Uncommon fish

HB AL · Oct 17, 2021

Red Sea Broomtail Wrasse, cool fish

WheatToast · Oct 17, 2021

Tired said:
Are there any reasonably small flounder/flatfish type species? Under a foot long, maybe? I've seen juveniles at my LFS now and then, and I've even seen them stick onto the tank walls. I didn't know they could do that. I'm not sure by what mechanism they manage it, but they can definitely somehow paste themselves to a wall.

(I have no space in which to put any size of flatfish, but I figure a probably-not-super-active fish under a foot long is much more manageable than the food flounders I've seen. Particularly more manageable than the giant halibut they've got up in Alaska. Those guys get a good 8+ feet long, have seriously people by flopping around in boats and breaking important bones, have definitely killed at least one guy via said totally understandable thrashing, and can drag you into the water if you're handline fishing. The native people have special hooks that prevent fish over a certain size from biting, so they won't get hauled out of canoes. Not an aquarium fish!)

Some google searches have lead me to...
- Occasionally avaliable Hogchokers (Trinectes maculatus) and similar brackish/marine flounder max out around or a little above 6 inches.
- The coldwater Speckled Sanddab (Citharichthys stigmaeus) maxes out around 6.75 inches.
- Rarely avaliable Bonthus and Gymnachirus flounders max out around 9 to 18 inches.
- The Hawaiian dwarf flounder (Engyprosopon hawaiiensis) maxes out at... 3 inches! But they basically never enter the trade

.
Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, MarineFishEZ, and Matsu Collections could probably supply some of these.

Zionas · Oct 17, 2021

Chaetodon guentheri

Paracentropyge boylei

Paracentropyge narcosis

Paracentropyge abei

Halichoeres bicolor

Tired · Oct 17, 2021

WheatToast said:
- The Hawaiian dwarf flounder (Engyprosopon hawaiiensis) maxes out at... 3 inches! But they basically never enter the trade .
Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, MarineFishEZ, and Matsu Collections could probably supply some of these.

Oh, wow, that dwarf one is entirely reasonable for a lot of tanks! Heck, that's a nano fish. Thanks for telling me about this guy, I gotta remember they exist. I want a nano-ish macroalgae tank at some point in the future, and a teeny-tiny flounder would be perfect for that. The hogchoker isn't bad either. Funny-shaped fish, pretty reasonable size. Probably not /too/ hard to find for sale, I'd hope. The Hawaiian ones are probably a no-go as long as the Hawaii fish collection ban stands.

Thomashtom · Oct 17, 2021

Darwin Jawfish. Very hard to get good pic!! Lol. Stays in den he built out of shells and anything else he could pick up with his almost 2 inch wide mouth!! Lol

Mflores888 · Oct 17, 2021

I absolutely love the clinger I got some months ago. This thing was so strange in the LFS and super cheap $20 that I picked it up without even knowing what it was. I found very little info on this dude but he is so fat now. I only sew him from time to time as he hides in the back and comes out to eat or when he's chasing down pods.

Karen00 · Oct 17, 2021

WheatToast said:
- The Hawaiian dwarf flounder (Engyprosopon hawaiiensis) maxes out at... 3 inches! But they basically never enter the trade .
Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, MarineFishEZ, and Matsu Collections could probably supply some of these.

I would love to have the Hawaiian dwarf!

WheatToast · Oct 17, 2021

Mflores888 said:
I absolutely love the clinger I got some months ago. This thing was so strange in the LFS and super cheap $20 that I picked it up without even knowing what it was. I found very little info on this dude but he is so fat now. I only sew him from time to time as he hides in the back and comes out to eat or when he's chasing down pods.

I believe you have a darker variant of the Stippled clingfish (Gobiesox punctulatus). So cute! Does it have a name?

Here are some good reads with information on this clingfish and the closely related Skilletfish (Gobiesox strumosus):
Gobiesox punctulatus "Stippled Clingfish" - MiniWaters.FISH
We are Not Plecos! Breeding Stippled Clingfish in Captivity
Aquarium Maintenance of the Skilletfish, by CAE Bergesen
Chesapeake Bay Oyster Reef Biotope Tank

Here are some images:
Darker Stippled clingfish
Lighter Stippled clingfish
Skilletfish

Fun fact: I have read on a few forums that these clingfish have managed to hitchhike within bags of live sand, alive!

Karen00 · Oct 18, 2021

WheatToast said:
I believe you have a darker variant of the Stippled clingfish (Gobiesox punctulatus). So cute! Does it have a name?
Here are some good reads with information on this clingfish and the closely related Skilletfish (Gobiesox strumosus):
Gobiesox punctulatus "Stippled Clingfish" - MiniWaters.FISH
We are Not Plecos! Breeding Stippled Clingfish in Captivity
Aquarium Maintenance of the Skilletfish, by CAE Bergesen
Chesapeake Bay Oyster Reef Biotope Tank

Fun fact: I have read on a few forums that these clingfish have managed to hitchhike within bags of live sand, alive!

Thanks for posting this! I was trying to remember the name of a fish I've been looking for after seeing a YT video featuring the inhabitants of the Chesapeake Bay (the video might be related to the link you posted). It's the skilletfish. I was hoping to find one for my brackish tank but so far no luck (at least not where I am in Canada). These guys are awesome!

Mflores888 · Oct 18, 2021

WheatToast said:
I believe you have a darker variant of the Stippled clingfish (Gobiesox punctulatus). So cute! Does it have a name?

