cleaner wrasse

[nycreef]

i bought two cleaner wrasses, now i cant even find one of them. are they difficut to keep.it seems like they are. i just wanted them to keep the parasites off my fish.should i buy another pair, theyre pretty cheap.3.25 ea.

[FishDaddy]

Hi, Nycreef,
What species do you have? How long have you had them?
Cleaner Wrasses, Labroidedes sp., generally are difficult to keep because there are not enough parasites in the typical aquarium to sustain them. Training them to take substitute food can be difficult and they may slowly starve. You have no way of knowing how long the particular specimens have been without food when you get them.
I would recommend against another cleaner but if you do, have the LFS feed it and make sure it will accept food before you buy.
HTH
Dick

[nycreef]

thanks , i had them one day and they disappeared.they looked ok at first. next time ill ask them to feed first. what else will they eat

[Alice]

Unfortunatley, even if you can get them to eat brine shrimp, pellets or what have you, they still don't seem to do very well. If you have a copper-free system with non-shrimp munching fish, you might try cleaner shrimp instead.