Cleaner Wrasse
 

Hey, so I've had one if these guys for about two weeks. Put him in and the next I didn't see him, no sign of him for 10 days until yesterday. He came out for about an hour and gone again I thought he had died. Is it common for them to hide out like that?

Hate to rain on your parade, but it's actually common for them to die. It's really hard to keep cleaner wrasses.

Has he eaten anything in the moments you have seen him out? Cleaner wrasses IMO should be left in the ocean, they almost never eat frozen and rely on ectoparasites of other fish for nutrition.

How many fish are in the tank?

cleaner wrasse
 

I have never had one hide for more than a couple of hours after going into the tank.
This is one fish I just don't get the hype about. I have always kept a cleaner wrasse in my tanks over the years and have never had one just die.
I have had my tank sping a leak and drain in the middle of the night... that killed one.
I had my tank crash while on holidays... that killed one and the second one survived.
I have always had them in tanks with some "bigger fish" Tangs and never had a problem. The one I currently have has been swimming around for over a year now and eats everything I feed except pellets.
So... I guess i am just very lucky?!
Keith.

It's just him and a peppermint shrimp in the tank right now. The tank is full of copepods and it's seems like they are still multiplying. I didn't feed him when he came out, and since I thought he was a goner I hadn't feed the tank in 10 days. Come to think if it I only see the shrimp maybe once, twice a week tops. Is there a reason they constantly hide? I have a nanocube 28 gal with about 15-20 lbs of rock.

I had one that I didn't have much luck with(died in three weeks), but I know Laurie has had a couple that have done really well for her..... As far as the peppermints go, they don't like intense light so, in a tank they tend to be more nocturnal.... they usually come out when you feed the tank tho

Cleaner Wrasse have a VERY little chance of survival, let alone in a 28G tank. They need to feed on parasites and so forth off of other fish. Next time, ask for advice on this forum first as there are many experienced members who can help you avoid purchasing a fish that will not survive and be compatable with your system. Thank you.

This is true, they are hard to keep alive. But now you already have it and can't return it to the sea :-), so what i do with mine is soaking frozen shrimp with garlic and vitamin, selcon and encourage it to eat. If it takes them then you are getting a better chance for him to survive.

Mine eventually takes pellets (yeah pellets lol) and all kind frozen food. I am not 100% sure if it is the key for it to survive tho, because it also clean my other fishes. It's out all the time not hidding like yours and even clean my arm when i have my arm in the tank. Very cool


Good luck with yours! I would not buy this fish again if mine is dead (hope not, have him over 1.5 years now).

If you are looking for cleaner, i suggest cleaner shrimps :-)

+1 on using Garlic to feed him.
I just picked 1 up because of an ich outbreak on all my fish and needed to do something about it so I picked up a cleaner after research and contemplating a cleaner wrasse or neon goby. I was in the store for about 30 mins looking at the different cleaners, and luckily arrived right when the store was feeding their fish. Seemed like 80% of the cleaners didnt really go for frozen food, but 1 did so I snatched him up.
Even when I put him in my tank, he stayed out and had no problems with being in the open. Ill watch him pick at frozen food when I feed with garlic and he goes nuts.

I once tried moving a canary wrasse from a 50gal into a 20gal for a few weeks so that it might clean up the flatworm problem in there. It did not like the small tank one bit. It hid most of the time and when it was out it just swam in a tight circle. When I moved it back to the larger tank it was out swimming freely all of the time once again. Obviously they are not the same fish but it could be the same problem.

I've always had luck with them eating PE mysis, I also have kept them with large fish Tangs/angels that do get ich so maybe that's why mine were always fat and healthy. I had one for almost 3 yrs but then I had to QT the whole tank and it curled up to sleep on the heater (in the qt tank) and I found him dead the next day :sad: One I had for over a year but it jumped out and the cat got to it before I did :sad: I tried one more after that, it was eating mysis but my sixline wrasse and my trigger took a dislike to it and unforutately killed it within a week of getting it :sad:

Ya I guess going to Pisces and buying a fish wasn't the best idea, figured I had store credit so why not. They said that they are perfect for small tanks, and an excellent first fish. I read up on them when I got home. Crap.

*shakes his head in disgust and wonders how LFSs can have people that know nothing about saltwater fish selling people saltwater fish*

Well I found the poor little guy today. Looks like shrimp food. What would be good fish for a 29 gal nanocube? I don't want to make a rookie mistake again. Ideally I'd like a pair of clowns, but do they need an anemone?

pair of clowns are great, make sure you get one bigger than other so they don't have to fight much. Anemone is not needed they will find something else in your tank to host. Also you can install smart phone program to look up fish before buying. That was how i bought most of my fishes from beginning

You can get any 2 clowns. They are hermaphrodite, so one will become dominant and change into a female. Dunno if they will end up mating and laying eggs though.

What app would that be?? Would be intrested in looking into that myself! :biggrin: