Cleaner Wrasse...Why so hard to keep?

[JustinReef]

Just curious because I have had one for a year and a half now. It only really eats pellets but is nice and fat, seems healthy and happy. I added a new one to my bigger tank a few days ago and its eating mysis. So obviously feeding them is not the issue...I assumed when people said they rarely live in aquariums it was due to lack of eating but these guys both ate right away. So Im just curious about why they are suppose to be so hard to keep?

I tried in another thread to get advice on keeping both mine together in my bigger tank because I am breaking down all my small tanks but got response besides that they were both going to die soon. LOL. Im not sure about the newer one but I really don't think the one I have had for a year and a half is just going to die suddenly, unless they have a short life span I guess.

[iceemn360]

i hear that the african cleaner wrasses do much better than the traditionally phillipine cleaner wrasses. They often look the same but the price will tell you where they came from.

[Moonstream]

they are listed as hard to keep because, to my understanding, they are very difficult to get to eat. the few that do eat, from what I have read, tend to thrive. in the wild they are (as they name suggests) cleaners of parasites, and in the home aquarium are starved of their main food source.

they are not a fish that should be purchased lightly. I would love to get one, but I would only ever buy one if it was already eating and was disease free. I would never recommend them to begginers because of their increasing rarity on reefs, where they are desperatly needed.

[JustinReef]

All the ones at my LFS ate mysis when I asked them to feed them for me to see. That was about 8 of them.

And they are $7, so I guess not the African species.

Maybe if one of them decides to eat mysis, they all give it a shot?

[iceemn360]

hmm seems like the anthias theory> one eating will stimulate more to eat. i like that! btw justinpsmith i sent the email

[tydtran]

I have read that sometimes fish identified in pet stores as cleaner wrasses are actually species of gobies. Could this be why some so called wrasses do well in aquarium?

[mdrc]

even thought they eat they will eventually die because they digestive system is not made to digest that type of food and they woulnt be able to exstract nutrients fom the food and slowly die of nutrient deprivation

[JR's Reef]

All the ones ive seen at my LFS 95% of the eat and still 95% die in a week or two. I got lucky and got one that lived. Ive had it for 6months or so. For some reason they just dont do well

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13174361#post13174361 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mdrc
even thought they eat they will eventually die because they digestive system is not made to digest that type of food and they woulnt be able to exstract nutrients fom the food and slowly die of nutrient deprivation

So when exactly is eventually?

I just find it hard to believe the one I have had for a year and a half is slowly dying. Its very brightly colored, active and FAT. Just does not look like a fish that is dying but apparently is?

[SDguy]

Isn't there someone on RC that has a breeding pair in their tank, IIRC....

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13174482#post13174482 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDguy
Isn't there someone on RC that has a breeding pair in their tank, IIRC....

I just put the second one in the tank a few minutes ago, so we will see how it goes. They have met already and didn't really acknowledge each other, just kept swimming. Hopefully it will be ok...

Until they suddenly die of course :p

[ludnix]

We added a cleaner wrasse a few weeks ago to our 120. I hadn't ever heard of them being difficult but this one is eating everything that falls into the tank, including nori. I don't know how well he'll do in the long run but I'm sure the tangs will miss him if he dies.

[sanababit]

IME, i have one going 1 year, eats like crazy, so its BS about them not lasting long (well it depends how long is to long), BTW i would like to add that mine was tank raised so maybe that would be the reason it eats and lives longer.....

sana

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13174563#post13174563 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sanababit
IME, i have one going 1 year, eats like crazy, so its BS about them not lasting long (well it depends how long is to long), BTW i would like to add that mine was tank raised so maybe that would be the reason it eats and lives longer.....

sana

Yeah maybe thats one reason for sure. Mine was tiny when I got him and is quite large now.

Im not trying to debate the fact that they are hard to keep. Obviously they are hard and you have to get a little lucky perhaps. But I just don't understand why some people are so insistent that they cannot be kept or as was stated earlier in this thread, will die. There are a few examples now in this thread of them surviving at least a year and a half and showing now signs of slowing down.

[sanababit]

People keeped saying that some years back, about not keeping SPS because they where hard to keep, and even some fishes, inverts (lynkias....anyone), but thru trial and error they have been succesful in keeping them, i know it sounds harsh (trial and error) but if it was easy any of us would have a shark in our aquariums, lol, jk

sana

[JustinReef]

Well this turned out to be an unproductive thread. LOL.

Although I think mdrc is probably right about most of them not surviving because they are eating the wrong food. I don't agree with how narrow minded the rest of that post is and believe like any creature, some can and will adapt. I do agree that it will die one day though :D

[Tang Salad]

Just to keep it in perspective, historically speaking, cleaner wrasses DO have a poor captive survival record. A few exceptions should be weighed against that history before making the decision to keep them.

But the reason I always heard for not buying them was that removing them is destructive to reefs. I have no idea if it's even true, but something about them keeping isopod parasites numbers down and this helping to keep fish diversity/activity up in the area where the cleaner wrasse has its station.

Who knows? Maybe the story of them being difficult to keep was actually started by people hoping to stop their collection for other reasons.

Anyway, great to hear yours is doing well. My above comments are in no way a criticism of you. :)

[Peter Eichler]

So far I've seen two people chime in on this thread that have kept and cleaner Wrasse for any length of time. One for a year and another for a year and a half, not exactly a success, yet, IMO. There are plenty of things in the aquarium trade that die a slow death, often from starvation. So, it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that even though these wrasses are accepting prepared foods that there is something missing from their diet and they will die an untimely death. However, that's just speculation. If we get a decent amount of people chiming in that have had a cleaner wrasses for 5 years, or even 3+, I'll feel a little differently about this thread.

For every one that eats prepared foods, maybe there's 5, 10, 50, or even hundreds that won't. Even if it's 1 in 5 that will eat prepared foods, which I think is VERY optimistic, I wouldn't feel right suggesting them as additions into aquariums. For that matter, I wouldn't even buy one that eats prepared foods because at that point you're just supporting their collection.