Rare and/or cool fish thread

[mattyzang]

there's this sort of thread on some of the other reefing sites, so i thought it might be fun to do one on here

share pics of some rare or oddball or cool fish you have/had. doesn't have to be some $5,000 fish found 500 feet down in the dark or something, just stuff that is fairly on the rare side of the hobby

 

[mattyzang]

I’ll start with..

Sunburst anthias

not the rarest fish ever, I’ve seen them at lfs here or there but never in anyone’s tank. Not really sure why, coloration is beautiful and they’re super chill. Maybe too chill? I think they get bullied easily, but I keep mostly peaceful fish

 

[Smite]

Great looking sunburst. I had one and loved it in my 66g. Once I upgraded, exactly as you suspect it got bullied. It seemed like once it made up it's mind it was punk'd it just starved itself out.

 

[JohnBRZ]

personal favorite captive bred mandarin dragonet

 

[mattyzang]

Great looking sunburst. I had one and loved it in my 66g. Once I upgraded, exactly as you suspect it got bullied. It seemed like once it made up it's mind it was punk'd it just starved itself out.

yeah every so often my flame angel decides to be a goon to it, but the sunburst just swims away and things calm down and he's probably my most aggressive fish

i honestly think they're great nano fish. some people say they need a 75g tank or something? i really don't see that. they're pretty stationary despite being an anthias, they're more bangaii cardinal in swimming. and while they do get a decent length, they aren't really big fish. they do probably need some overhangs and what not to feel comfy in to get away from the bright light

 

[Not an IT guy]

I don’t see many around. It’s a fresh/salt water fish. Here it is in my freshwater tank. Green Scat

 

[Tangwich]

As much as i love my fem wrasse, shes a butt and steals food from my dendros, so for fish i am gonna say this cool little basslet that doesnt bother anyone or any invert or coral..such a chill fish.

 

[BST310]

As much as i love my fem wrasse, shes a butt and steals food from my dendros, so for fish i am gonna say this cool little basslet that doesnt bother anyone or any invert or coral..such a chill fish.

What a stud, gorgeous fish. Basslets are underrated for sure so much character.

 

[Bouncingsoul393]

As much as i love my fem wrasse, shes a butt and steals food from my dendros, so for fish i am gonna say this cool little basslet that doesnt bother anyone or any invert or coral..such a chill fish.

You have a Candy Basslet? Whoa dude. Very nice.

 

[barretojesse93]

As much as i love my fem wrasse, shes a butt and steals food from my dendros, so for fish i am gonna say this cool little basslet that doesnt bother anyone or any invert or coral..such a chill fish.

I’ve never even seen this fish before! So beautiful!


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[NickleCheese]

personal favorite captive bred mandarin dragonet

View attachment 93704

I try to keep mandarin but so far, I have 2 of them died. The fking yellow tail damsel killed it. They are too slow

 

[BgFish]

I have been looking for this fish for years:

saddle mimic puffer AKA black saddle File Fish

they look just like the puffer but is actually a filefish. And not too pricy- just hard to find lol they are not exactly reef safe- but more so then an actual valantini puffer.

 

[BgFish]

I try to keep mandarin but so far, I have 2 of them died. The fking yellow tail damsel killed it. They are too slow

damsel would be out if it was mine lol. Most I have ever had are/were jerks 🤣.

 

[NickleCheese]

damsel would be out if it was mine lol. Most I have ever had are/were jerks 🤣.

My tank is 250 gallons, so hard to catch it. Fish trap didnt work. That fking damsel too smart.

 

[anthonys_aqua]

My borbonius with velvet

 

[Smite]

My tank is 250 gallons, so hard to catch it. Fish trap didnt work. That fking damsel too smart.

Any fish that’s a dick/aggressive the trick is a mirror near or in the trap so they have to swim in to beat themselves up. They can’t help it.

 

[Smite]

My borbonius with velvet


View attachment 93859

Such a cool fish, always wanted to try one. Sucks about the velvet tho

 

[resortez]

Just recently bought a whitecheek tang. I’ve only seen pictures of it & don’t see it in tanks. I consider it a poor mans achillies tang but it is a very attractive fish. Can’t capture a good image of my fish because it’s in quarantine with dim lighting & hiding behind rock, with its dark coloration, it’s impossible to get a detailed image. Here’s a web photo.

 

[BgFish]

My tank is 250 gallons, so hard to catch it. Fish trap didnt work. That fking damsel too smart.

Yeah I can understand that 😂🤣. Took me months and months to catch one from a 90 Gallon- can only imaging in a huge tank like that! Lol.

 

[mattyzang]

Skunk or red stripe tilefish

really cool fish, but not overly popular I assume. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in an lfs, but I have seen some relatives like the blue head or the purple. Definitely not a fish worth trying if you don’t have a top, this dude is jumpier than any wrasse I’ve kept. I think they’re listed as difficult probably because they can just kinda freak out. Mine finished ttm and proceeded to porpoise out of the water for like an entire day, then was just so tired he’d just lay on the sand. I figured I was gonna lose him but he recharged and chilled out. I never had issues feeding him they eat mysis pretty readily

the red doesn’t really pop without pretty high levels of warm whites. My g5 radions are at 75% in these pics and the red still doesn’t really pop like it did under reefi lights I used to have. Different types of warm whites I guess?