Can these fish Mix??

Discussion in 'Tropical Fish' started by Katie Grant, Jan 12, 2010.

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  1. Screwtape

    Screwtape Tonozukai Fairy Wrasse

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2008
    Messages:
    2,289
    From what I've heard about cleaner wrasses is that they are generally purely parasite eaters. Some can be trained onto prepared foods but not all will take to it (just like mandarins for example). The problem in aquariums is most people do not have enough fish with enough parasites to keep a cleaner wrasse fed so a lot of them slowly starve.

    Additionally in such a small enclosed system the cleaning the wrasse does can get to be excessive, especially when they start taking nips from the slime coat of the fish, it can irritate the fish. In the wild the cleaner wrasse has so many fish to clean it doesn't ever get to over-clean one fish but when there's only a handful of fish in the tank it can happen.

    Here's an interesting article I read recently about cleaner wrasses, it mentions some of the behavior.
    Male Cleaner Wrasse Punishes Female for Cheating | glassbox-design.com