Warning: Yellow Tail Cleaner Wrasse
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Fish
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions about fish.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=68766
Printed Date: January 22 2026 at 8:09pm
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Topic: Warning: Yellow Tail Cleaner Wrasse
Posted By: love2skiutah
Subject: Warning: Yellow Tail Cleaner Wrasse
Date Posted: January 03 2014 at 5:59pm
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Those yellow tailed cleaner wrasses are NOT reef safe. This is 100% my fault for not doing the research on it first. I would have never thought a cleaner wrasse was not reef safe. You can pull up tons of articles on them and see that they eat corals. I feel like an idiot for putting him in. It gobbled up the polyps on about $300 worth of high end SPS pieces and killed them. It ate half of a head of my hammer coral and it broke off 2 small pieces of my monti cap by munching on the ends of it. Here is a pic of the devil, itself. It took teknik and I over an hour to get him out. http://s118.photobucket.com/user/love2skiutah/media/Mobile%20Uploads/DB6088AE-0B2C-46CE-B4B7-4DAD3040E194.jpg.html" rel="nofollow">  |
Replies:
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: January 03 2014 at 7:01pm
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I still want him, even if he eats coral. Way cool fish. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: love2skiutah
Date Posted: January 03 2014 at 7:04pm
| Well he loves coral. He's all yours. |
Posted By: love2skiutah
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 10:31pm
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Just learned this... Diproctacanthus xanthurus is not a Cleaner Wrasse (Wrong genus) This biology is not unique to this "cleaner" wrasse either. Larabicus quadrilineatus is another example which behaves exactly the same way All this Wrasse feeds on is polyps! My bad.  |
Posted By: rize2
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 10:33pm
| Thats way sad. Thanks for the heads up, now we know! |
Posted By: Nick801
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 10:52pm
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Thats crazy... where did you find that one? ------------- http://www.reefinsanity.com" rel="nofollow - www.ReefInsanity.com http://www.facebook.com/ReefInsanity" rel="nofollow - www.Facebook.com/ReefInsanity 801-680-4676 |
Posted By: love2skiutah
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 10:54pm
| Aquatic Dreams - It was my fault though. I should have done the research. I just assumed it was a type of cleaner wrasse. It acts just like one. The fish actually go right up to it thinking it's a cleaner. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: January 07 2014 at 9:38am
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I can see how it would seem a good purchase. Some of the top links in my search call it the "Wandering Cleaner Wrasse". Perhaps that means simply that it does not set up a "cleaning station". Maybe in the wild it does cleaning, but in an aquarium it may change its behavior, finding coral an easy meal. I would not be surprised if the type and quantity of external parasites on the fish in your tank was unsatisfactory. That kind of behavioral change happens a lot because natural food sources are minimal or even entirely absent in our "manicured" reef aquariums. That's my 2 cents. Aloha, Mark  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: JohnnyHeavens
Date Posted: January 07 2014 at 11:05am
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If you end up stuck with this let me know. I'd put in my FOWLR ------------- @Home 300g System 150g-Cube Reef+60g Frag+WaterChange 150g Tall FOWLR RIP @Work RSM 130D w/LEDs txt anytime @ eightO1-seven5five-eighteen99 Scuba! PADI Pro DM/AI/TecDeep NSS/CDS-Full Cave Diver |
Posted By: love2skiutah
Date Posted: January 07 2014 at 11:07am
| It's in my sump. If you want it, come get it. I told Adam he could have it, but I never heard anything from him. IT's a very cool fish and it swims in the open. |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: January 07 2014 at 11:22am
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Sorry, I hadn't checked back on this thread. Let Johnny take it, I'm about to redo my tank. Also, I've already got a coral eater. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: JohnnyHeavens
Date Posted: January 07 2014 at 1:10pm
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Is it eating anything else? I guess I'd hate to starve it in a tank with no coral. ------------- @Home 300g System 150g-Cube Reef+60g Frag+WaterChange 150g Tall FOWLR RIP @Work RSM 130D w/LEDs txt anytime @ eightO1-seven5five-eighteen99 Scuba! PADI Pro DM/AI/TecDeep NSS/CDS-Full Cave Diver |
Posted By: love2skiutah
Date Posted: January 07 2014 at 1:13pm
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Cyclopeeze and frozen arctic pods. Basically anything small I was feeding my Anthia's. |