Cleaner Wrasse

[gamerproz]

I brought a Cleaner Wrasse from Ah Beng on Thurday and starve him the 1st day. Now in a basket, tried feeding Pellet in the morning and Frozen Brine Shrimp at night but still refuses to eat. How should I begin my training? What food sure can make him eat besides Henry's gourmet? (New Life Spectrum Finicky Fish Formula or cyclopeeze)

[dnsfpl]

i also want to know

tried 3 times

all KO after few weeks

give up liao

[limsc]

cleaner wrasse best left in the wild..

[CFOh]

I brought a Cleaner Wrasse from Ah Beng on Thurday and starve him the 1st day. Now in a basket, tried feeding Pellet in the morning and Frozen Brine Shrimp at night but still refuses to eat. How should I begin my training? What food sure can make him eat besides Henry's gourmet? (New Life Spectrum Finicky Fish Formula or cyclopeeze)

Could be due to stress... Normally cleaner wrasse will hide itself for few day when first introduce in tank... Will eat anything and clean parasites for your fish once they acclimatise...

Provide more hiding space for them to gain more survivor rate... sand bed might help too...

As far as I know cleaner wrasses r short life span.. maximum ~ 2-3 year...

Probably, get Juv Cleaner... higher chances...

Cheers and Happy Reefing..

[Dazza]

i got my red lips cleaner frm Henry 2 CNY ago. already trained to feed by him with his gourmet blend... feeds on pellets since ... still doing fine ... best bet will be to buy one tahts already trained to feed. I know Henry does it most fo teh time with his lifestocks so gv him a call n see if he has any in stock.

[pokmingsheng]

I got mine from a reefer who decommed.. Feeding greedily on frozen food and pellets... I don't know how she did it, it's difficult, but I guess it's possible somehow

[yikai]

I brought a Cleaner Wrasse from Ah Beng on Thurday and starve him the 1st day. Now in a basket, tried feeding Pellet in the morning and Frozen Brine Shrimp at night but still refuses to eat. How should I begin my training? What food sure can make him eat besides Henry's gourmet? (New Life Spectrum Finicky Fish Formula or cyclopeeze)

you should know that you would have gotten flamed if you posted in reef central..

cleaner wrasses are frowned upon in captivity because they are obligate parasitivores and play an important role cleaning fish in the wild.

ignorance is what lead reefers to buy them, thinking that they can eat white spots. they cannot eat white spots and will never be able to so if that's why you are buying them, then stop.

anyway they can be trained to eat but will still die after awhile. they can live much more than 2-3 years. it's because of the diet we feed them that they die so early.

fish can live for many years in the wild. cleaner wrasses are obligate parasite eaters. obligate means they eat nothing but parasites and are highly specialised. they cannot get their nutrition from our frozen food.

they feed on dead fish skin, fish mucus, parasites and etc.

just like obligate coral eating butterflyfish. they may eat prepared food but still wither away soon.

[dnsfpl]

actually all my 3 specimens are feeding

1 of the is from a reefer, kept for weeks already

not sure why they cant survive for more than a month

[wilsontantw]

I had a cleaner wrasse that eats pellets and/or frozen food.

Obviously it took a long while before it ate. But eventually it did. Survived in my tank for over 2 years until a crash took it along with other precious.

It even started to grow a yellow patch coloration on its forehead.

Flamed or not, stay curious! Never ask, never know.

Keeping marine fish in captivity was perceived as impossible, now we even breed them.

[yikai]

actually all my 3 specimens are feeding

1 of the is from a reefer, kept for weeks already

not sure why they cant survive for more than a month

read my comment above.

[yikai]

I had a cleaner wrasse that eats pellets and/or frozen food.

Obviously it took a long while before it ate. But eventually it did. Survived in my tank for over 2 years until a crash took it along with other precious.

It even started to grow a yellow patch coloration on its forehead.

Flamed or not, stay curious! Never ask, never know.

Keeping marine fish in captivity was perceived as impossible, now we even breed them.

keeping marine fish and keeping obligate feeders are two very different things.

obligate feeders will never ever survive for long time even if we have the best technology in the world. if we cannot provide their natural diet, then they will slowly pine away.

i agree that cleaner wrasses are easy to feed. they just don't adapt to our food and will still perish soon after. same with obligate corallivorous butterflyfish. eat pellets and mysis can, but their digestive system and nutritient assimilation is only designed for coral polyps. so unless we can feed them endless supplies of SPS, there will be no way to keep them. same case for cleaner wrasse. unless we have hundreds of fish for them to clean and pick away at dead skin, dead cells, mucus etc, they will not get what they need and still meet their demise.

do note that i'm not trying to flame anyone. this is just education and if we decide to keep marine fish, it's best we know what to keep or and what not to keep.

cleaner wrasse is a common mistake and i myself have made it too. luckily they are not endangered and are aplenty in the wild. let's keep it that way!

cheers.

