Can anyone tell me more about this fish? Bicolor cleaner wrasse (Labroides bicolor)

[Dolphins18]

I can find very little info on this fish.

I know they are not easy to get eating, and much like other cleaners sometimes never get the diet they require. They are also much larger than your average cleaner wrasse. This is a BIG cleaner wrasse, my LFS has one.
I have pretty large fish and a decent sized eel, in the store the cleaner seems to be cleaning some of the smaller fish to the point of them being annoyed.

 

[i cant think]

I can find very little info on this fish.

I know they are not easy to get eating, and much like other cleaners sometimes never get the diet they require. They are also much larger than your average cleaner wrasse. This is a BIG cleaner wrasse, my LFS has one.
I have pretty large fish and a decent sized eel, in the store the cleaner seems to be cleaning some of the smaller fish to the point of them being annoyed.

I think their care is similar to that of the Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse

 

[Zionas]

I’d skip. Not worth the effort unless you can find a captive bred one. Biota breeds the Hawaiian ones but not sure when and how often they’re available. ORA has bred the Blue Streak too, maybe another species but not sure if they still breed them.

 

[Largeangels]

I don't have any experience with a bicolor but I've got a pair and a single who do great on all types of foods. In my observations the cleaner wrasses I have are more interested in checking out whatever small particles are floating around the aquarium than cleaning. They will clean sometimes on their own or if a fish wants to be cleaned. If my only knowledge of cleaner wrasses was based on the ones I have, and have had, they are plankton eaters out of the water column and clean for an extra meal or as survival so larger fish don't eat them.

Mine will eat flakes, pellets and mysis (pieces small enough to fit in their mouth).

 

[Dolphins18]

I don't have any experience with a bicolor but I've got a pair and a single who do great on all types of foods. In my observations the cleaner wrasses I have are more interested in checking out whatever small particles are floating around the aquarium than cleaning. They will clean sometimes on their own or if a fish wants to be cleaned. If my only knowledge of cleaner wrasses was based on the ones I have, and have had, they are plankton eaters out of the water column and clean for an extra meal or as survival so larger fish don't eat them.

Mine will eat flakes, pellets and mysis (pieces small enough to fit in their mouth).

I have a regular cleaner wrasse, these are 4x their size easy. Larger than some Thalassomas

 

[i cant think]

I have a regular cleaner wrasse, these are 4x their size easy. Larger than some Thalassomas

Apparently these only get 4”?
How big can they truly get, also if you’re comparing to the smaller thalassomas then almost any wrasse can beat their max size

 

[Dolphins18]

Apparently these only get 4”?
How big can they truly get, also if you’re comparing to the smaller thalassomas then almost any wrasse can beat their max size

this one is at least 5", never seen a cleaner like it. It's not slender. Body shape/features is all identical to your average cleaner, but its huge.

 

[Largeangels]

Interesting. Most places say 4" max but one did say 6" max.

 

[i cant think]

this one is at least 5", never seen a cleaner like it. It's not slender. Body shape/features is all identical to your average cleaner, but its huge.

That sounds like a wrasse id like.
I’m into a lot of my “peaceful giants” and most of the wrasse fit that spot. If I ever find one eating I may try get hold of one

 

[Zionas]

That’s interesting. How did you gets yours to eat prepared foods?

 

[blaxsun]

That’s interesting. How did you gets yours to eat prepared foods?

I can’t speak to others, but mine is a pig. He even competes with the tang and melanarus for seaweed. He’s been trying to clean my quoy parrotfish for weeks, but the parrotfish usually chases him off.

 

[Just a Wrasse.]

I think their care is similar to that of the Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse

Yes, slightly.

 

[Zionas]

It’s awesome to see one of these fish eating and eating well. I wonder if not being able to keep them is very old advice, that as long as they eat they’re about as hardy as any other wrasse.

 

[blaxsun]

Nice wrasse in any event!

 

[i cant think]

It’s awesome to see one of these fish eating and eating well. I wonder if not being able to keep them is very old advice, that as long as they eat they’re about as hardy as any other wrasse.

That is probably VERY true. It was true with the leopard wrasse genus (Although, we still struggle with the Chaoti but the success rates are slowly rising)

 

[i cant think]

Interesting. Most places say 4" max but one did say 6" max.

If it gets 6” then that’s not even close to the big thalassomas, it competes with more a Scott’s wrasses size and the smaller thalassoma wrasse, E.G. Thalassoma lucascens (Mexican rainbow wrasse - 4” max size)

 

[Zionas]

I see. It would be a major advancement for us to be able to keep this genus with much higher success rates. I support captive breeding, as always, but even with these wild ones if we can improve their success rates I’d be glad. Labroides is a fairly good looking genus too though the Fairies, Flashers, some Leopards and Halichoeres are more flashy.

 

[Dolphins18]

It’s awesome to see one of these fish eating and eating well. I wonder if not being able to keep them is very old advice, that as long as they eat they’re about as hardy as any other wrasse.

They are a really just a luck of the draw kinda thing, if they aren't eating pretty much from day 1 they likely will perish ime. Having some larger fish like tangs can sometimes help entice them to eat prepared foods, but they can not live off of fish skin alone in our tanks typically. Mine took to my eel very fast and spends a lot of time following him around.
Also as others mentioned, when they eat nori they usually do fine, when they don't there could be some concern.
The one I am referring to in the first post is very large, so much so that it bothers small/medium sized tangs when cleaning

 

[Steve and his Animals]

In my experience, with any cleaner wrasse (like others have said), if you see it eating well and behaving normally in the store, it'll usually work out for you. You can also follow the same criteria for looking at the overall body health, most importantly no sunken stomach or pinching behind the head. The pinching is important to avoid unless you can feed several times a day, as the consumption of their muscle tissue is often hard to reverse and means the fish went through a long period of starvation.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I can find very little info on this fish.

I know they are not easy to get eating, and much like other cleaners sometimes never get the diet they require. They are also much larger than your average cleaner wrasse. This is a BIG cleaner wrasse, my LFS has one.
I have pretty large fish and a decent sized eel, in the store the cleaner seems to be cleaning some of the smaller fish to the point of them being annoyed.

Bicolor cleaner wrasse Labroides bicolor is also known as the Two-colored Cleaner Wrasse and are not as common as the blue streak cleaner wrasse which are very safe ( mine is 7 years old). As the fish ages so the yellow on the caudal area extends forwards onto the body. The head area takes on a blue tint making for a very attractive looking fish. It is the males whogrow larger in length.
These are very good cleaners but can be persistent in wanting to clean tankmates to the point of being annoying. The Bicolor cleaner Wrasse feed on parasites, mucus and dead skin on client fish. They can bve challenging tokeep long term whereas the blue streak is more fogiving.