How long does a cleaner wrasse live

Wrasses practice external fertilization in which the female's eggs are released into the water. Mating usually occurs at twilight Flying Fish Express. Large males defend reef territories and attract multiple females to these territories, usually by performing a beautiful mating dance. Females live within these territories and spawn with the male.

Fertilized eggs form planktonic larvae that move freely with the ocean currents. If the territorial male leaves or dies, the most dominant female will take his role and become male within the next 24 hours.

She assumes the territory and mates with the rest of the females. Usually 1 to 3 cleaner fish occupy a single cleaning station. These cleaning stations are often permanent. Wrasse are quick and agile swimmers, weaving in and out of crevices and tunnels amongst the rocks of the reef. Well-defined social groups of these wrasses consists of one dominant male and multiple females. When the male dies or leaves, the most dominant female replaces him. Within the next 24 hours her sex changes and she becomes male Grant, These fish are diurnal and are able to sleep, an unusual behavior and ability amongst fish.

When darkness encompasses the ocean, wrasses burrow into the sand on the ocean floor and produce a mucous envelope where they remain until sunrise Roughley, Wrasses are carnivorous. Their diet consists primarily of parasitic copepods and other invertebrates that are taken from the mouth and gill openings of larger fish. They also feed occasionally on free-swimming crustaceans.

Blue streak wrasses are known as common cleaner fish that set up cleaning stations on various parts of coral reefs, usually ft. They attract larger fish to their stations by making strange, oscillatory swimming movements, and the fish then stop to get cleaned. Wrasses enter the mouth and gill openings and remove any ectoparasites and diseased tissue. The larger fish not only refrain from devouring these small cleaner fish, but actually readily open their mouth and gill cavities so that they are able to clean.

This is clearly a mutualistic relationship between cleaner wrasses and various larger fish of the ocean Grant, Cleaner wrasses benefit humans by increasing the survival of various economically important fish. They increase the survival of larger fish by eating and removing harmful parasites and diseased tissue from their scales and body. A similar species, L. Members of this species swim in an oscillating motion, as the wrasse does, and when larger fish open their mouths to be cleaned, swims inside and rips off pieces of skin Roughley, They are carnivores and aside from eating parasites and dead scales from other fish, it can be very difficult to get them used to most foods.

Cleaner wrasses are known to burrow in the sandbed and sleep in between holes in your rocks. Having plenty of live rock in your tank for them is important. They will also use these rocks to set up their cleaning stations. It is almost impossible to tell the difference between a male and female Cleaner wrasse. They are similar in many ways including colors, marking, and size.

Males will perform a mating dance to attract females which will then lay eggs to be fertilized by the male. The Cleaner wrasse is safe for saltwater fish only or FOWLR tanks , plus suitable for reef aquariums and tanks with invertebrates. The Bluestreak cleaner wrasse is a great fish to have providing you can care for it properly.

They are difficult to keep for many hobbyists as they rarely eat foods other than what they clean from another fish. But that aside, if your tank is mature and can provide proper nutrition for them, they are a valuable asset to your tank. They are very active and fun to watch cleaning other fish. Particularly when they are cleaning the inside of a large predator fish mouth. They are non-aggressive but can be hostile towards others of their kind.

Firefish need a variety of rocks and places to hide as they can be skittish. They also need an aquarium with a tight-fitting lid as they are known to jump.

Blennies are also great saltwater fish that have character and love to be cleaned. Banggai Cardinalfish.

Banggai cardinalfish thrives in small schools or groups and are calm, peaceful fish. They are a mouthbrooder species, with the male able to house up to 25 fry in his mouth for 5 weeks. Banggai cardinalfish re easily distinguished by their striking color pattern- three black bars spanning the head and body, black edges on a variety of fins, and black pelvic fins that have white spots, with similar white spots running along a few fins.

Black Striped Angelfish. Nearly teardrop-shaped and colored with delicate black markings- both stripes and spots-, the black striped angelfish truly is an angel. The fish is peaceful in temperament and gets along well with other peaceful reef fish.

They spend their time floating in open waters to catch floating invertebrates. Black striped angelfish can be shy and need plenty of rock formations in which to hide and to take shelter in at night. They can be kept in large aquariums in groups that use the ratio of one male to many females.

In addition, two females can be kept successfully together, but a pair of two males will fight. Black striped angelfish can be tricky to find online but may be able to be purchased on websites such as live aquarium. Goatfish live in schools and tend to be non-aggressive. There are a variety of goatfish and each has their own colorations, ranging from yellow to red, to blue.

Some even have stripes and spots. Goatfish in captivity can grow to be 12 inches and should be kept in very large tanks to accommodate their schooling nature. They prefer warm, calm water. Gold-spotted Rabbitfish. The gold-spotted rabbitfish has a beautiful golden body and thin blue lines that give off the appearance of spots.

They require very large tanks with an abundance of open swimming space. They are herbivores and should be given a steady diet of algae. They are peaceful fish who keep to themselves and can be housed with peaceful or aggressive fish. They may nip at corals but are otherwise safe for reef tanks. Rabbitfish can be kept in pairs of the same kind but can become aggressive with other rabbitfish species.

Make sure you buy the correct Cleaner Wrasse. People often mistake The true Bluestreak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus with a similar looking fish the false cleaner wrasse Aspidontus taeniatus. Many people look at the colors and the black and blue stripe for the difference. If you look at the cleaner wrasse, their mouths are positioned centrally at the end of their face.

In an aquarium, the false wrasse can annoy and hurt other fish. They pretend to be cleaning and then nip the poor unsuspecting fish. If you wish to keep more than one, keep male-female pair to increase the chances that the wrasses will get along. They do well in moderate lighting but prefer sunlight. They are a diurnal species and sleep when it gets dark in their tank.