Canary Blenny and / or Six Line Wrasse

[shwnicus]

hi again,

setting up my 20 gal again and have my LR cycling. While at the LFS, my daughter fell in love with a canary blenny (what she called the "mermaid fish"). I like the people at the store, but don't necessarily trust their judgment. are these suited for life in a 20 gal reef?

also, we saw and really liked the six-line wrasse while looking at pictures on the web, having gotten the clue from lordroad's excellent sticky on available fish to the nano. however, at the store, they had 2 fish that looked exactly like the pictures of the six-line, but were labeled as "cleaner wrasse", which I thought were next to impossible to keep in a tank as they only eat parasites. are the six-line and cleaner the same? do they look the same? is my LSF insane?

thanks much!

 

[CoolWaters]

hi again,

setting up my 20 gal again and have my LR cycling. While at the LFS, my daughter fell in love with a canary blenny (what she called the "mermaid fish"). I like the people at the store, but don't necessarily trust their judgment. are these suited for life in a 20 gal reef?

also, we saw and really liked the six-line wrasse while looking at pictures on the web, having gotten the clue from lordroad's excellent sticky on available fish to the nano. however, at the store, they had 2 fish that looked exactly like the pictures of the six-line, but were labeled as "cleaner wrasse", which I thought were next to impossible to keep in a tank as they only eat parasites. are the six-line and cleaner the same? do they look the same? is my LSF insane?

thanks much!

the wrasses are the same. If u count the lines on the body u would know which one they are. but im pretty sure the six line and the cleaner are the same. did it look like this?

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Six Line Wrasse - Reef Safe Wrasses

i dont know about the blenny. knowing they can get aggressive. but its a good experiance.

you should look up info about the livestock your getting. like the canary blenny is Venomous....*crazysmil

 

[shwnicus]

yep, knew about the venom, though research I saw said the blenny was a peaceful fish, and only bites when being eaten (the inside of the predator's mouth).

the research on the wrasse is what is confusing me. your link is the exactly the fish at the LSF which I thought was the six-line but they call a cleaner wrasse. both fish exhibit cleaning habits, but the the fish actually titled "cleaner wrasse" feeds exclusively this way and are therefore not good aquarium candidates. from my research, the cleaner wrasse is brilliant blue with a single wide black stripe, but I've seen several sites that have a picture of a six-line under the species name of the cleaner (Labroides dimidiatus). I was hoping someone has experience with a six-line in a nano, and could clear this up. I wouldn't be surprised if the LSF just has in named wrong, and they don't include the species name (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia for the case of the six-line).

the wrasses are the same. If u count the lines on the body u would know which one they are. but im pretty sure the six line and the cleaner are the same. did it look like this?

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Six Line Wrasse - Reef Safe Wrasses

i dont know about the blenny. knowing they can get aggressive. but its a good experiance.

you should look up info about the livestock your getting. like the canary blenny is Venomous....*crazysmil

 

[CAPSLOCK]

A cleaner and sixline are not the same wrasse. They were most likely mislabeled at the LFS. Sixline are well suited to aquarium life unlike cleaner wrasses. I've heard bad things about sixlines as far as getting along with other tankmates... some don't like other fish and some don't like shrimp/hermits/etc. So that probably depends on the individual fish. I think they stay small enough for a 20g but the small area may make them more aggressive towards other fish depending on what else you want.

You could also check out the various fairy wrasses, which all stay around 3" and are very, very peaceful and reef safe. Different color varieties and price ranges too, and eat anything . They are good jumpers though...

Sorry, don't know much about the canary blenny.

 

[TheFool]

That's either a hack or one of a heck of a jump in logic.......

6 lines and cleaner wrasse are absolutely not the same thing. There are a bunch of species sold as cleaner wrasse, but they all tend to do badly due to long term nutrition problems, whereas 6line wrasse are very hardy, good small aquaria occupants. They do however tend to be a bit of a pain violence wise, and I would not like to trust mine in a 20 with a canary blenny or other conspecific. I would try to get something else very different in shape, behaviour like a Centropyge argi.

As a note my 6line does behave asa cleaner a bit, but not much, and it also gets cleaned by my Centropyge. Cleaning is not super uncommon in smaller fish.

 

[Lotus]

I've found choosing wrasses to be really hard. There are many different types, and many species within those types (like fairy, flasher, lined, leopard, etc.). Some are much more suitable for tanks than others, some will eat your shrimp, some get to 3", others 8", etc. Be sure that you get something that you know exactly what it is.

If you have to, ask your LFS to show you a book with the fish and a description in it, or take an ID book with you (if you have one).

I have to say, a similar looking (well, almost) fish that I have is an orchid dottyback. He's an awesome color, very friendly, hardy, and peaceful (one of the most peaceful dottybacks, apparently). I'd highly recommend one.