cleaner wrasse

[s ruppa]

what sort of success has anyone has had with cleaner wrasses? did they eat prepared food? what kind did you have?
how about blue/black neon gobies? i have heard and seen them clean.

any thoughts?
steve

[Amoore311]

I wanted a neon goby just to watch him interact with my tangs.

The stupid thing just lives behind one of my overflow walls. I'll scoop him out and put him in the display..... no lie 5 minutes later he's back in the overflow box again.

[Urchinhead]

I believe this is on of those fish that the 'experts' like Bob Fenner say should be left "on the reef" as they tend to do very poorly in our tanks because they are geared towards a specific niche in the food web. Sorry to be a party pooper.

[s ruppa]

no problem. that is why i ask. i try to research and make responsible choices.....

[SDguy]

I had two that did just fine. More than doubled in size. I lost one to jumping though. The other one is doing great. I guess them coming out of Africa makes a difference? Not sure. Mine ate anything and everything from day one, and don't pester my fish either. JME.

[JHemdal]

I agree with Peter - for some reason, the ones that come from E. Africa do pretty well, but the ones from other regions have a dismal record. One problem is that as this wide descrepency in relative hardiness becomes more well-known, you start seeing a lot more cleaner wrasse labelled as "African"(grin). I always confirm the source by seeing if the dealer has other African fishes at the same time - Chrysurus and acanthops angels, allardi clownfish and radiant wrasses come to mind.

Jay

[s ruppa]

good info everyone. blue zoo aquatics has hawaiin and african...i guess i would go with african if a decide to get one.

[Luiz Rocha]

As far as the neon gobies go, some of them are hardy and do well in tanks. I had one that lasted for years and ate everything, but it didn't clean the other fish much. The good thing about them is that a lot of the fish in the market today are produced in captivity.

[Amazon4]

for the neon gobies, I prefer the ORA tank raised.

I have an African cleaner goby. Eats just about everything except pellets.

I know someone who thought he had a cleaner...ended up a false cleaner. So make sure you know what you're buying :)

[Robka]

These fish perform an important function in the wild (I've been lucky enough to watch them cleaning fish in Hawaii) and have little chance of survival in aquariums. The only way to get wholesalers and LFS from taking these wonderful creatures away from the reef is to refuse to purchase them.

Have a nice day,

Robka