Cleaner Wrasse

Earl Karl · May 19, 2018

So I have a 90 gallon with a 30 inch snowflake eel, flame angel, sixline wrasse, red mandarin, copperband butterflyfish, and a 4 inch black durgon triggerfish (will be moved once he becomes big enough, so he doesn't get eaten). A week ago, I added a cleaner wrasse. He's been eating 3x daily for the past week, so that's good. However, I was told that there needs to be clients for it to clean off. Is the stocking above good candidates, or not?

Cory · May 19, 2018

Yes the stockomg list is perfect. The eel and the copperband will be happy.

Earl Karl · May 19, 2018

Good to know! I thought I had to have tangs to keep this fish.

ca1ore · May 19, 2018

Yeah, that's mostly a myth ..... along with the 'cleaner wrasse will help with ich breakouts'. As long as your cleaner is eating frozen, it's good. Make sure you have a close fitting lid though; this fish can and will jump.

Billdogg · May 19, 2018

ca1ore said:
Yeah, that's mostly a myth ..... along with the 'cleaner wrasse will help with ich breakouts'. As long as your cleaner is eating frozen, it's good. Make sure you have a close fitting lid though; this fish can and will jump.

^^^This^^^

If it doesn't starve to death (most do), it will carpet surf the very first chance it gets.

Earl Karl · May 19, 2018

Don't worry I got the BRS diy screen top. I think my wrasse is good to go then, it eats everything including nori.
Btw is there any grazing food? Just in case I am busy and cannot feed the tank. I wish I had an auto feeder. Is nori good enough for half the day?

ca1ore · May 19, 2018

Mine will eat nori if it can get to the clip. I must confess, I don't quite get the whole difficult to keep thing with cleaners, at least not for the standard blue streak. I've had three. The first I had for 6 years before selling off the tank. The second for almost 4 years before it jumped during a tank clean and I failed to notice until it was too late. The third I have now had for almost 2 years. I've always wanted to try one of the Hawaiian ones, though they apparently are much trickier.

4FordFamily · May 19, 2018

ca1ore said:
Yeah, that's mostly a myth ..... along with the 'cleaner wrasse will help with ich breakouts'. As long as your cleaner is eating frozen, it's good. Make sure you have a close fitting lid though; this fish can and will jump.

Again, I concur with this.

Earl Karl · May 20, 2018

@ca1ore How often did you feed your cleaner wrasse?

mtraylor · May 20, 2018

You are good to go. You only need one and if he is eating that well you are set. I have had mine for like 6 years, and he will not let a new fish come to the tank without getting a once over immediately. Great fish. One of my fattest fish in the aquarium. Mine is an African cleaner fish.

Earl Karl · May 21, 2018

So this has been happening for a week, but my cleaner wrasse wakes up really late. When the lights are on, all of my fish (on the stocking list above) are awake except for the cleaner. The cleaner doesn't wake up until after a few hours. Is this normal?

mtraylor · May 21, 2018

I know when I first got mine and he was nice and thin. He would actually wedge himself into a hole in the rock and would actually take a while before he came out in the morning. He was the new fish and I'm thinking didn't know the light schedule etc. After some time he was right on time. Not sure if its normal or what, but I think most new fish take a bit to get used to new time schedule. Some longer than others. That may be whats going on.

Earl Karl · May 21, 2018

That seems to be the case. He does wedge himself into the rocks. First day, I was worried so I sweot the rocks around and he came out. I'm hoping that is the case. It was kinda odd since all of my fish wakes up when lights come on, even when acclimating to the tank.