5 Fishes we seem to take for granted...

[Mr. Microscope]

I had a captive bred orchid dotty back that was a perfect citizen. It's the purple/magenta psudochromis that you have to worry about. I loved my orchid dottyback though. It got along with my clowns very well. I think it thought it was a clown. Lol

 

[borillion]

Personally had a Royal Gramma, and can say they are a fish with a great personality. Bit territorial but never attacked anyone. I recommend them to anyone. Same with the Coral Beauty, however "she" was a bit shy. Was a while back. Can you keep a Royal Gramma in something like a 9 gallon? I want to start over.

 

[evan.lundberg4]

Great write up Scott. Apparently I have a bland taste in fish because these are all fish I either have, have had or want to someday have. Nothing wrong with the old stand-bys I say. My royal gramma is my favorite fish I've ever had.

 

[Bernie21]

I have a royal gramma. I'm new to it, been in the hobby for a long time and it's my 1st one. I had been missing out.

As far as the coral beautys, they are great dwarfs, I've had two & both spectacular. One was from Tonga though & it was the most beautiful coral beauty I've ever seen, it didn't take a back seat to any other dwarf Angel in beauty.

 

[zoous]

I currently have three out of five. Royal Gramma, Coral Beauty and Orchid Dottyback.

 

[tyler1503]

Two of my favourite non predator fish!
The coral beauty and the kole tang.
I'm going to add a kole to my 120 eventually and have been tossing around the idea of a coral beauty too! I want one of the blue kole tangs though, not a brown one

 

[o2manyfish]

Nice job Scott,

I have a 30+ year history with this hobby. In my current tank I have your noted Royal Gramma, Yellow Coris, and Frimandi. But I also have the even more basic Blue Damsel. I love these electric blue simple starter fish. I always have a few in my tank as I find their 3 dollar color is spectacular. And at this point in history am enjoyng the Orange Tail Blue Damsels that I got from you yourself!

I also enjoy the boring yellow tang - To which I have 9 that in my eye keep my tank full of color.

And while I have collected a myriad of rare and exotic fishes over the years, the majority of visitors still walk up to the tank and immediately point out the Nemo and Dorie. And when those visitors are my 3 year old twin nephews, those everyday boring fish are worth their weight in gold.


Dave B

 

[uniquecorals]

Nice job Scott,

I have a 30+ year history with this hobby. In my current tank I have your noted Royal Gramma, Yellow Coris, and Frimandi. But I also have the even more basic Blue Damsel. I love these electric blue simple starter fish. I always have a few in my tank as I find their 3 dollar color is spectacular. And at this point in history am enjoyng the Orange Tail Blue Damsels that I got from you yourself!

I also enjoy the boring yellow tang - To which I have 9 that in my eye keep my tank full of color.

And while I have collected a myriad of rare and exotic fishes over the years, the majority of visitors still walk up to the tank and immediately point out the Nemo and Dorie. And when those visitors are my 3 year old twin nephews, those everyday boring fish are worth their weight in gold.


Dave B

By the way, folks- Dave B is the absolute prototype hardcore reefer, has ana amazing collection of fishes, and invented the perfect term, "Doinker Fish"- for all of those cool little gobies and blennies and such that us reefers throw into big reefs that seem to be everywhere, bringing the tank alive...Check his webcam and see if you can actually count them all...mesmerizing!

-Scott

 

[Sangheili]

Royal Gramma is a beautiful fish but it's also a murderer. It will rip hermits out of their shells and devour shrimp.

 

[o2manyfish]

Sangheili,

In small tanks the Royal Grammas can be rough. In my large tank I don't have any issues with them. A year ago I had 4, 2 that were spawning. At the moment I have only 1, and he hangs out in a cave area with 3-4 Adult cleaner shrimp without any issue. I also have a pair of Harlequin Shrimp in the tank which the Grammas have never bothered.

Years ago when I kept Grammas in a heavily rocked 125, I had issues with them being bossy fish. But in the 400, they are well behaved fish. I have the back wall of my 400 covered in flat slab rock. And the Grammas when I have them in groups will hang vertically off the rock wall. When the Yellow Assesors join them and you end up with 4-10 fish hanging on the back wall of the tank it's a really neat thing to see in an aquarium.

Dave B

 

[mikellini]

I would add an orange diamond goby to the list, kind of ugly but very utilitarian, great personality. Also would add a foxface, will eat almost as much as a kole tang and a little prettier

My stocking list includes a gramma, melanurus wrasse (instead of the chrysus), kole tang, foxface, diamond goby and a coral beauty (among others). I've heard too many stories of dottybacks to risk that one, but I've essentially got the other four plus.

 

[1.0reef]

My opinion/experience on why these fish may not be as popular:
Royal Grammas are pretty and cheap, but can be territorial, especially in smaller tanks. That and they can eat small inverts.
Coral Beauty Angels, and dwarf angelfish in general can also be territorial. Plus they often pick at corals.
Orchid Dottybacks can be a bit harder to find in some areas, sometimes they can be territorial.
Yellow wrasse can get big for nanos and will eat smaller inverts.
Kole Tangs aren't for nanos, and I find them kind of "ugly" compared to some of their close relatives.
I feel like Dartfish besides Firefish are underrated, although they can be shy.
Fang blennies because they're usually peaceful and are active swimming fish.
Elacatinus gobies because they're peaceful and pretty.
And last but not least, smaller Hogfish as an alternative to Halichoeres wrasse. They'll still eat inverts but are still cool fish.

 

[guichi1210]

Really enjoyed the read. I would add the niger trigger. Love the streamers, personality and graceful swim. Its like a puppy beging for attention

 

[mikellini]

Really enjoyed the read. I would add the niger trigger. Love the streamers, personality and graceful swim. Its like a puppy beging for attention

A bit more demanding than a blue-throat trigger tho. That'd be my trigger vote

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

“If you don’t keep an Orchid Dottyback in your reef, you are stupid.â€

Agreed

 

[Funlad3]

Agreed

I didn't type this?

 

[darrell7456]

I love my Coral Beauty. Love to watch it swim in and out of the rocks.

 

[Rpujol85]

My orchid dottyback, like you said, looks awesome and has a pretty cool personality. That's if you disregard the fact that I have not been able to add another fish or invert into my tank since adding him.

Cool fish, just remember to add them last. I've lost 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 skunk cleaners, and a damsel to this sucker.

 

[Oscaror]

Great write up! Have you ever talked about or gone into brackish fishes? They say figure eight puffers are model citizens!

 

[uniquecorals]

Great write up! Have you ever talked about or gone into brackish fishes? They say figure eight puffers are model citizens!

It's funny, I've long obsessed about a brackish tank...One of those things that I was "always gonna get to.." but haven't yet...

Oh...giving me an idea for a post...LOL

-Scott