cleaner wrasse care

[Ro Bow]

Live aquaria says difficult, saltwaterfish.com says moderate and hardy. The only problem i see is feeding. Any tips on feeding? Also what do you feed, and how often, and how much? Thanks for your help

 

[ying yang]

Following as curious also as ive read differing points of view like they die in reef tank if cant clean fish but then read others say they eat normal food like other fish so very curious what others say who owned one ^_^

 

[Damon Jensen]

I feed mine the same as all my other fish. I feed a variety of meat and algae. This is my third, I have never had any issues with them....well I did make a mistake and left my lid open and they were bugging my all black dogface, and she jumped to her death.

I have one in my 200gl FOWLR.

 

[ying yang]

I feed mine the same as all my other fish. I feed a variety of meat and algae. This is my third, I have never had any issues with them....well I did make a mistake and left my lid open and they were bugging my all black dogface, and she jumped to her death.

I have one in my 200gl FOWLR.

See thats good to hear and wants me to get one as its lovely fish.
Ive got something in my head telling me ive read it depends on which part the world the fish is from? Like where collected from,you ever heard this? Or am i thinking something else ha ha

 

[DarthSimon]

I have also have good success with them. I put them with bigger fish, and they always seems to clean them off. As well as eat all the foods I feed.

 

[ThePurple12]

I don’t see why people say they’re hard to care for and die in captivity. They eat pretty much any small pieces of food, and sometimes they’ll eat dried seaweed from the clip. If you get one, a lid is a MUST, as they’re definitely jumpers. They grow to around 5” and are very active, so they need a big tank.

 

[Damon Jensen]

There is a fake, I mean a look alike. Google for false cleaner wrasse. It is a combtooth blend. Hard to tell them apart. Getting them from liveaquaria you should be fine.

When I had the pair, I think one was a false, that is why it bothered the fish.

It is cool to watch them interact.....not as cool as cleaner shrimp, but shrimp are snacks for my triggers.

 

[ying yang]

Apparently can tell by mouth.one down turned and one straight i think i read.
Now i want get one as 3- 4 saying no bother

 

[ying yang]

False Cleanerfish - Facts and Photographs

Are you looking for the False Cleanerfish facts and photographs? Find the perfect images and classification from Seaunseen.

seaunseen.com

 

[Ro Bow]

bump

 

[blaxsun]

My cleaner wrasse eats everything. And I do mean everything: mysis, brine, calanus, eggs, seaweed - you name it. If it can shove it in its mouth it's fair game! One thing my cleaner wrasse just absolutely loves and will not part with is a barnacle to sleep in every night. I have one of those 'barnacle hotels' with 6-8 interconnected barnacles and he somehow manages to cram him self into without fail.

 

[ying yang]

Bluestreak cleaner wrasse: care guide & quick facts

Learn about the bluestreak cleaner wrasse--a popular and typically inexepensive saltwater fish known for its distinctive stripe and parasite eating behavior

www.saltwateraquariumblog.com

I think many including myself reading many articles and information like above made us think hard to feed and just starve to death,until read so many in this thread saying had them and ate what feed other fish in tank

 

[Damon Jensen]

I think you have to take things in context. So I would agree with the article and my experience. I have. 200 gl that is well stocked, so even though mine eats other food, it is possible that the wrasse main food source is still parasites and scales.

So take everything with a grain of salt.

I say try one and see

 

[Tamberav]

My LFS got 6 in... only 1 of the 6 was pecking at food... so took that one home. After a few days it started to eat better and now eats enthusiastically. I am feeding LRS fertility frenzy as it is perfect size for their mouth and great nutrition.

 

[melonheadorion]

i had one for a short period until he died suddenly.

getting it to feed was not difficult at all. you can easily hang a piece of shrimp and it will pick away at it. mine also ate flake food and brine shrimp. one thing that they can suffer from is being paralyzed. it seems that is what happened to mine. was only able to swim in circles.

 

[brmreefer]

Currently have one and it eats everything. Was worried at first due to the claimed difficulty online, but it gets a big belly after daily feedings. It has eaten mysis, small tiny pellets (Hikari Marine S), seaweed, and even tears off pieces of shrimp when feeding my Zebra Eel.

I would witness it eat before buying from an LFS as I did. Been a great fish thus far.

 

[ying yang]

Well just bought a cleaner wrasse and bi colour blennie and my gold streaked blennie not a happy camper first scaring the hibi jeebies out the bi colour then attacking/ chasing off the cleaner wrasse .hopefully within couple days they sort out whos who.only got 5 fish ( well 7 now)
Gold streaked blennie was 3rd fish added and only been in tank 1 month or so but didnt like blennie even on other rock structure so bi colour now hiding in largish frag of gsp i just bought also and have no clue where cleaner wrasse is pffft.but was eating frozen food at lfs.will post in next day or 2 for update ^_^ got 5 more hermits also so now at 5 mini hermits.5 random and 3 red legged scarlet which seem to be laziest lol

 

[melonheadorion]

Well just bought a cleaner wrasse and bi colour blennie and my gold streaked blennie not a happy camper first scaring the hibi jeebies out the bi colour then attacking/ chasing off the cleaner wrasse .hopefully within couple days they sort out whos who.only got 5 fish ( well 7 now)
Gold streaked blennie was 3rd fish added and only been in tank 1 month or so but didnt like blennie even on other rock structure so bi colour now hiding in largish frag of gsp i just bought also and have no clue where cleaner wrasse is pffft.but was eating frozen food at lfs.will post in next day or 2 for update ^_^ got 5 more hermits also so now at 5 mini hermits.5 random and 3 red legged scarlet which seem to be laziest lol

cleaner wrasse will hide. mostly at night to sleep, but mine hid when i first put him in.
once they all sort out their territory disputes, they should all be good, but just keep an eye out of course

 

[ying yang]

cleaner wrasse will hide. mostly at night to sleep, but mine hid when i first put him in.
once they all sort out their territory disputes, they should all be good, but just keep an eye out of course

Yeah will be keeping look out thanks.hopefully just squabbles and nothing to serious.the 2 young clowns and silver belly wrasse and ywg no problem,just the bloody older blennie,like the whole tank is his lol,hopefully the blennies can work it out and have 1 rock structure each as they quite big at 40 cm high by 45 cm wide by 30 deep but we shall see.i think luckily i got the large gsp frag also and blennie found refuge in that and doesnt belong to older blennie so he's allowing it kind of thing

 

[ying yang]

Ok cleaner wrasse just came back out.only hid 20 minutes or so.blennie still dive bombing him but glad cleaner came out so at least can start to work differences out