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Suggested Tank
90+ gallons
Max Size
5.5 inches
Difficulty
Temperament
Description
A slender, elongated wrasse with a white-to-pale-blue body crossed by a bold black lateral stripe that widens toward the tail; juveniles are mostly black with a single electric-blue stripe. Peaceful and constantly active, it swims with a characteristic tail-wagging motion and sets up cleaning stations where it picks parasites and mucus from tankmates. It is reef- and invertebrate-safe, but it is a poor aquarium candidate for most keepers: it rarely accepts prepared foods, needs a large, mature, heavily stocked system with plenty of client fish, and often starves in small or lightly stocked tanks.
Reef Safe
Yes
Environment
Cleaner Wrasses need a well-established marine aquarium with plenty of hiding places. They prefer a tank with plenty of live rock that provides them with ample hiding spots and a large swimming area.
Behavior
Cleaner Wrasses are peaceful and sociable creatures. They have a unique behavior of cleaning other fish by removing and eating parasites from their bodies. This not only provides them with food but also makes them a beneficial addition to the marine ecosystem.
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Owner Reviews
papaya
@Papaya
Jared Bristol
@Stormriven
One of the first fish I owned and I still have. Extremely social with both other fish and myself (it likes follows me around the tank when working on it). I would say to make sure it has other larger fish that it can interact with as it’s a cleaner wrasse and it likes to go and offer its services to the other fish, smaller fish tend to get scared when approached by the wrasse from my experience. Aside from that they are also jumpers so make sure to have a good lid, mines jumped out when I take the lid off for feeding a few times so be careful.
Christian
@Christian27484
I have had 2 of these. The first one I had bought from a somewhat shady LFS that had told my girlfriend and I, the fish had been sucked in through the intake and spat into another tank. After bringing him home he was clearly Injured. After a long painstaking process I got the fish replaced and it has been one of my favorite to watch. He sleeps most nights inside of a small hole in the rock and comes out to feed first thing in the morning. Hard to see sometimes as wrasse have an early bed time.
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Cleaner Wrasse
Labroides dimidiatus
