Born with the Knowledge

Hi
As some of you know I acquired some butterfly fish from local waters.
The fish were very small and probably born here.
They were doing fine for awhile, then got ick...so I started treating the tank.
I was told that a Cleaner Wrasse would not do much for ick, but the feeling
that it was time to get something new took over.. and I got one.

Well you would think it was a long lost relative...soon as the bag was in the water it was surrounded by the butterflies asking to be cleaned. And when the cleaner was let out, the butterflies lined up in a row waiting a turn.

Just thought it was amazing because the fish never saw a cleaner before ,and knew what it was instinctively ..really cool to see

 

Nature is pretty incredible.

 

Sounds like an imprinted behavior ;D

 

That sounds awesome, I hope the cleaner will take to prepared foods once all the ich is gone.

 

Would be my worry also.

Keep close eye on the fish and make sure it continues to stay healthy.

 

symbiotic relationships are amazing, within minutes of adding my trigger my neon goby hopped on and started cleaning. now they are the best of friends.

 

amazing

 

The Cleaner is eating freeze dried brine and some flake so he should be O.K....can,t wait to get a cleaner shrimp;D

 

Cleaner shrimp, cleaner wrasses, and cleaner gobies all have a stripe that goes all the way from the front to the back. Any experience that a fish has had with an animal striped in this way seems to teach them that these stripes mean that they are cleaners and should not be eaten. That's also how remora's are able to get onto sharks without being eaten.....they have the stripe.