[Leonard]

What species is this fish? Is it anoying the other fish? I think, it bites my moorish's fin.



So i decide to give it to the seller. No sell, but give! I hate this fish.. but the color is beautiful.

[Leonard]

Sorry, not moorish. I dont know the name. Its white and black stripe, with yellow in rear. located in left side in my aquarium picture. Anybody know the name of this fish?

[leebca]

Leonard,

The fish is a cleaner wrasse. Depending where it was collected, it could be Labroides dimidiatus. This fish is called a 'cleaner wrasse' because it picks parasites off of fish in the wild. It also eats the mucous coating off of fish. I'm afraid that in captivity, they can either do damage to another fish or starve. Please read this:
Why Do Fish Clean? OR Picky Fish!

It's a fish that marine aquarists should not collect. By taking them out of the ocean, the collector disrupts the cleaning station that the fish was at. Other fish depend upon this fish in the wild and collecting it can ultimately lead to more parasites and diseases in wild fishes. This, in addition to the fact that these fish often starve to death in the marine aquarium.

I am guessing that your tank looks very new. How old is the tank? When did it cycle? I am also guessing that the size of the tank is not large enough to properly maintain all the livestock I see there. I don't see a Moorish Idol. I do however think I see a Heniochus sp. or Bannerfish, also known as a "Poorman's Moorish Idol."

Do you have someone advising you on setting up a marine aquarium? Have you read any books on the subject? Where are you getting guidance for your tank?

Good luck!

[Leonard]

Yes, sorry, its not moorish idol. Its Heniochus Black and White Butterflyfish.
Start from december 2006. Yes, its new. Im getting guidance from my local book (Country: Indonesia, Province: Bali). None of my friends have a saltwater aquarium, they all afraid to try saltwater. Then i found this forum.

[leebca]

You should consider going much slower in stocking the aquarium.

Marine aquariums need to be mature before you put fish into them. I suggest you read this: The Mature Aquarium

I strongly urge you to read this long post, very carefully:
Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium

The above post will take you other important linked information. Leonard, you have a lot of reading to do. Your friends are correct in their concerns about starting a saltwater aquarium. It takes patience and it requires the aquarist learn many different things, totally new to them.

Good luck!

[Leonard]

At chapter 4. Introduction of more sensitive invertebrates, the state "(No hermit crabs ever)!" . Why? Because i have 3 Hermit Crab . Is it anoying?

[leebca]

Check my posts in this thread, regarding hermit crabs:
Yes I Know Another Dumb Question

[Leonard]

WOW! thanks alot for your post. Ok, i'll move the hermit crab.

[angelfishman]

cleaner wrasse live off parasites on the fish so if your tank has few fish they can starve to death.they good to have in a tank especially if you get whitespot,they do a good job in removing them.the one i have will also take mysis and brineshrimp.derek

[leebca]

I only step in here angelfishman in order to make sure that beginner and novice marine aquarists don't get the wrong information.

If you will look into my post: Marine Ich - Myths and Facts you'll read that one of the myths about Marine Ich (a.k.a. White Spot, a.k.a. Cryptocaryon irritans) is that a cleaner wrasse will eat it off the fish.

Cleaner wrasses do not eat Marine Ich from infected fishes:
First, the Marine Ich parasite is located under the fish's skin. If the cleaner wrasse 'ate it' the fish would have a hole in it from which the fish would bleed. Cleaner wrasses won't eat anything below the fish's skin.

Second, the Marine Ich organism is not visible to the human nor cleaner wrasse 'eyes.' Only when the Marine Ich is 'pregnant' and ready to multiply does it become visible.

Third, the wrasse can't control a Marine Ich outbreak even if it did eat Marine Ich -- what fish is cleaning the cleaner wrasse of Marine Ich?

Fourth, cleaner wrasse guts have bee analyzed and there has never been any Marine Ich organism found inside of cleaner wrasses.

Fifth, cleaner wrasses live off the mucous, dead tissue, and surface parasites of fishes. See Why Do Fish Clean? OR Picky Fish! to get a better understanding of why a cleaner wrasse will 'pick' at even healthy fishes. In a few minutes, the captive fishes no longer have any surface parasites left! This can be harmful to the captive fishes that can't away from the cleaner fish. In the wild, they simply swim away. In the captive aquarium, the cleaner wrasse will keep picking at the fish, eating mucous and even eating living tissue. I have actually seen cleaner wrasses eat pieces of another fish's gills in an attempt to stay alive in the aquarium.

Sixth, the longevity of the cleaner wrasse is not related to the number of fishes in the aquarium. The cleaner wrasse will live as long as it is eating and obtaining the proper nutrition. A captive aquarium does not provide the proper nutrition to these fishes, regardless of the number of fishes. The only hope of keeping a cleaner wrasse that is an obligate cleaner and eater of mucous and parasites is to train it to eat other offered foods. This training works about 25% of the time, dooming the other 75% to death in a few weeks or a few months from starvation.

Seventh, Collecting cleaner wrasses from the ocean/seas/reefs disrupts the ability of the wild fishes to be properly cleaned. There aren't an abundance of these cleaner wrasses. They work in pairs or groups of about 3. When collected, either one or two are caught, leaving one or two out of the original three. One or even two can't do the work of three and often will die trying to 'keep up' the cleaning station. So in effect, collecting even one of these fishes dooms the remaining cleaners and the cleaning station will close. This creates a wild population of fishes with parasites and the additional infections, diseases and infections this stress leads to.

All the above points to the best thing an aquarist can do is NOT to buy one and to send a message back through the system that we don't want these fish collected.