Here are some good reads with information on this clingfish and the closely related Skilletfish (Gobiesox strumosus):
Gobiesox punctulatus "Stippled Clingfish" - MiniWaters.FISH
We are Not Plecos! Breeding Stippled Clingfish in Captivity
Aquarium Maintenance of the Skilletfish, by CAE Bergesen
Chesapeake Bay Oyster Reef Biotope Tank

Here are some images:
Darker Stippled clingfish
Lighter Stippled clingfish
Skilletfish

Fun fact: I have read on a few forums that these clingfish have managed to hitchhike within bags of live sand, alive!

The dude at the store said that this particular dude was bred in an area in Mexico near Veracruz (not sure how accurate or true that is) so my mom named it "jarocho" which is a name given to people who live in that area.

I absolutely love this guy, he is very active despite hiding in the back he is pretty quick and sometimes swims into open water to get food. Those articles have some awesome info. I actually want to add another one to my tank but man no one seems to know what they are or where to get them

WheatToast · Oct 18, 2021

Karen00 said:
I was hoping to find one for my brackish tank but so far no luck (at least not where I am in Canada). These guys are awesome!

Mflores888 said:
I actually want to add another one to my tank but man no one seems to know what they are or where to get them

Maybe the guys over here can help you with obtaining Skilletfish: Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory
I am not sure if they provide international shipping and their minimum order cost is $70, for animals only.

During the spring and summer months, loads of Stippled clingfish will also make their way onto Diver's Den on LiveAquaria, mislabeled as Arcos rubiginosus and called Caribbean black clingfish.

Karen00 · Oct 18, 2021

WheatToast said:
Maybe the guys over here can help you with obtaining Skilletfish: Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory
I am not sure if they provide international shipping and their minimum order cost is $70, for animals only.

During the spring and summer months, loads of Stippled clingfish will also make their way onto Diver's Den on LiveAquaria, mislabeled as Arcos rubiginosus and called Caribbean black clingfish.

A BIG thank you!! Getting one of these guys would make my year!! I'm going to check out GSML right now! I will also check out DD.

i cant think · Oct 18, 2021

I don’t own any of the “Rare/Unusual” fish however, the Ctenochaetus binotatus is one of the fish that aren’t so common here in England, others that I have that aren’t common but aren’t exteremely rare are:
- Halichoeres iridis (It’s not common because it’s an African wrasse so they’re hard-ish to get but not extemely hard and easy to keep if you get a good shipper)
- Cirrhilabrus Naokoae (I have seen 2 in person in the whole 10 years of being in this hobby, I also bought both because it’s one of two fairy wrasse that I will never have a reef tank without, the other is Cirrhilabrus Lubbocki)
- Another that isn’t rare or unusual however few people have it because of the “Dull” colour, it’s Escenius lineatus
And now fish that I would love but are hard to get:
- Macropharyngodon chaoti
- Macropharyngodon negrosensis
- Acanthurus achilles
- Anampses femininus
- Iminicus filamentosus (My LFS has one in and I’m tempted on pulling the trigger)
Here’s a few photos of the ones I own
Ctenochaetus binotatus

Halichoeres iridis

One I didnt mention - magnificus

Cirrhilabrus Naokoae (Yes it’s in a grow out tank and that is a 20g tank, I have more about it in my build threads for both tanks, he was a difficult one to photo so enjoy his reflection)

And a better picture of my Naoko

And then my Genicanthus melanospilos - Again, not a rare fish, but also not common

aminals · May 14, 2024

Just John said:
Not fish that are necessarily rare, but usually not in an aquarium. I kept these fish as juveniles in my 80 gal. and released them later. They were all caught at about 1/2" long or less. These are not my pictures - mine are film prints in a box somewhere.

Juvenile Cobia

Juvenile Short Bigeye - Live at depths of 600 ft. Mine was about 1/4 inch when I caught it. I had it for quite a while, but it died of, not surprisingly, an eye infection.

Juvenile Tripletail - mine was about 1/4 in.

It's a common aquarium fish, but I had to include this because they look so funny.
A baby pufferfish

Accidental cast net finds or is there a way to purposely fish for tiny fish? I want a half inch Sheepshead so much.

Just John · May 15, 2024

aminals said:
Accidental cast net finds or is there a way to purposely fish for tiny fish? I want a half inch Sheepshead so much.

When I was on research cruises, I would just dipnet in the Sargassum. Juvenile fish of many species live in there for protection and food, including some deep sea fish. Some fish and crabs spend their entire lives in the floating weed. It's amazing how many different things I caught. The best thing I saw was when a friend of mine caught a 2 inch juvenile sailfish.

littlefoxx · May 15, 2024

Marine betta and a jeweled moray eel. Saw a marine betta in a store and fell in love and finally found one! Ive had him for probably a year and a half now. The jeweled moray eel Ive never seen before when researching eels for aquariums. But I saw him in a LFS I never go to and immediatly had to have him. After researching him standing in front of the tank I knew he was a good fit and brought him home!

aminals · May 16, 2024

Just John said:
When I was on research cruises, I would just dipnet in the Sargassum. Juvenile fish of many species live in there for protection and food, including some deep sea fish. Some fish and crabs spend their entire lives in the floating weed. It's amazing how many different things I caught. The best thing I saw was when a friend of mine caught a 2 inch juvenile sailfish.

Oh geez I should have tried that already if I was thinking right! Last week I was dragging a hook to harvest marcoalgaes. I'll be looking for some floating sargassum tomorrow on the Chesapeake!