Why don't they...

[Turf]

Why don't some fish use the cleaner shrimp? I thought they were an international infirmary stop sign.

[Turf]

:bump1:

[hypertech]

My guess is that not all fish pair with the same species of shrimp if any.

Being in captivity probably messes them up some also. The environment is not the same and maybe the shrimp isn't setting up his shop the way that type of fish expects. For example, coral banded shrimp are in the cleaner family and are known to clean fish in the wild. I'm not sure I have seen one documented case f a coral banded cleaning a fish in an aquarium.

That, and I'm sure some fish are dumber than others .....

[Fish'InMN]

I have only seen cleaner shrimp (and cleaner fish, for that matter) attend to larger fish like tangs and angels. Bigger fish also represent a larger opportunity for food, and since Mother Nature is all about efficiency... :)

[YiNYaNg]

All my fish even my 1" green chromis goes for a cleaning almost everyday. Outside and mouth.
Well it's more like my cleaner shrimp swims around and if a fish is near it'll jump on it like it's trying to catch a ride and attack the fish but it's only cleaning it. :biglaugh2: