I can respect that. PM'd you. If you're enjoying yourself and prevent a few reefers willing to accept the fact they can't keep x in tank y...more power to ya. I do see others offering similar advice like I said in my PM...maybe with a slightly less authoritative tone which comes off differently.

My list of fish that shouldn't be kept in captivity regardless of longevity is pretty short. There's a big difference between sustainable harvest of a common species and harvesting a keystone species. Without cleaner wrasses, the ecology of the reef crumbles.
It's like the difference between sustainable softwood harvesting and wholescale clearcutting of old-growth rainforest. Both technically destroy trees and have some ecological impact, but one area will recover, and the other won't.

I believe that it is possible to practise marine fishkeeping in a more responsible manner, if we're careful. Buying frags instead of corals fresh from the reef, avoiding endangered/keystone species, that kind of thing.

Still selfish? Yeah, probably. Really, when you get down to it, 'sustainability' is just a catchphrase for continuing to do what we want while trying to minimize the impact. But I think that a conscientious aquarist can actually do a lot of good- both for the hobby and the environment as a whole.

????? Look at your avatar???

lol...
+1

I guess they just need time to get along...
My fishes didnt like my cleaner wrasse when I first introduced her to my tank...

Cleaners Wrasses aren't the only cleaners out there guys and gals... if you want a cleaner that has a good chance of survival, that is...

There's the Sharknose Goby, Elacatinus evelynae (syn. Gobiosoma evelynae, Gobiosoma genie). He gets to about 2" max, tiny by any standards, but there are good accounts of them cleaning much larger predators... one cleaning a trumpetfish http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/new.../trptgby2.html and a moray eel http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/new...03/gmoray.html, though these accounts are probably (circumstantial) at best. I did read somewhere that they are known to clean fishes from 1.5 to 15 times their size.

Might be worth a try for some people, if you really wanted a cleaner type fish. I'm pretty sure I came across another also, if I can find the page I'll edit this post.

My experience with a cleaner wrasse was that it pestered my existing fish to distraction. It caused an immediate change in general stress level of the tank. It seemed that every fish was darting around trying to escape the cleaner's attention. It was the only fish I've lost that didn't bother me when it disappeared about two weeks later.

Mine never appeared to eat anything I fed.

I'm not aware of the experience that they are capable of removing ich from a fish. That just sounds a bit too good to be true to me. Cleaner shrimp are also sometimes said to remove crypto parasites, but I don't think that is the case either.

No they cannot, your right. Ich is generally too far under the skin for them to get at. They do remove the dead skin after the ich has left the fish. I have seen cleaner wrasse try to remove ich from my Hippo Tang and it REALLY ****es the tang off. He actually chases the cleaner away. I don't think it feels good to the fish to have ich which is under the skin being picked at.

That same hippo though will often open his mouth or gills for the cleaner to get right in and clean.

I added some corals to my FOWLR recently (wait a minute....FOWLR?....Corals?....I guess I might have to start calling that tank Reef #2)...anyway....added corals and while doing so, my Cleaner Wrasse was pecking at my arm (kinda cool, actually). Anyway, they bite hard sometimes. Feels like a needle prick. So I can see why some fish might get PO'ed on occasion. Mine do,...sometimes.

My cleaner wrasse seems to help to remove the white spots right off of my fish. Most of my fish seem to welcome his removal skills, they will swim up to him to get cleaned.

Yes mine does this too and it can be quite hard. Not quite as bad as my yellow tang though...he bites the hairs on my arms and actually pulls on them :rolleyes: He also taught my rabbitfish to do it too.

Mine did that the other day. Freaked me out!

He is still doing great, the Six Line is living in my fuge so the tank is his. One of the more active fish, the CBB and Naso have no problem with him. Hasn't swam in any gills yet.

Still eating Mysis like a pig, twice a day. I'm hoping to get him to switch over to Catherines homemade food when I get it in.

Shouldn't be a problem... the first time I put michikas food in my tank, EVERYTHING came out of the woodwork to have a taste.. haha..

Heheh... my cleaner shrimp do that all the time. They climb on my hands and clean out all the dead skin... and then start working their way up my arms. Annoying when I have a lot to do in the tank- they pinch on the inside of your arms!

Figured I've give a quick update.

Still doing great, eating Mysis like a pig when I feed it. I also picked up a CBB that won't touch Mysis or Brine, so I started feeding live clams on the half shell. The cleaner wrasse went nuts over it and still does.

Infact, oddly enough now my Naso and both clown fish go after the clam when I feed it. Anything left overnight the bristle worms take care of in the morning. No matter what size clam I feed my tank, in the morning it is a shell with no meat on it at all!

Your problem is not having a cleaner in your tank... or ich in your tank

Your problem is having too many tangs in one tank... just having 1-2 is already too many ... tangs should be in tanks over 4 ft long... and in 100+ gallon tanks...

LOL..he was just kidding ;)

Heh, good reminder for me actually.

Cleaner Wrasse still doing well. Loves Brine, Mysis, Nori of all colors and clams.

Ya, Cleaner Wrasse are on the list of "creatures that should be left in the ocean" imo. Although I would define "long term" as over a year.

Absolutely not. The more people buy a certain fish, the more that store will continue to stock them. If a store keeps losing difficult to care for fish because they aren't selling and the stores can't keep them alive they will quit bringing those fish in.

I have had my cleaner wrasse for almost 5 and a half years now.Never had a problem

Just wanted to update everyone on this fish, still very happy and fat. From looking at the pictures from the 1st page of this thread to now, it is noticeable how much fuller her belly is. She is still eating Mysis and Nori. It's been about 7 months since I've had her now.

I had one scare when I checked on my tank one night, she was laying, motionless on the sand. I thought she died and I went to scoop her out, turned out she was sleeping. I'm not sure who was more scared, the fish or a half sleep reefer realizing he has a zombie fish...

i have had the same cleaner wrasse for over a year now and he is healthy and great

Yeah Mine is still going strong as well...I have it for close to a year myself and was in a previous tank for at least that as well....

For those with cleaner wrasses... when first introduced did they take long to acclimate to the tank and swim around?

MIne came from someone elses tank so he acclimated very quickly, not sure how "newer" ones would do...

But from what I have read and such they are a lot like copperbands, many are very difficult to acclimate to a tank. Which is also why a lot of people do not reccomned getting them as the usually do not fare well....

But there is a lot of information in forums to be read and everyones tank & experiences are different....

I put mine in a tank with ick so he fed off the fish for a bit then he started eating. Nori and mysis

Mine was in a store tank full of a shoal of Chromis. He was swimming with the shoal and was very active, has been like that since I added him. Minor issue with the Sixline to start off with, but overall it's been great.

Again, I don't recommend everyone go and buy one, due to various reasons, however for the few that find a healthy, eating, active one that are rarely available from a store or from another reefer, they can be a great fish to have.

lol ...wow i had a good laugh there ... that was a joke right? i hope all 6 tangs are sailfins too :p

wow I have 2 tangs is 165 gal and they fight all the time