Yikes!

[DJ88]

Rob,

The reason that they are difficult to keep and not desireable in a reef tank are twofold.

One. Their main food source is critters they pick off other fish. They are dificult to get to eat prepared food. They basically starve to death in a tank as there are not hundreds of fish waiting to be cleaned.

Two. An even bigger reason. They serve a very important position in the ecology of a reef in the wild. They clean parasites off of fish. They do this constantly. Take away the fish, who cleans the parasites preventing infections and disease on the reef? No one.

One simple words of advice about buying these guys.

Don't.

Keep your tank clean and as stress free as possible. To do this, (not saying you have) Don't over stock or put fish in the tank that shouldn't be in there.