Cleaner wrasse

Care at a glance

The cleaner wrasse is the reef's best-known cleaner: with its blue and black stripe and dancing motion it invites large fish to hold still while it removes parasites and dead skin. In the wild, whole queues of reef fish literally wait their turn.

That is exactly where the problem lies in the aquarium: without a large population of fish to clean it misses its natural food source and often declines within a few months. Only add it to a large, well-stocked reef tank and feed several small portions a day; otherwise a neon goby is the better choice.

Good to know

• Needs a mature, stable tank
• Hard to wean onto dry food

Related species

• Blackcap bassletGramma melacara
• Moorish idolZanclus cornutus
• BannerfishHeniochus diphreutes
• Blue assessor bassletAssessor macneilli
• Pyramid butterflyfishHemitaurichthys polylepis
• Yellow assessor bassletAssessor flavissimus