Looking for a couple unique fish ideas

[Banjo]

Hi all,

 

I have an RSM E170 SPS focused reef currently stocked with:

 

2 perculas

Melanarus wrasse

Purple dottyback

Flameback angel

 

I want to round the tank out with two more fish and I’m looking for some unique suggestions. I am open top and don’t plan on changing that, so that pretty much rules out blennys and other high risk jumpers.

[BustytheSnowMaam]

Candy basslet

[Jman4x]

Marine Bettas are gorgeous, but maybe not quite enough space! 

Yellow assessor 

flame angle 

possum wrasse 

 

 

[William]

Marine beta or a dwarf lion would be my choice 

[Banjo]

16 minutes ago, tashayar said:

Candy basslet

$$$

 

5 minutes ago, Jman4x said:

Marine Bettas are gorgeous, but maybe not quite enough space! 

Yellow assessor 

flame angle 

possum wrasse 

 

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Yeah, I had a flame angel in my past aquarium and thought about getting another with the 170, but went with a flameback instead. Probably not a good idea to add another pygmy. Do you think there would be issues between a possum and melanarus? The melanarus is super chill with everything currently in there. All fish are actually, except the clowns.

 

Marine Bettas are awesome, but yeah, get too big.

 

Thanks!

[BustytheSnowMaam]

yeah, I was being facetious.  😛

[AbnormalReefer]

1 hour ago, William said:

Marine beta or a dwarf lion would be my choice 

+1 for the dwarf lion, though the dottyback and if the wrasse is small may be at risk.

[William]

12 minutes ago, AbnormalReeder said:

+1 for the dwarf lion, though the dottyback and if the wrasse is small may be at risk.

If you got a small fuzzy or a fu Manchu you should be fine 

[Tamberav]

2 hours ago, tashayar said:

Candy basslet

 

Candy Basslet Jerky 😢

 

3 hours ago, Banjo said:

Hi all,

 

I have an RSM E170 SPS focused reef currently stocked with:

 

2 perculas

Melanarus wrasse

Purple dottyback

Flameback angel

 

I want to round the tank out with two more fish and I’m looking for some unique suggestions. I am open top and don’t plan on changing that, so that pretty much rules out blennys and other high risk jumpers.

 

Fathead sunburst Anthia

 

Valentini puffer/leopard puffer or Mimic Saddle Puffer (it is a filefish). - these may eat snails/hermits/shrimp but no more risky to coral than your angel. I believe the mimic is more safe. Teenyreef has a leopard in one of his tanks. 

[Banjo]

10 hours ago, AbnormalReeder said:

+1 for the dwarf lion, though the dottyback and if the wrasse is small may be at risk.

 

10 hours ago, William said:

If you got a small fuzzy or a fu Manchu you should be fine 

I’m going to look into this more as I’ve never considered them. I don’t have any ornamental shrimp or crabs due to my melanarus wrasse anyways, so there wouldn’t be an issue there. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

9 hours ago, Tamberav said:

 

Candy Basslet Jerky 😢

 

 

Fathead sunburst Anthia

 

Valentini puffer/leopard puffer or Mimic Saddle Puffer (it is a filefish). - these may eat snails/hermits/shrimp but no more risky to coral than your angel. I believe the mimic is more safe. Teenyreef has a leopard in one of his tanks. 

Sunburst Anthias actually was what I was planning on before making the post. That and a flame hawkfish.

 

The puffer is a great idea as well, will look more into them. I don’t have many invertebrates in the way of shrimp or crabs regardless, so no issue there. The leopard especially has caught my eye. 

 

Thanks!

[William]

I have had a mimic saddle puffer in the past and it was a great fish, no issues (died during a heat spike when I was out of town) 

[RayWhisperer]

Blue stripe pipe fish, imo.

[jesseatam]

Fang blenny or a pair of one of the species of filefish that ORA breeds.

 

edit: oops didnt see the part about the top so take out the blenny then.

[Banjo]

1 hour ago, jesseatam said:

Fang blenny or a pair of one of the species of filefish that ORA breeds.

 

edit: oops didnt see the part about the top so take out the blenny then.

Will check into the filefish. I wish there were non-SPS eating orange spotted filefish. So gorgeous... I’d love to have a pair of them, but I have way too much acropora to risk it. 

[William]

The mated pairs of radial filefish they have on divers den are also pretty cool 

[A Little Blue]

I will just make this crystal clear lol. 

Unique or rare fish in this hobby have one of these two things (sometimes both) in common: they are either expensive or present some sort of difficulty as far as diet, temperament or other requirements are concerned. 

You need to be aware of it and take it into consideration. But my definition of “unique” might be different than yours. 

I do have one unique fish in my tank and this fish have at least one if not both of the characteristics that I mentioned earlier. 

[Tamberav]

19 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

I will just make this crystal clear lol. 

Unique or rare fish in this hobby have one of these two things (sometimes both) in common: they are either expensive or present some sort of difficulty as far as diet, temperament or other requirements are concerned. 

You need to be aware of it and take it into consideration. But my definition of “unique” might be different than yours. 

I do have one unique fish in my tank and this fish have at least one if not both of the characteristics that I mentioned earlier. 

 

Mostly agree, the only time you may be able to get a reasonable fish that isn't particularly difficult is if you stalk the hell out of diver's den and willing to stalk it for a year/years. So then it comes down to, how much work are you willing to put in?

