[ravenmore]

yep, a lot of other fish do pick parasites off fish(for some reason spanish hog fish come to mind right off the bat). but cleaner wrasses are highly specialized animals. they may clean parasites other animals don't.

Again, I'm not an expert to their habits. I'm going on what I've heard from divers and articles from "experts" in the field (give me time and I might be able to come up with links. Today is my b-day and I "celebrated" right after work with happy hour. I'm not as "focused" as normal right now.... ).

-Mike

[organicreefer]

happy birthday man,im always down to read whatever you can throw my way ,actually id appreciate it

[gramma royale]

I will definitely get a neo goby . They are less expensive than the cleaner wrasses and don't get large at all, (>2"). I'd like to get a cleaner wrasse, but they do get pretty large and my tank is only 18 gallons. i will probably only get 2 neons, but this will be AFTER my 3 week period of ridding any possible ich infestation in the sand bed.

[ravenmore]

gracias - anybody hears a loud "thunk" that's me keeling over. thanks for checking out my site also btw. It'll change within the next month as I have to ditch homestead.

I'm gonna be busy the next couple of days, but this conversation has my interest piqued. Going to do some more digging into this particular species of cleaner wrasse. In the meantime, I still highly recommend the neon gobies. There are several different species of these as well, but anything in the gobiasoma family should be fine (includes just about anything called a "neon goby").

-Mike

[organicreefer]

pacific cleaner wrasse:[IMG]ttp://www.ffexpress.com/fish/wrasses/cleaner_pacific.jpg[/IMG]
just like i planned it

[ravenmore]

Well, I've spent most of the morning hungover and going through articles on cleaner wrasses.

I found a lot of articles going both ways on this animal. As far as husbandry goes they are strongly advised against usually, but there was more than one article stating that labroides dimidiatus sometimes will take other foods. SOMETIMES! I got the feeling that it was definitely a hit or miss proposition.

However, the most resounding reason against purchasing this animal to me was what happens when they're removed from the wild. It leaves a big hole in the ecological niche they provide. Cleaner wrasses set up cleaning stations....I gathered from my reading that this was somewhat unique among cleaner type fishes. Fish in the area learn where this station is and line up to use it. Sometimes fish that regularly get cleaned even defend the area from would be predators of the cleaner fish! When the cleaner wrasse is collected, frequently all the cleaners at the station are gathered, thereby removing the cleaning station and leaving the fish in the area without a resource to clean parasites......

Finally, I came across an article by Bob Fenner on the subject, and he in no uncertain terms stated that these animals should not be kept in home aquaria. This specifically included the species labroides dimidiatus. I put more weight on his article than any of the others because of his experiece.

Here is a link to the article:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/labroide.htm

I'm also going to invite him to this discussion. It is just my opinion, but I really don't want someone to read this thread and still think it's ok to keep these animals in an aquarium. Sorry to be so disagreable on this matter but I feel pretty strongly about this.

-Mike

[organicreefer]

thanks for passing that on ravenmore.it seems even fenner says the OTHER four species of cleaner wrasse should never be collected for the home aquarium,and i agree as they are considered obligate cleaners they eat only parasites.
he also states that labroides dimidiatus is a facultative cleaner,meaning it eats other foods as well(even in the ocean)
i would very much like to have his direct input on this thread
also im interested to know if youre ,and youre freinds, failed attempts were with l. dimidiatus or some other species?

i wanted to add that i dont want you to be "sorry for being disagreeable on this matter"
i have re-read this post and i dont think there were any unkind words said
i think the only problem with the board is everyone for the most part seems to be afraid to disagree.even experts disagree.
there seems to be some general on-line discussion board "knowledge" that everyone takes for granted,and agrees on.
to list a few:
hermits WILL kill youre snails
dsb's are practically neccessary
85 degrees is "no big deal"

there are more but you get the picture.the problem i have with some of this is that someone reads one article by one person and immediately its the "LAW"
WHAT THE HECK IS THIS,REEFLAND.COMMUNISM

[ravenmore]

I don't have a problem disagreeing, just being carefull with my words so as not to hack folks off and dissentigrate an informative thread into a flame war.... (I play politics like this all day at work so I guess it carries over into my posting. )

I'm honestly not sure what species the fish I had was. It was in my "early" days. It looked like the pics I've seen of labroides dimidiatus...I just haven't seen pics of the other species to make sure it wasn't one of them.

Also, in that article I think Mr. Fenner rated labroides dimidiatus a 3 on a scale of 1-3 on difficulty to keep (1 being the easiest and 3 being the hardest).

-Mike

[organicreefer]

he lumped them ALL together and gave them a three.this is one persons opinion.i have a marine fish book in front of me(the marine fish survival manual,gordon kay,admittedly a cheesey book)that gives labroides dimidiatus a 9 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the hardiest).im not saying which one is right,im just saying ime ,l dimidiatus does REALLY well in captivity.ive NEVER seen one refuse to eat.this topic really deserves its own thread,so we could get more opinions,what do you think?id like to know how may other "closet" cleaner wrasse owners are on the board.

[ravenmore]

actually what Mr. Fenner said was:

all the Labroides rate a dismal (3) in survivability, even the ubiquitously offered common or Blue Cleaner Wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus.

So he kind of does make a point to single out L. dimidiatus.

Yep we could start a thread on this....