two cleanner wrasses together ?

[rachenbrazil]

I saw one hawaian cleanner wrasse for sale today that it is eating nls flakes as I have never seen in this species. I know that survivor record is under poor.
I own one cleaner wrasse (blue one) for about a year eating well and growing.

Is it possible to keep both species in same tank ? Any experience ? I would love to have hawaian cleanner but messing with the actual species is senseless as survivor record is also poor and by now having some positive experience.

Tank is my 210 with several angels and tangs inside (overcrowded actually I know..)

[Wolverine]

They can fight. As you already noted, the survival record is poor, a lot of this seems to have to do with suitable food availability. Many of them will eat flakes, but they tend to die anyway, because those don't supply everything they need.
Adding a second to your tank will cut in half the food that the first one has available to it, which will really reduce the chances of them surviving. I wouldn't do it.

[screwsloose]

i tried it recently in my 700 gl tank and the wrasse that was established harrassed the other so bad it stopped coming out and died after a couple weeks. it was relentless in chasing the new guy all over the tank. if i could have caught him i would have. i wouldnt recommend

[SDguy]

I'd be happy with the one you have, and pass on the hawaiian. I tried two blue streak cleaners in one tank, and the smaller chased the bigger into the overflow.

I'm frankly surprised they are bringing hawaiians in again. Haven't seen them for a while, and now they are popping up here and there.

[rachenbrazil]

yes ... will pass the Hawaiian cleanner... thanks guys for your experience and opinions !

["Umm, fish?"]

My cleaner wrasses are the biggest jerks in my tank. Unless you find a pair I would stick with one. Those Hawaiian cleaners sure are gorgeous. A much worse survival record than the blue-streak, though.

[Robka]

The only way to keep wholesalers and LFS owners from taking these beautiful creatures out of the reef (where they perform a much needed job) & putting them in tanks where they have a slim chance on survival, is to refuse to purchase them. Please do not support their harvest.

Have a nice day,

Robka

["Umm, fish?"]

Robka--I get what you are saying. I do. On the other hand, if we apply that to every animal that's ever been hard to keep at first, we would not have any corals in our tanks. For that matter, none of us would keep saltwater tanks at all, other than those who live right on an ocean and use NSW. The early salt mixes sure killed a lot of animals. But they got better and now keep a whole lot of animals alive. The first aquarists who experimented with corals sure killed a lot of them, but now captive coral farming may be the only way to keep the gene pool going in a few years. As feeding has gotten better, we're now seeing a shift toward keeping non-zooxanthellate corals, which also used to be considered impossible.

The same is true of cleaner wrasses. Foods have gotten better. And there's also been the realization that animals that eat all day long in the wild cannot survive on being fed once every couple of days. With the blue streaks, at least, they can survive and thrive on good alternative fare, if you feed them enough. Here's one of mine, eating frozen food:

http://www.ummfish.com/cleaner_wrasse_01_10-1-09.jpg

Mine spawn a couple of times every night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtR0foSHmM0

Now, blue streaks (Labroides dimidiatus) are considered the easy ones to get to eat of the cleaner wrasses. That's been my experience, too. I haven't tried any of the harder ones. (I'm just letting you know exactly where my experience with them ends.)