 

I'm personally stalking DD for a vanderhorstia flavilineata. They are pretty cheap but rarely show up. I had one a few years ago, lovely shrimp goby almost never seen... I think I only paid $30 for it. 

 

[A Little Blue]

23 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

 

Mostly agree, the only time you may be able to get a reasonable fish that isn't particularly difficult is if you stalk the hell out of diver's den and willing to stalk it for a year/years. So then it comes down to, how much work are you willing to put in?

 

I'm personally stalking DD for a vanderhorstia flavilineata. They are pretty cheap but rarely show up. I had one a few years ago, lovely shrimp goby almost never seen... I think I only paid $30 for it. 

 

Rare fish I have isn’t difficult at all, however. Since it comes from deep waters of Curacao, it’s kinda rare due that fact alone. Fish catchers don’t usually go over depths of 100-200 feet to get their pay check. Secondly, because of rarity of this fish in the trade (or other species from deeper waters), information regarding its diet, behavior or other special needs is unknown (or at very least, very limited). Fortunately, it is just another specie from Chromis family so it doesn’t take enormous effort to meet its basic requirements or dietary needs. 

[Banjo]

1 hour ago, A Little Blue said:

I will just make this crystal clear lol. 

Unique or rare fish in this hobby have one of these two things (sometimes both) in common: they are either expensive or present some sort of difficulty as far as diet, temperament or other requirements are concerned. 

You need to be aware of it and take it into consideration. But my definition of “unique” might be different than yours. 

I do have one unique fish in my tank and this fish have at least one if not both of the characteristics that I mentioned earlier. 

Most definitely. I didn’t mean unique in the sense of a candy basslet, I just meant fish that don’t typically show up on the everyone’s first 3 purchased fish. For instance a flameback angel is definitely not as common as many of the other pygmy species. Not necessarily super expensive or special needs, just animals that fly under the radar. I was mainly just looking for commonly overlooked ideas while I was deciding on my last two fish.

 

2 hours ago, William said:

The mated pairs of radial filefish they have on divers den are also pretty cool 

Those are awesome! Cool looking as well. Thanks. 

[William]

2 hours ago, A Little Blue said:

I will just make this crystal clear lol. 

Unique or rare fish in this hobby have one of these two things (sometimes both) in common: they are either expensive or present some sort of difficulty as far as diet, temperament or other requirements are concerned. 

You need to be aware of it and take it into consideration. But my definition of “unique” might be different than yours. 

I do have one unique fish in my tank and this fish have at least one if not both of the characteristics that I mentioned earlier. 

While I agree in part, I  also have to disagree. I have kept quite a few “unique” fish before and many of them

were not particularly difficult to care for. Many are expensive, but some are not (mimic saddle puffer, or one of the captive bred filefish, red bandtail waspfish). I also agree that “unique” is a very subjective value statement. 

[A Little Blue]

37 minutes ago, Banjo said:

Most definitely. I didn’t mean unique in the sense of a candy basslet, I just meant fish that don’t typically show up on the everyone’s first 3 purchased fish. For instance a flameback angel is definitely not as common as many of the other pygmy species. Not necessarily super expensive or special needs, just animals that fly under the radar. I was mainly just looking for commonly overlooked ideas while I was deciding on my last two fish.

 

Those are awesome! Cool looking as well. Thanks. 

I totally get it. And it is true that some fish are simply not getting stocked by vendors or retailers as often as other species. Flamebacks are beautiful and maybe not as common as say..... Coral Beauty but if we are going to be honest, you can find Flames if you really want it. I know that for a fact since I have contemplated getting this fish. And if you’re willing to take a risk on shipping, then you shouldn’t have any issues finding a vendor who stock them on regular bases. Without getting into silly arguments, yes, some species are more common than others but I was under assumption that we are talking about “unique” fish. That’s why I said that definition of “unique” might mean different things to different people. 

15 minutes ago, William said:

While I agree in part, I  also have to disagree. I have kept quite a few “unique” fish before and many of them

were not particularly difficult to care for. Many are expensive, but some are not (mimic saddle puffer, or one of the captive bred filefish, red bandtail waspfish). I also agree that “unique” is a very subjective value statement. 

That’s not what I said. As I mentioned, my Curacao Deepwater Chromis isn’t challenging to keep. It’s just very rare to come by due to reasons already mentioned.   Dwarf Eviota and other gobies from this family which I kept long ago could also qualify to “unique” category. Honestly, I don’t think there is anything super unique about them other than they’re not that widely available, they have very short lifespan and in theory, you could keep a dozen of them in 5g tank (till they kill each other or find a way to carpet surf). But are they truly unique? IDK? 

So yes, you do have a valid point. Seems like we basically agree on everything with some friction regarding definition. Lol 😉

[McCune]

[A Little Blue]

PS

I actually would love to see a thread about super rare and extremely difficult fish, including ppl who care for those species and their experiences. 

[Jman4x]

That fish in the pic has some seriously strong colors but very simple making it very eye catching I think! I’m guessing a species of the wrasse family? 

[McCune]

On 10/27/2018 at 10:46 PM, Jman4x said:

That fish in the pic has some seriously strong colors but very simple making it very eye catching I think! I’m guessing a species of the wrasse family? 

It is a Naoko Wrasse. Great fish, the colors are better in person. The black coloring has an electric blue streaking through it.