cleaner wrass

[attempt]

I just got a cleaner wrass the other day, he has been swimming around looking normal. until last night.... he jaw seems to be locked open... and today he seems to prefer to stay in the top back corner of the tank near the surface. anyone have any ideas my LFS seems not to have any
thanks

 

[ophiuroid]

Cleaner wrasses have an absolutely dismal survival record in captivity. The overwhelming majority of these fish die shortly after introduction. Unless you have a very large tank with very large fish, I do not recommend getting one (especially if you have a cleaner shrimp). I have only seen one healthy cleaner wrasse, and it is in a 40,000g tank with some very large fish.

Recent thread:
http://www.reefaquariumguide.com/forums ... adid=24399

I am sure other searches on this board will also turn up information.

 

[Anonymous]

very much agreed! along with sharks and rays, i really discourage folks from buying these fish. yes, they really do require a large number of fish that are large enough to meet their needs.

a 40,000 gal display isn't a minimum, but i would say that 500-1,000gals stocked with animals that are at least 6" in length would be a bare minimum.

unfortunately, i can't help you with the problem you seem to be experiencing, but the animal is clearly in distress. i will tell you this much, if you come to the conclusion that the animal is definitely going to die i will strongly encourage you to euthanize him instead of "letting nature take its course". the best method by far is to net him up and whack him hard, on a hard surface. if done properly he won't have a chance to feel a thing, he'll be instant dead.

 

[attempt]

I just wanted to let you all know i got him on the recomendation of the LFS. I have a cinnamon clown that had some white stuff in his mouth and a little bit coming out from his gills right where they meet under his chin. I also have a coral beauty that my cleaner shrimp has been digging in his gills. I went to the LFS to get something for them as i do not have a sick tank. They sold me some medication called Focus its some sort of antibiotic that you mix with food. THey also recommended that i get a cleaner wrass becasue it will do a better job at cleaning the mouths and gills of my 2 sick fish
Have any of you heard of this medication called Focus?

 

[naesco]

Attempt
Please immediately return the fish to the LFS and demand a full credit.
The advice above is correct. They are impossible to keep and should not have been sold to you.

 

[Anonymous]

again, i agree.

 

[ophiuroid]

Of course they encouraged you to buy something. But with a cleaner shrimp, there is even less hope for a cleaner wrasse. I don't trust any LFS however that sells you another fish, when there are already two showing signs of trouble...and sold you a very delicate fish on top of it.

I am afraid they took advantage of you, knowingly or otherwise.

I am not familiar with the medication, nor am I convinced that you have a bacterial problem anyway. And if you do, putting it on the food will not help things that won't eat the food (eg the cleaner wrasse). There is an aquarium fish forum here, and a fish diseases forum on reefcentral. I would suggest you post to there ASAP. Misused medications, including antibiotics, in a reeftank can cause problems.

 

[_range_]

I've looked up biological cleaners and 'success' with a cleaner wrass can be defined as slowly starving it over a period of six months. There aren't nearly enough parasites to keep a cleaner wrass healthy in a normal hobby tank.

 

[attempt]

Mr cleaner wrasse will be removed this weekend =)

 

[SPC]

Great advice everyone and a great decision on your part to return the fish attempt! BTW for future reference, the neon goby is a cleaner and can be purchased tank raised.
Steve

 

[_range_]

Neon goby eh?

 

[Mogo]

I bought 2 cleaner wrasses a couple years ago and they didn't last 2 weeks, despite my best efforts. Apart from a coral beauty that jumped out of the tank, they are the only fish I have lost.

 

[MandarinFish]

I got a pair "used" from a woman's tank. They had a lot of fish to clean.

They also ate flake food. When I introduced nori to the tank, the wrasses were the first to take to it, then showed the tangs to eat it.



Then they jumped.



Since then, I have tried to find replacements.... I tried on 3 occasions. Once I picked one that was healthily cleaning other fish at the store. None made it though.

