I now know how long Cleaner wrasses can live
 

My Cleaner Wrasse appeared to have died of natural causes three years to the day after I brought him home. It was actually one of my first purchases. :( :(

Sorry to hear that Bob, :(
It was with you for quite some time.

Strange thing is that the Six Line, who did not like the cleaner at all disappeared the same day. I expect to find his body soon. I did see him last night though, so he might just be hiding, but I have my doubts. :x

Sorry to hear about your fish. At least you proved that they can last longer than a few months.

Maybe they killed each other... :? It IS strange that they would disappear the same day. Any others MIA?

Alan

No everything else is fine, and I did see the six line after missing the cleaner.

Hello,

I actually think this is good if the animal that you cared for actually died of natural causes, rather than due to stress or other bad reasons that are the majority of cases out there.

Titus

Good point Titus, that's a good way to look at it and maybe ease some of the bummerness(if that's possibly a word :? )

while I agree than it is beter for a fish to die naturly... how can we be certian that the life span of this fish is only 3 years in the wild. it wasn;t to long ago that people were happy with tangs that lived 4 years in there care.. now we find otu the life cycle for a tang can be upwards of 50 years..

it is a acomplishment to keep a clkeaner wrass living for two or three years.. though not unheard of.. kind of a luck of the draw thing .. but I can;t help wondering how long the cleaner wrass would have lived in the Ocean with out the stress of our tanks...

Steve

Well at least we know that for three years the fish did not have to go looking for food, and nobody chased him to eat him. That might be worth something to a fish, who knows?