Does Anyone Else's Wrasse Do This?

[Hugh Mann]

Got a cleaner wrasse a few days ago. By the time I got home to start acclimating, it was dark and lights off to try and minimize aggression. This wrasse was sitting unmoving at the bottom of the bag, didn't move the whole time, thought it was DoA actually, but in case I was wrong, I let it go in the tank where it promptly swam off happy as can be.

Fast forward a few nights, and I see the wrasse that looks like sleeping in a barnacle. I accidentally tipped it cleaning out leftover food, no movement, again, thought it was dead, but left it in case I was wrong. Sure enough, swimming around just fine in the morning.

It does this most nights (though right now it's out and about), and my buddy with a cleaner says he's never seen his do that. Anyone else experience this with a cleaner wrasse, or any fish in general?

 

[mjreefs]

I’ve got a yellow coris wrasse who really lays on its side when sleeping in the QT but is an active swimmer during daytime. So I guess it’s normal for wrasses.

 

[ca1ore]

Some wrasses sleep in the sand, other build mucus cocoons .... cleaner is neither. Mine just sleeps in the rocks like most other fishes. Cleaners are not the easiest fish to acclimate, and often arrive half starved. I wouldn’t read too much into behavior in the first week or two in the tank. Might mean something, might not.