one was lying but sometimes you get lucky with fish & corals. I've had these in the past & they didn't make it 6 mths but others have kept them far longer.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ive had mine almost 6 years now

 

[Hugh Mann]

Six years? Awesome. Would you say you have done anything different or special to keep it that long? Or just a good, healthy tank with lots of fish and food?

 

[ca1ore]

I was told at my lfs, and by a couple other people to not expect it to live very long, due to they get most of their sustinence from cleaning fish, and I had at most 5 other fish with it, and apparently they can die pretty easy if perameters are off.

I often wonder, when you hear stuff like this, whether that person or people have actually had first hand experience or are just parroting what they have heard. I’ve only ever kept the blue streak, but a buddy of mine who has kept a number of the different species always told me that while many do not survive, the blue is actually much easier. That has been my experience. My first one died of old age, my second jumped (make sure to have a screen top) and my third is now three years old. The whole nutrition thing also makes no sense. Protein is protein, aminos aminos. Is there something unique in the dead skin cells and mucus that these fish clean off other fish (they don’t actually eat the parasite generally) that doesn’t exist in mysis, brine, nori, etc.? Answer seems self evident. When my aforementioned friend would fail with cleaners it’s because they wouldn’t eat prepared foods. If yours does, as mine always have, and you prevent it from jumping, I’d say you are good to go.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Blue loves frozen, brine, mysis, picks at larger leftovers from the bigger fish, all enriched with selcon. Plus a good amount of nori. But yeah, that makes sense. Nutrition is nutrition, regardless of source.

 

[mort]

As above really, these are by far the easiest species of cleaners to maintain. They still don't have the best track record as they don't all adapt but those that do can often live fairly long lives.
They aren't the greatest shippers and from the wholesaler I talked to he said mortality was extremely high, which is the main reason I wouldn't get one but they are fascinating.

It's also not uncommon for these to become pains and relentlessly chase other fish trying to clean them. I think this is generally when they aren't adapted to alternate foods and are essentially starving.

 

[Jimmyneptune]

I often wonder, when you hear stuff like this, whether that person or people have actually had first hand experience or are just parroting what they have heard. I’ve only ever kept the blue streak, but a buddy of mine who has kept a number of the different species always told me that while many do not survive, the blue is actually much easier. That has been my experience. My first one died of old age, my second jumped (make sure to have a screen top) and my third is now three years old. The whole nutrition thing also makes no sense. Protein is protein, aminos aminos. Is there something unique in the dead skin cells and mucus that these fish clean off other fish (they don’t actually eat the parasite generally) that doesn’t exist in mysis, brine, nori, etc.? Answer seems self evident. When my aforementioned friend would fail with cleaners it’s because they wouldn’t eat prepared foods. If yours does, as mine always have, and you prevent it from jumping, I’d say you are good to go.

Eating is the key. If you get them eating, applies to almost all fish, your chance of success increases dramatically.