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pokerface31

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Posts posted by pokerface31

  1. It looks like a juvenile Atlantic blue when he gets a little older he will have more blue. I have one and they actually change color 3 times so they are pretty cool

  2. hey guys just found this on the web and wanted to know what ya'll thought

    Some fish shouldn't be kept in aquariums. Cleaner Wrasse should be at the top of this list due to their poor survivability rate and importance in keeping the worlds reefs healthy. While it's understandable that people want to see as much natural behaviour in their tanks as possible, the actions of a cleaner wrasse seems to be one of the more destructive symbiosis to attempt to reproduce, especially when there more suitable fish that demonstration the same symbiotic relationships.

    Currently there are six different species of cleaner wrasses that have been identified. The most common one offered for sale is the Common or Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse (Labaroides dimidiatus) due to it's striking colouration, closely followed by the more rare Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse. While there are other types of wrasse that are referred to as cleaners and do perform some cleaning services, unless they are of the genus Labroides they aren't the true Cleaner Wrasses.

    Role in Nature

    Cleaner Wrasse setup cleaning stations that generally consist of at least two fish. A cleaning station is a place that many different species of fish (called clients) congregate in order to have parasites removed. When the clients approach the cleaning stations their behaviours change, they tend to swim in a more vertical position, spread their fins and operculum out and even alter their colouration slightly. This allows the cleaner wrasse better access to the entire client to being inspected for parasites. While at a cleaning station, fish that are generally aggressive tend to turn off their natural instincts and not eat the cleaner wrasse, they even allow the cleaner wrasse to swim into their mouths with little fear of predation.

    In the wild, the vast majority of the parasites that cleaner wrasse eat are small crustaceans called gnathiid isopods. The isopods live in the rocky crevices of the reefs where it is difficult for fish to prey on them. While the adult forms of the gnathiid isopods do not feed on fish, the juveniles do. They make frequent trips from the rocks onto fish where they bite the fish in order to feed on fish blood. These young isopods can feed on many fish through it's life time and can carry potentially dangerous diseases of the blood, similar to mosquitoes. If left unchecked there would be a pandemic in the reef fish population as blood diseases would be able to spread quickly.

    Each cleaner wrasse can eat over 1000 of these gnathiid isopods each and every day. When cleaner wrasse are removed from an area the numbers of gnathiid isopods in that area can increase drastically in a short period of time. When this happens fish start to migrate to different areas where the isopod population is more tolerable and the fish can be cleaned when needed. Eventually if enough cleaning stations are removed, the vast majority of fish in that area disappear and what was once a healthy ecosystem becomes a barren waste-land.

    Scientists also use cleaner stations to make it easier to see the diversity of fish on a reef. Since nearly all fish will eventually stop in at a cleaning station and the cleaning stations remain relatively stationary, it's easy to set up an observation post and count the number of individuals and species of fish that stop in at the cleaning stations. They have discovered that the number of individuals and diversity of species in an area noticeably drops when even a few near-by cleaner wrasse were removed.

    There are no cleaner wrasse in the Atlantic Ocean, they are all found from the Red Sea to the Pacific. In the Atlantic Ocean similar cleaning services are performed by the Cleaner Gobies. Interestingly enough, in an aquarium setting fish from the Atlantic can recognise and utilize a cleaning station serviced by cleaner wrasse and fish from the Pacific will utilize the cleaner gobies services even though these fish would never come into contact in the wild.

    Poor Survivability

    Feeding:

    The difference between cleaner wrasses and any other type of wrasse that perform cleaning services is that members of the genus Labroides are obligate feeders whereas the others are facultative feeders.

    Facultative feeders are fish that can feed on a wide variety of foods and are able to get the nutritional benefits from many different sources. Most other fish and invertebrates that perform cleaning services are facultative feeders and only perform cleaning functions are a supplement to their diets. This gives them a much greater advantage in captivity since they can benefit from supplemental feedings while in an environment that may not have enough of the specialized foods for obligate feeders to consume.

    Obligate feeders only feed on a very specific diet. In the case of cleaner wrasses, this diet consists of common parasites found on reef fish. Without a steady diet of these parasites the fish will starve to death. Even if it is offered and accepts alternative foods it doesn't get all the nutrients that it requires to survive and will slowly starve to death. Cleaner Wrasse feed on ectoparasites (parasites that live on the outside of a fishes body such as isopods, and sea lice) mainly gnathiid isopods. Although they do ingest mucus and scales from fish as they are feeding it is unknown how important these elements are to their nutritional needs.

    Disease Control:

    One of the most commonly stated reasons for someone getting a cleaner wrasse for their tank is to help combat the most common parasites which are Cryptocaryon irritains (Ich) and Amyloodium sp. (Marine velvet). While these two diseases are extremely common in aquariums, they only occur infrequently in the wild. This means that it is very unlikely that cleaner wrasse have evolved to be able to acquire many nutrients from these two parasites. Secondly ich has a tendency to bury itself under the skin of the fish they are on until it is ready to fall off. This makes it very difficult for the cleaner wrasse to clean the parasite off an animal until the damage is already done. To make matters worse, the cleaner wrasse is not immune to these common aquarium diseases so adding the cleaner wrasse to an infected tank will only subject them to the infestations as well.

    How the Internet Plays a Roll in Their Popularity

    Forums:

    One of the most devastating events to have occurred in recent times where Cleaner Wrasse are concerned is the advent of the internet and more specifically forums dedicated to keeping marine fish. While the internet and forums are generally a source of very helpful information there are times where the advice and information being given is less then ideal. In nearly any forum I have visited (and I have visited a lot of them) there is bound to be a thread in regards to someone wanting/having a cleaner wrasse quickly followed by false or inaccurate information. The main responses given to any sort of attempt to discourage people from acquiring a cleaner wrasse are "they can adapt to other foods" and "I've had mine for months without any problem." These statements are very misleading as the vast majority of cleaner wrasse starve to death within the first weeks of being in captivity and it's mostly the owners of the that survive for any length of time or those who just acquired specimens who reply to these threads.

    Aquatic Industry:

    Many online and local retailers who sell cleaner wrasse offer them as inexpensive fish and don't offer any sort of guarantee on them. This is because they know that they need to get it out of their store as quickly as possible so they can get their money's worth from them before they starve to death and that the people they are shipping them to wont have very much luck in keeping them alive.

    • Like 1
  3. i have dead rock that has been curing for about 2 weeks i can sell for $2 a pound. i have more than enough ( probably close to 300 lbs)

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