At the store, I have asked to see them fed to find one which takes to brine shrimp. In a tank full of cleaner wrasses, they *ALL* ignored the shrimp. I've never seen fish so completely disinterested in brine shrimp.

Tropical Paradise, the best LFS I know, won't carry them any more. They got sick of seeing them die, even in established tanks.

Another LFS got a big shipment of fish that I saw. In 5 huge boxes I saw, the coris wrasses, powder blue tangs, and cleaner wrasses were the only dead fish.

I won't support buying any of those. Even if I found one that ate brine shrimp, there are probably a dozen PLUS or so that had to die to get that one there.

 

[furyclown]

I guess I have been extremely lucky with my Cleaner Wrasse.

He/She is such a delight. Eats ANYTHING that I put in the tank that is chopped up small enough for his little mouth. Nori, flake food, brine, pureed frozen squid/fish, etc...

He is usually the FIRST one to the food. He will even try to keep the bigger pieces away from the other fish by taking it to the top of the tank in a corner, it floats down, he promptly moves it back to the corner. He~ HE~ he~

Too Cute!!!!

I got him from a LFS.

I've had him for just over 2 years now and he's my favorite.

Maybe he was 'tank raised'....?

Just my .02

 

[furyclown]

I guess I have been extremely lucky with my Cleaner Wrasse.

He/She is such a delight. Eats ANYTHING that I put in the tank that is chopped up small enough for his little mouth. Nori, flake food, brine, pureed frozen squid/fish, etc...

He is usually the FIRST one to the food. He will even try to keep the bigger pieces away from the other fish by taking it to the top of the tank in a corner, it floats down, he promptly moves it back to the corner. He~ HE~ he~

Too Cute!!!!

I got him from a LFS.

I've had him for just over 2 years now and he's my favorite.

Maybe he was 'tank raised'....?

Just my .02

 

[MiltonP]

If yours is eating everything but the kitchen sink, maybe it is a False Cleaner. I believe the easiest way to tell is the mouth position. The Cleaner has its mouth at the tip, whereas the False Cleaner is more underneath. When the False 'cleans' it is actually ripping off flesh. Not very nice!

 

[furyclown]

His mouth is a tiny bit under his nose.

Him and my Yellow Tang are big buddies for almost 2 years now. The clowns could 'take or leave' him, most of the time and I think he scares my firefish goby, but,
then most ever thing else does too.

I had a coral beauty that seemed to enjoy his attention...

I think I just got lucky but, I'm going to read-up about the false cleaner, try to find some comparison pics.

 

[MandarinFish]

Maybe my pair were false cleaners then.

 

[rayjay]

For what it's worth, I am raising cleaner wrasses and reselling them after they're eating many foods. I've been told the wrasses come from Sri Lanka, so I don't know if the same good fortune holds true of other supplies as well.
I start all my cleaner wrasses out with beef heart, mushed in the blender so that it's like new born nauplii. I have never had a cleaner wrasse that didn't eat this mush. Eventually, some sooner some later, they all eat other foods, especially as they get larger. My oldest ones eat anthing I put in the tank including spirulina flake.
One thing to keep in mind, and that is the cleaner wrasses jump out of the tank sometimes so you would be best to have a cover to prevent that. I've even had them jump through the egg crate covering some of my tanks.
I used to keep these fish for a year before selling them, but now with the demand, I sell them after about 3 months.

 

[rayjay]

I should have mentioned in my previous post, that this beef heart mush does not work for the Hawian cleaner wrasse. An lfs here that gets many fish and inverts that shouldn't be sold, had several hawian cleaners in just before Christmas, and with their permission, I tried my beef heart mush with them and they didn't even blink an eye. They also wouldn't eat anything else. Unfortunately, the fish were both sold to unsuspecting hobbyists that same week.
Fortunately, we do have another lfs that won't sell fish and corals that don't have much of a chance.