CBB + Yellow Coris Wrasse

SpateD · #1 07-31-2011, 06:55 PM

So I bought a Copperband Butterfly a little over a week ago, he's eating a lot, and looks fairly healthy.

A few days after I put him in the tank he started to get this whitish haze on him, only in a couple areas. Now the haze has almost fully cleared, but he was rubbing on rocks a bit too.

I have no clearer shrimp or wrasse in my tank anymore, and something strange has been happening. There is a couple of little areas on the CBB where it looks like scales are missing, but only slightly, they aren't white scales, they just look darker.

This is where it gets pretty weird.. The CBB kind of just hovers and follows the yellow coris around. When the yellow coris is paying attention to him, he sticks up his fins and holds really still. Almost like an aggressive stance, but instead.. he's letting the wrasse PICK at his scales.It almost seems like he's following the wrasse around to get him to eat whatever is on him of.

I'm going to try and get a video of this and maybe someone here has experienced this before.

whatcaneyedo · #2 07-31-2011, 07:15 PM

Halichoeres chrysus aka the yellow coris wrasse is known to occasionally clean its tank mates of parasites the same as a regular cleaner wrasse would. In Wrasse and Parrotfishes by Scott W Michael pg 190 "I have seen H. chrysus clean other fish in captivity. One individual, for example, would pick at the body surfaces of several butterflyfishes." Books are fun.

fishytime · #3 07-31-2011, 07:30 PM

Very cool!..... Would love to see a vid of that

There are quite a few fish that perform cleaning duties in the wild..... I saw a documentary where a small group of yellow tangs were cleaning a large jack (or something).....

daniella3d · #4 08-01-2011, 02:56 AM

Looks like your copperband has parasites that he wants cleaned off.

Get a cleaner shrimp if you can.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpateD

So I bought a Copperband Butterfly a little over a week ago, he's eating a lot, and looks fairly healthy.

A few days after I put him in the tank he started to get this whitish haze on him, only in a couple areas. Now the haze has almost fully cleared, but he was rubbing on rocks a bit too.

I have no clearer shrimp or wrasse in my tank anymore, and something strange has been happening. There is a couple of little areas on the CBB where it looks like scales are missing, but only slightly, they aren't white scales, they just look darker.

This is where it gets pretty weird.. The CBB kind of just hovers and follows the yellow coris around. When the yellow coris is paying attention to him, he sticks up his fins and holds really still. Almost like an aggressive stance, but instead.. he's letting the wrasse PICK at his scales.It almost seems like he's following the wrasse around to get him to eat whatever is on him of.

I'm going to try and get a video of this and maybe someone here has experienced this before.

SpateD · #5 08-01-2011, 03:19 AM

I know, a cleaner is a must when my LFS gets a shipment in. My last one died while I was in Vegas. It's just odd to see the wrasse do it...