Best bang for the buck FISH? It's an all around great fish for the money!

Do you have ONE FISH that excels in all these attributes? Health, looks, temperament & activity.

  • YES (tell us in the thread)

    Votes: 190 83.3%
  • NO

    Votes: 36 15.8%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 2 0.9%

  • Total voters
    228

Whirly

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Non aggressive wrasse such as Melanurus as stated above, great utilitarian fish, beautiful colors, neat to watch, lots of personality.
A close runner up would be the vast majority of blennies. Specifically lawn mower/starry/midas. Lots of attitude(good attitude) personality, and just overall enjoyable fish to keep
 

Lindaanne60

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The tiny pink streaked wrasse is the favorite in our house. It took a bit for her to come out from hiding but once she did...totally peaceful, very active, unique swimming style, uses the whole tank, eats certain pests, and is just adorable!

gracie.jpg
I have one and I agree with you. It goes great with my yellow band possum wrasse. 2 great fish
 

threebuoys

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Falco Hawkfish has been a big surprise for me. I wanted a fish with some red coloration so I decided to give this one a try. Not that expensive, about $35. Very entertaining. He likes to perch on top of rocks. His eyes and head are constantly moving. When I feed pellets, he shoots up to the surface to pick up one, he heads back to his perch, looks up, finds another pellet he wants, etc. Does this until all the food is gone. Does not spook easily either. The bright white and red contrast stands out.


Close second is a lawnmower blenny. Great personality.Body and head contortions are amusing. Fatty.
 

flashsmith

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My favorite fish is anything that doesn't come with an unseen parasite or disease. I'm lucky to have an lfs that takes care of their fish. My other choice always has dead fish in the tanks but they somehow still sell fish.
 

Acroguy

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Sixline wrasses, 28€ on average beutiful and control pests,they are active etc...I have a pair of them and they couldn’t care less about other tank mates.

1C1CA257-2CF4-4484-A7EB-4DD44EBDD86D.jpeg
 

Greybeard

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I'm a cardinal fan. Couple of folks already called out one or two species... there's a BUNCH of cardinals available. I love 'em all ;D

I've got a trio of PJ cards that were traded in as adults to a LFS, sat there for months. I gave $20 for the trio :D. Awesome fish. Picked up some ochre striped cards at a tradeshow. A beautiful and peaceful addition to any community tank. I've had orbic, five line, flame, yellow... All excellent, and IMHO, under represented in the hobby.

Mouth breeders. Many species will reproduce in captivity, with a much higher success rate in raising the fry than with clownfish. Selcon and baby brine shrimp... much easier than sourcing rotifers.

Ok, they're not 'centerpiece' pretty... and they're not 'useful', as an algae eating fish, or pest eating fish... but if you've got space and want to add activity and color to your reef, get some cardinals :D
 

DrakeEnglish

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My vote is for the Banggai cardinalfish or tail spot blenny. Big fan of both of mine with cool colorations, peaceful, and fun personalities. Tail spot is also a great option for algae for smaller tanks that don’t have the luxury of tang or foxface.

At a loss for how the Royal Gramma is making this list or included in the same sentence with the word peaceful. The ones I’ve had have been absolute terrors and will never go down that road again. The last one I had progressed from being territorial and opening it’s mouth to anything near its cave to eventually chasing everyone down in the tank and tackling them into rocks. Demonic thing was impossible to catch and only got him out by pulling the entire large rock out of the tank and still had to dig him out with a pair of hemostats. And yes, all of them were definitely a royal gramma.
 

Sump Crab

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is it really peaceful? i'm finishing a fallow period ( lost my 2 first ever saltwaterfish due to brook..) and i have a dino outbreak, i need a hardy fish and i thought about getting a damsel. If its not too much to ask, what size is your tank and what fish do you have with the damsel. Thanks from a newbie!!

IME yes. 40 gallon tank with coral beauty, YWG, diadem dottyback, melanarus wrasse.
 

Panama Brown

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I gotta say both the Chocolate / Mimic Tang & Orange Shoulder Tang have to be some of the most underrated Tangs around, at least if I were to base my answer on price, personality, & beauty. Getting to watch them change colors as they mature into some of the most beautiful Tangs around at less than half the price of a Yellow, Purple, Achilles, Gem, etc... IMO
 

imerk

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I'm a big fan of the tailspot blenny. Cute, active and loves to eat any hair algae that pops up.
 

jiffyjhn

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May seem a silly answer, but If you can manage to get them without uronemia, a group of standard issue $2 green chromis are still one of my absolute favorite must-have fish. Especially if you can manage a decent sized shoal of them. Not much utility in them but they’re fun to watch
More like $12 where I live. They are very cool in numbers.

yellow watchman gobies are cool too. Good looks, peaceful active. Just need to make sure your overflow is netted. They like to squeeze into overflows. Also they look like Simpson characters
 

nick96cougars

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For me it's my melanurus wrasse. It is one of my favorite looking fish in the hobby and it only cost me $30, which compared to most other fish is a good price. I will have one in any tank that is big enough to keep one. They're always out swimming around the rocks hunting and mine doesn't bother anything else.

Plus they're utilitarian because they will eat some pests.
I just picked one up for $90 @ my fish store...they seem to be a bit over priced as even their blue green chrom go for $16 then again I live in San Diego where everything is a bit more expensive...
 

Pescador

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Rainford's goby (Koumansetta rainfordi)

-Would never bother anyone (except maybe conspecifics).
-Sifts the sand (may be hindered a bit by bristle worms these days) I have the volcanic stuff sold as "Hawaiian black.". You'd think it would be too big and sharp to pass through the gills, but no problem there.
-Digs caves in the sand under the live rock and darts into them whenever I stomp into the room too loudly. On the flip side, it's amazing to see them when they don't think anyone is watching. Mine will swim up to the top to hang out. They are absolutely beautiful fish, especially in the light.
-captive bred from biota for $35 - eats flakes readily, as well as benthic pods from the sand.
-The kids' favorite
 

Pescador

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Rainford's goby (Koumansetta rainfordi)

-Would never bother anyone (except maybe conspecifics).
-Sifts the sand (may be hindered a bit by bristle worms these days) I have the volcanic stuff sold as "Hawaiian black.". You'd think it would be too big and sharp to pass through the gills, but no problem there.
-Digs caves in the sand under the live rock and darts into them whenever I stomp into the room too loudly. On the flip side, it's amazing to see them when they don't think anyone is watching. Mine will swim up to the top to hang out. They are absolutely beautiful fish, especially in the light.
-captive bred from biota for $35 - eats flakes readily, as well as benthic pods from the sand.
-The kids' favorite
I'm also pretty sure he's keeping the hair algae from growing on the rock in his 28 nano. It's all over the power head, but nowhere else :) I watched him eat it often after he went in 1 1/2 year ago.
 

Gtinnel

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I just picked one up for $90 @ my fish store...they seem to be a bit over priced as even their blue green chrom go for $16 then again I live in San Diego where everything is a bit more expensive...
I've seen them for sale for as high as $100 but there is a lfs in Charlotte, NC that I frequent that has really good prices. I just checked their website and they have one now for $40. Honestly I like them well enough that if the average price of them went up to around $100 I would still get one.
 

Operation Philo Beddoe

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My Goldflake Angel is all about whatever I’m into. From opening a Amazon box, to watching BRS. It play-chases the Gramma (close contender) and eats everything good for it.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 38 49.4%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 41 53.2%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 16 20.8%
  • None.

    Votes: 19 24.7%
  • Other.

    Votes: 7 9.1%
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