Cleaner Wrasse Pro vs Con

techniner · 02-26-2005, 03:58 PM

OK purchased Cleaner Wrasse today to fight off some parasites on my powder blue tang and she appears to love it .. then at times chases it away..

Seems like the Cleaner is quite agressive about cleaning...

Is this going to cause my tank to become hostile and stressful.. or do you think they will mellow out ?

Kevin1000 · 02-26-2005, 04:52 PM

What kind of parasites are you fighting off?

techniner · 02-26-2005, 05:01 PM

Priimarly iche.. but i am not 100% it is iche either.. with the MILLIONS of variations it could be and all..

tims · 02-26-2005, 05:07 PM

the cleaning is there main food source.. if you have a major infestation you might think of getting a sceond one. they are usally all females when young, then they ( one) will be the dom. of the two and turn male.. they may take some small brine shrimp also.. i loved the way mine worked...

Kevin1000 · 02-26-2005, 05:15 PM

Cleaner wrasses are overrated as far as ich fighting ... to my knowledge there is no evidence that cleaner wrasses have ever eradicated ich in a tank .. the one study on cleaner wrasses that I recall indicated that they found no ich in the stomach contents of a cleaner wrasse in the ocean - seems that they prefer gnatid(sp?) isopods.

In general cleaner wrasses need large tanks with lots of large fish ... they tend to eat the mucas lining off of fish which everone seems to think is a obvious sign that they are eliminating parasites off of fish. They tend to be aggressive feeders and can pester fish.

Last but not least ... cleaner wrasses get ich just like other fish.

Heres a link on ich ... might help.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...marineich.html

sally · 02-26-2005, 05:55 PM

Whatever you do ...do not get another one as they are short lived in captivity and belong in their natural environtment. Get a cleaner shrimp instead.

techniner · 02-26-2005, 06:31 PM

Have Cleaner Shrimp in there already and it is FAAAAR from infestation.. just trying to nip it in the but from the get go...

I have heard that mixing the two Cleaners is NOT good as they will fight...

But thats for tips guys..

I have extreme garlic already and I ordered Kick Ich..

Just don't want the ich to spread so I am trying to stop the small amount I see now...

techniner · 02-27-2005, 08:25 AM

Well Just like that literally OVERNIGHT.. all signs of parasites are GONE..

As much as many argue that cleaners do not help with ich.. I am still very skeptical..

Had to detemrine because I have been treating with Garlic and that Cleaner shrimp so...

JennM · 02-27-2005, 09:23 AM

I have to agree with Sally. Cleaner wrasses are as good as dead very shortly, and IMO it's wasteful that they are even collected in the trade.

Cleaner shrimp are a much better choice for infestations after the fact, but your best bet is to prevent infestation. Select new specimens carefully, quarantine and treat if necessary before adding fish to the main display.

Jenn

VWD · 02-27-2005, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JennM

I have to agree with Sally. Cleaner wrasses are as good as dead very shortly, and IMO it's wasteful that they are even collected in the trade.

Cleaner shrimp are a much better choice for infestations after the fact, but your best bet is to prevent infestation. Select new specimens carefully, quarantine and treat if necessary before adding fish to the main display.

Jenn

I agree With JennM, But most People don't set up a quarantine tank , No room or what ever the reason , and it seems gone are the Days when Your LFS would get a New shipment in and quarantine them before they sold them , I like to look at tanks that have the date the fish arrived , I lived most My life in Albuquerque, NM and The LFS I dealt with did not sell a fish for 7 days , and The arrival date for everything is on the tank , Vince

atzak · 02-28-2005, 08:00 AM

Neon gobies are a much better cleaner fish, IMO

Reefska · 02-28-2005, 02:16 PM

I'm just gonna put in the fact that I have had a Red Sea Cleaner Wrasse (supossedly impossible to keep) in my 75 gal for the last 2 years, munches down on frozen food, leaves my few hard corals alone, and never had ich.

Quite possibly I have been lucky, but I know of several very health cleaner wrasses which have been going strong for several years

techniner · 02-28-2005, 02:41 PM

Reefska.. thats awesome.. and I am hoping for the same..

I have heard nothing but negative about cleaner wrasse and I can understand the argument that when pulling it out of the ocean it basicallys cuts its life span in half and they are crucial part of the enviroment in which fish live..

But at the same time.. they have been surviving for eons of years and will continue to do so in my opinion...

Tank is lookin SWEEET... Fish are looking great..

I jumped the gun on the cleaner shrimp and clean wrasse probably did not even need them as far s parasite cleaning... but I thought it was a good idea...

rayjay · 03-01-2005, 12:17 PM

I have seven cleaner wrasses, one in each tank, and they're all from Sri Lanka.
The only problem I have with them is when I leave a top off, they can be jumpers when chased after nipping a fish. I have lost 3 this way over the last 11 years.

Andrew3 · 03-01-2005, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VWD

and it seems gone are the Days when Your LFS would get a New shipment in and quarantine them before they sold them , I like to look at tanks that have the date the fish arrived , I lived most My life in Albuquerque, NM and The LFS I dealt with did not sell a fish for 7 days ,

my favorite lfs also quarantine their stock and it must be disease free 7 days or longer before they move it from the quarantine tanks in the back of the store to display tanks for sale. It is the only store I will buy livestock from.

Andrew