Cleaner wrasse killing fairy wrasses?

[FarmerTy]

Anybody ever had a cleaner wrasse kill their fairy wrasses?

I've had a cleaner for over a year now and just more recently have added a couple of fairy wrasses. Two have turned up dead and the one I might have saved was being attacked by the cleaner. I thought it was just overly aggressive cleaning but the the cleaner was actually attacking it.

Anybody else?

 

[tj w]

Interesting, I've never heard of one being that aggressive. I've had mine for about 8 months and it has never showed any aggression. I'll be following to see what others have to say as well.

 

[FarmerTy]

Interesting, I've never heard of one being that aggressive. I've had mine for about 8 months and it has never showed any aggression. I'll be following to see what others have to say as well.

So there are false cleaners! I'll have to check mine.

http://www.fishbase.org/summary/6066

 

[eatbreakfast]

If it was a false cleaner you would have seen it attack other fish.

Many species of wrasses serve as facultative cleaners, not just the Labroides species. Recognizing the new wrasses as possible competition is the likely cause of the aggression. It is common for them to be aggressive toward conspecifics and congenerics. While aggression toward more distantly related wrasses is not as common, it is still possible.

 

[Dwb5]

Mine did good for the first 6 months. Then picked at my Achilles tang to the point he killed him. I finally caught him and got him out. I woyld not buy another one.

 

[jrlevn]

I had one for a year and no problems, then it attacked all my fairy wrasses. Ultimately, it killed my Rhomboid.

 

[JimC]

Had one of the false ones. At that time didn't realize there was such a fish. He harassed all of my tangs, and pretty much my killed a flame wrasse (still trying to nurse him back).

"They mimic the cleaner wrasseLabroides dimidiatus and nip fins, skin and scales of other fishes (Ref. 9710). They even copy the motion of the cleaner wrasse that may induce other fish to come close, then target their scales or mucus for a feed, biting and quickly retreating to the corals before the victim realizes that it was tricked; experienced fish recognize imposters and often give it a chase"

Perfect description.

Took me a bit to reco what was happening as I've had good cleaners in past tanks.

 

[Dwb5]

Ok well that makes a lot of sense. Thank you for that.

 

[FarmerTy]

Thanks all! I wish I would have recognized it before he destroyed a flame wrasse pair, a Japanese Lunate wrasse, and a Phillipean Lunate wrasse. That was quite the costly lesson.

 

[Dwb5]

R u going to be able to catch him?

 

[FarmerTy]

R u going to be able to catch him?

Fortunately, I'm doing a fallow period on my tank so all my fish are in a tub. That's what made it so hard for me to realize it was killing my wrasses. I would have seen it in a heartbeat if able to view from the side.

 

[Dwb5]

I understand. Good luck.

 

[FarmerTy]

I understand. Good luck.

Thank you