Cleaner Wrasse...Can u keep them in a Reef tank?

[Nafe]

Ive noticed my LFS selling Cleaner Wrasse, and im very interested about the prospect of keeping some.

However i have read conflicting reports, some saying they are impossible to keep others saying the opposite.

What are your opinions on this species of wrasse and its suitibility for an aquarium?.

[rayjay]

I have seven cleaner wrasses, one in each tank that has fish in it. Four of these tanks have corals as well.
Some people have trouble keeping them alive.
As long as they're not hawiian cleaner wrasses, you can get them in good shape feeding beef heart, mushed up in the blender so the particle size is like newborn brine shrimp or smaller.

[Nafe]

Do they still continue there natural behaviour of scouring your fish for parasites?.

Also i was wondering about there habit to burrow into the sand bed at night. Will a live sand bed possibly full of large bristtle worms be a threat to the cleaner while its sleeping?

[JennM]

I have only known one person to keep a cleaner wrasse, and it was in a 1200 g tank with a huge bunch of fish. He kept him for about 4 years. As Rayjay said, if you can get them feeding on prepared foods (in the store... before you buy it!), then it stands a chance but unfortunately the vast majority of these fishes, die of starvation in captivity.

If you are looking for parasite control:

1) Find the source of the stress causing parasites and fix that.

AND/OR

2) Leave your tank fishless for 30-60 days and quarantine new arrivals for a full course of copper treatment before adding to the display

3) Cleaner shrimp are much hardier than wrasses, and perform similar tasks.

4) If you really like the idea of a cleaner *fish*, try a neon goby. They are farm-raised now, will eat prepared foods, but will also clean fishes.

HTH

Jenn

[Pirate]

I gotta second Jenn's idea... go for the neon gobie. I just ordered one for my tank. They live even after the parasites and such are gone, not the case for most cleaner wrasses.

[rayjay]

First of all the cleaner wrasses I have don't bury in the sand, although now I only have one tank with sand bed. Even before though, I never saw that happen.
The cleaners do search and pick at the fish, but some fish won't present themselves to the cleaners for a cleaning. i.e. none of my clowns, or my piccaso trigger. Maybe my pre tank hypo treatment affects this, I don't really know.
JennM. I don't know if this is any help to you or not, but around here there are a lot of cleaner wrasses in tanks.
The supplier I have tells me his supply comes from Sri Lanka and usually in his tanks the larger ones are already eating frozen brine but the ones that don't and the small ones that don't, will take the beef heart mush that I make. Actually, the larger ones will eat larger particles of beef heart with no problem. (half adult brine size)
I have never had a cleaner not eat beef heart, (except the Hawiian I tried at the store) and ones that don't eat other foods readily accept other foods in short order.
Most of my cleaners even feed on the spirulina flake which is a main staple of my fish tank feeding.
To prepare my beef heart (I cool it in the freezer first so it's firm to work with) I skin the inner and outer membranes off, cut out all the vessels, so there is nothing but good meat. (I don't worry about waste as it's cheap anyway)
I chop the good meat up in cubes and place in the blender with a little water, and chop it up.
I make large balls of the meat and place on a platter to freeze and then bag it.
To use it, I remove the ball from the freezer and grate it on the large size (5/16" holes) openings of my four sided chease grater.
Smaller grating is not neccessary and takes much more time to do. I only grind up enough for a few days and return the "ball" to the freezer and put the grated beef heart in a jar in the fridge with a little new salt water to preserve and keep moist.
Now that all the cleaners eat everything, I just put beef heart in with my "meat" mixture that I feed my fish.
The only problem I've encountered with these wrasses is they tend to jump out of a tank that doesn't have a hood or other tank covering when chased by a fish they nip a little too hard ocassionally
I buy these cleaners, get them eating other foods, and resell them to hobbyists who have heard that it's difficult to keep them alive and don't want to risk it themselves.
I forgot to mention that I don't use these fish to clean up an ick outbreak, but only as an aid to controlling so I don't have one.
If I had an outbreak, Jenn's post would be the advisable move to make.

[Nafe]

Thanks for the advice and tips.

Ill make sure that they are feeding at the store before i decide to buy one.

[JennM]

Thanks for the details, rayjay. How long have you been keeping them? What's your longest-kept one? I am glad you are having success, and this information might be of great benefit, since so many stores sell them but their survival rate in captivity is so dismal.

Jenn

[rayjay]

Probably the first one I got was about 9+ yrs ago but the memory isn't what it should be.
I don't know the longest I've kept one because of selling them, I have a turnover. I used to sell whichever one the person wanted to buy, but for about 3 yrs now, I've not sold the one in the reef tank. (too hard to get out)
The oldest one I have is one I aquired a few years ago from a hobbyist getting out of the hobby and he had the cleaner about 3 yrs before I got it.
The youngest two I have are four months in my tanks and the others more than one yr.
It would be interesting to find out if cleaners from other area's will feed on beef heart, but Sri Lanka is the only supplier of them around here.
Every one please remember, the Hawiian cleaner wrasse will not eat this beef heart or any other food the LFS has fed to them.

[JennM]

Wow. I'm impressed. Anything more than "weeks" IMO is an accomplishment.

Too bad about the Hawaiians - they are gorgeous. I was sent one as a "surprise" once that supplier got an earful. Poor thing only lived a few days -- I don't bring in stuff that's "doomed".

Do you ever use commercial beefheart preparations? San Francisco Bay Brands makes a frozen fish food called Beef Heart, it's mainly used for freshwater fishes. I'd be interested to know if this would work too, since most hobbyists are not inclined to "cook" for their fishes -- heck I don't cook for myself

Doug, this thread might be good for the archives - this is the first real success with cleaner wrasses that I've ever read/heard of.

Jenn

[rayjay]

JennM, I bought a blister pack of beef heart cubes one time, but the particle size was too large for a non eating wrasse although it wasn't too bad for ones already eating.
Some particles were quite large plus the cubes contained membrane and vessels that I cut out of mine. The fish don't eat the membrane etc. so it sits in the tank waiting for the clean up crew, which I don't use in my tanks.
You see, I was set in my ways of no clean up crew, corals under NO lighting, not feeding my corals and anemone, and keeping cleaner wrasses, before I got a computer and found out I couldn't do it.
Now I also have clams under NO lighting and don't feed them either. This even when boards say you shouldn't but one LFS convinced me to try it after his personal experiences keeping clams.

[Nafe]

Our LFS has also had success in feeding there cleaners finely chopped heart. The ones for sale at the shop have been there for a few weeks now and still looking very well fed.

Sounds like im on to something with this thread