Cleaner Wasse & Cleaner Shrimp

[RockLobster]

I have

2 cleaner shrimps

1 Goldern boxer shrimp

1 Mandarin

2 Purple firefish.

Can I add a cleaner wasse in? Will it attack my shrimps or other fishes?

Thinking of adding firefish in too. (just read that it can co-exist with the purple firefish)

Any advise? I read that cleaners are "peaceful" but rather hear it from another forum who have "been there, done that".

Thanks

[Gouldian]

Cleaner Wrasse will not attack your shrimp nor fish. It will however, terrorize another cleaner wrasse thus it is adviseable to have only one Cleaner wrasse per tank.

My cleaner wrasse will even attack its image reflected off a mirror!

The only problem with Cleaner Wrasse is that they are notorious for dying for no apparent reasons. Plus the fact that reef that they are harvested usually will be badly affected by parasites and eventually dies. Thus there are several authors that 'ban' the buying of cleaner wrasse. So I suggest you only buy if you are very sure you are able to keep it alive - if not leave it in the wild.

I personally kept one. But after several days of observations to ensure that it is eating frozen food. Its been with me for 3mths liao.

Firefish and purple firefish have been known to terrorize new additions of the same species but it usually will stop after a day or two if you have ample space in the tank.

[RockLobster]

Cleaner Wrasse will not attack your shrimp nor fish. It will however, terrorize another cleaner wrasse thus it is adviseable to have only one Cleaner wrasse per tank.

My cleaner wrasse will even attack its image reflected off a mirror!

The only problem with Cleaner Wrasse is that they are notorious for dying for no apparent reasons. Plus the fact that reef that they are harvested usually will be badly affected by parasites and eventually dies. Thus there are several authors that 'ban' the buying of cleaner wrasse. So I suggest you only buy if you are very sure you are able to keep it alive - if not leave it in the wild.

I personally kept one. But after several days of observations to ensure that it is eating frozen food. Its been with me for 3mths liao.

Firefish and purple firefish have been known to terrorize new additions of the same species but it usually will stop after a day or two if you have ample space in the tank.

THANKS!

[Kalib]

I would advise against adding cleaner wrasse mainly because removal of such fish can have an environmental impact on the reefs and partly due to the fact they don't do well in captivity.

[aStRoBo|]

hMm.. it's case by case basis, if u train them to take frozen brineshrimp, they are quite gd in captivity. i have mine for ard half a yr b4 i sold it off.. wonder if it's doing well now..

[Chris]

They are difficult to keep for new tanks. Mine is more than 1 year old in a 3 year old tank. They do not tolerate same kind in the tank. They do not survive just on parasite, but need feeding. They seldom clean in a tank as the fish are relatively clean. Don't expect them to perform miracles on your white spot problem.

Verdict: Don't buy cleaner wrasses (doctor fish) to clean or treat your fish cos they don't.

[RockLobster]

They are difficult to keep for new tanks. Mine is more than 1 year old in a 3 year old tank. They do not tolerate same kind in the tank. They do not survive just on parasite, but need feeding. They seldom clean in a tank as the fish are relatively clean. Don't expect them to perform miracles on your white spot problem.

Verdict: Don't buy cleaner wrasses (doctor fish) to clean or treat your fish cos they don't.

SOme additional information I gathered:

http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrice/fish_page/cleaner.htm

The author says to get those cleaners who are already trained to access fish foods.

Comments?

[Kalib]

Getting those that are already eating fish foods is a good idea since chances are it would continue to eat in your tank. Better than buying 1 specimen from the LFS and not knowing if it would eat standard aquarium fare or not.

IMO, these fishes are best left in the wild where they will benefit the fish population there.