[wilsontantw]

Despite my prior short success. Highly doubt I'll get another cleaner ever. I believe lady luck only smiles once.

Lemon, my point wasn't about what type of fish and their feeding habits. More of there are always exceptions. Science cannot and will never explain everything.

[dnsfpl]

read my comment above.

noted bro

bright side, at least my tank has not enough dead fish skin, fish mucus, parasites for it to feast on

[yikai]

noted bro

bright side, at least my tank has not enough dead fish skin, fish mucus, parasites for it to feast on

if one really must try, then the common cleaner is the best choice. they are cheap and the easiest to get feeding.

Labroides dimidiatus. this is the one.

avoid the hawaiian endemic ones as those are almost impossible and are very uncommon even in the wild. i think they might be banned for catching due to being overwhelmed by cleaner wrasse crazy reefers who just keep buying them.

the common cleaner wrasse that comes from fiji/vanuatu will have a yellow colour on it's black stripe. those are interesting and beatiful! look below

[Nitro]

hmmm... I've got a cleaner from a decomm tank too. That guy is still doing well in mine and it's feeding both on dead fish skin, fish mucus, pellets, fresh sea food and even dead fish once in awhile. Guess there is really no hard and fast rule in keeping a fishy hobby. What was once impossible to many reefers with the diff fishes and corals are now made possible with technology, new found knowledge and shared experiences. So I think there will continue to have more "IMPOSSIBLES" turning into "IM POSSIBLE" in this hobby.

Reasons why I do not remove dead fish once in a blue moon is bcuz I believed the critters within the tank need to feed on what is in the natural. Of cse if the fish is too big or there is a massive die-off, I would not be doing that. By so doing this, one need to monitor the NO3 closely during this period and I do not recommend this method for a small tank.

[yikai]

hmmm... I've got a cleaner from a decomm tank too. That guy is still doing well in mine and it's feeding both on dead fish skin, fish mucus, pellets, fresh sea food and even dead fish once in awhile. Guess there is really no hard and fast rule in keeping a fishy hobby. What was once impossible to many reefers with the diff fishes and corals are now made possible with technology, new found knowledge and shared experiences. So I think there will continue to have more "IMPOSSIBLES" turning into "IM POSSIBLE" in this hobby.

Reasons why I do not remove dead fish once in a blue moon is bcuz I believed the critters within the tank need to feed on what is in the natural. Of cse if the fish is too big or there is a massive die-off, I would not be doing that. By so doing this, one need to monitor the NO3 closely during this period and I do not recommend this method for a small tank.

cleaner wrasses are one of the more possible "impossibles" because if big tanks are present with many fish to clean, they can get their nutrition along with feedings from prepared food.

same with the coral eating butterflies. if they are supplied with endless supplies of SPS, they can do very well..

the word "impossible" used does not mean CANNOT keep alive. but the "impossible" means that majority, if not all reefers will not be able to provide for the fish and thus indirectly unable to sustain it.

but if these conditions are met, the fish will do very well.

the word "impossible" is always used for obligate specialist feeders not coz the fish itself is impossible, but the conditions needed to be provided is. of course if one is very rich and has space with big tank, then the impossible will change to a possible.

so i hope the word is not mis-understood here. perhaps i wasn't clear in the defition of the word in the first place. coz the word "impossible" used in this context is not the literal meaning.

cheers!

[dnsfpl]

chiong lfs so many times never see before that variant of cleaner wrasse

must open eye bigger liao

learn something new today again

cheers

[yikai]

chiong lfs so many times never see before that variant of cleaner wrasse

must open eye bigger liao

learn something new today again

cheers

that's because the yellow variant is only found in vanuatu and fiji. only vanuatu shipment will have this and so far iwarna is the only shop with very regular stock of vanuatu fishes.

there were a few in the past shipments.

[dnsfpl]

no wonder, iwarna shipment so many fast hand fast leg bro how to win

when i googled Labroides dimidiatus, the result shows common blue cleaner wrasse

does it mean it is common cleaner wrasse but yellow variant?

thanks

[yikai]

no wonder, iwarna shipment so many fast hand fast leg bro how to win

when i googled Labroides dimidiatus, the result shows common blue cleaner wrasse

does it mean it is common cleaner wrasse but yellow variant?

thanks

yup.

the cleaner wrasse with the yellow patch is still L. dimidiatus. it's just a regional colour morph.

[yikai]

i googled the same thing and got these

[dnsfpl]

noted..will keep a look out for this and Paracheilinus lineopunctatus

thanks again

[gamerproz]

Brought Henry's Gourmet yesterday because he told me 100% will eat

Common Cleaner Wrasse?

[yikai]

Brought Henry's Gourmet yesterday because he told me 100% will eat

Common Cleaner Wrasse?

yes this is the common cleaer wrasse.

L. dimidiatus.

[gamerproz]

My Wrasse appeared to open its mouth all the time, I wonder how it eat. Is this normal? I noticed that my overflow compartment has foam forming, it this due to overfeeding?