Cleaner Wrasse

The Common Cleaner Wrasse is also known as the Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse. It occurs singly, in pairs, and in groups in conspicuous locations throughout a reef. Different varieties of Common Cleaner Wrasse have different color patterns; some are a dark color with a silver streak, while others are white with a dark streak and a bright yellow area at the tail. Further, these species have not been kept for any length of time in captivity, most dying within a few days to weeks due to a lack of nutritive interaction with host fishes

The Common Cleaner Wrasse is well known for its feeding behaviour. It establishes a "cleaning station" often a cave or overhang, where it swims in a bobbing, dance like motion. Larger fishes come to the cleaning station to have ectoparasites removed. The Common Cleaner Wrasse swims around the fish picking off and eating the parasites. It often enters the mouth and gill chamber of large fishes

The Common Cleaner Wrasse, occurs on rocky and coral reefs in tropical (and some temperate) marine waters of the Indo Pacific. It has the widest natural distribution in the tropical Indo Pacific of these cleaners. The Common Cleaner Wrasse will form a symbiotic relationship with the other reef fish by cleaning them of unwanted parasites. Common Cleaner Wrasse are peaceful attractive fish with a most intriguing "dance" that they perform to solicit clients (other fish) and to calm them, allowing the cleaners to remove parasites and other debris from their clients bodies, fins, and mouths.

Like all the cleaner wrasses, the Common Cleaner Wrasse’s sustainability in captivity is very less, even though it is the best survivor in this group of wrasses. This is high maintenance fish. The care level for this fish is high. Common Cleaner Wrasse needs an aquarium of 100 litres or larger. Common Cleaner Wrasse is to be kept with a large number of community fish, which it can clean and thus obtain food. It may accept substitute foods such as chopped seafood, brine shrimp, and live black worms. It should be fed at least three times daily.