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

Pescador

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Molly miller blenny. Maybe it was a freak accident. But I had severe case of red slime. After adding a molly blenny, it started to vanish
No doubt it was just a coincidence, but still, what a great fish!

As 1 more data point. My cyano stayed in place after adding the molly miller. Unfortunately, it disappeared during a course of chemiclean :(
 

jdiefenbaugh

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This $9 fairy wrasse turned into a nice value buy.

20210623_192437.jpg
 

tjohnson3

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People are going to disagree with me, but for me it’s a sixline wrasse. You obviously have to be careful with tank mates, but I think they get a bad rap. They are great for pest control, active, curious fish that also act as a sort of fire alarm, if you put a new piece of coral or rock in your tank and you notice a sixline paying close attention to it and continually coming back to it, you know you should probably pull it and give it a close inspection. Overall it’s a hardy, cheap, active, useful, attractive fish.
Nope… I agree 100%!!! For all around price, coloration, temperament, activity, AND pest control, the sixline is the ultimate specimen. It’s not my fav fish in the hobby, but it hits on all points.
 

mvbrandt

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Diamond Goby. Perfectly pristine sand at all times.

No other organism does it quite so well. Which puts it ahead of pest, aiptasia, or algae control fish by miles in my book, as there are variable solutions to choose from for each of those.
PXL_20210321_205735300.PORTRAIT-01.COVER~2.jpg
 

Dragon5704

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For me it's the Blue Spotted Puffer! Always inquisitive, beautiful, strange looking, and very peaceful with other fish. Then it's gotta be my Royal Gramma! Peaceful, beautiful, and always comes out of hiding when I come in the room.
2 great fish IMHO!
 

Oldsman

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For me its been my daughter's favorite fish, our coral beauty. It follows her around the tank, and very active . I thought it would be Nemo the snowflake clowns, but they just hang around the powerhead ..yawn
 

DaddyFish

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Molly miller blenny. Maybe it was a freak accident. But I had severe case of red slime. After adding a molly blenny, it started to vanish
I agree it's one of the hardiest and most underrated fish around. But man that's a face only a mother could love!
:rolleyes:

I call mine Thing-1 and Thing-2
 

Joekovar

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I think my Niger trigger is my favorite.

It's a unique looking fish, mine is small and doesn't bother anything. It follows me around the tank, and I've gotten to the point where I just dump the cup of thawed food right on it in the morning because it will follow the cup around anyways.

Definitely a daylight spectrum fish. Under strictly blues it appears solid dark blue with black eyes,, and I almost named it Lucifer because of how evil it looked. Totally different fish under the right mix of light.
 

ReefHorse

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Maybe a somewhat odd choice, but for me, it's been my niger trigger. Very hardy and always on the move. Aside from occasionally picking up and moving a snail or hermit crab, it's been a model citizen for over 3 years.
 

Mike Butler

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For my tank and for me, it's the pinnatus batfish. Gorgeous colors as a juvenile, very peaceful to tank mates, eats like a pig, and does eat some of the algea as it gets bigger and adult stage. Plus they're captive bred now, but they are a little spendy ( $150. For a small juvenile ).
IMG_20200310_110321_1CS.jpg
I agree with your choice but I have not been able to keep one alive for to long so I stopped buying them.
Here in Australia they are somewhat rare to see in your LFS but they sure do look beautiful.
For me feeding has always been a problem. I'm glad you have had success in this respect. I did not know they have been captive bred, that's great news.
 

Mike Butler

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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
Great fish to have, cheap and active with no disease issues. I've had my shoal of 6 for about 5 years now so I expect them to start falling off due to age but I will always get a replacement.
 

Ben Pedersen

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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
Where did you see them for $2? The prices at the LFSs around my house has gone up to $10.
 

Bpb

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Where did you see them for $2? The prices at the LFSs around my house has gone up to $10.

I DID get mine wholesale for under $2 a piece, but even at that last time I went to a fish store they were well under 10 a piece. Admittedly I haven’t been to a fish store in a few years literally so It sounds like they’ve gone way up. Even at 10 a piece they’re a bargain compared to the hundreds that many wrasses and tangs are running now, even at wholesale. Unfortunately despite running Uro treatment I lost 7/10. Without a dedicated quarantine right now I don’t plan to keep picking them up, they’re just so susceptible to it these days
 

Lukeluke

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Yellow watchman goby, under $30 and have plenty of character, from the grumpy look on his face to how he treats new fish guests.
Picked up one of these and a pistol shrimp. The goby is still pretty shy, but makes me smile every time I glance at the tank and see his grumpy face poking out somewhere. I haven't seen the shrimp since it went into the tank on Saturday. :( Still hoping they pair up.
 

amoore311

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Scopas Tang. Most of the detail in the fish is never caught in photographs. Every bit as good of a grazer as a Yellow Tang, and I paid I think $25 for him. No aggression issues either.

All my fish are "cheap" in terms of not costing anywhere near $100. They all get along, and most of them serve a valuable purpose in the tank.

-Juvenile Naso Tang ($65)
-Tomini Tang ($60) - these guys are such awesome grazers I have 1 in each of my tanks.
-Tennenti Juvenile ($55)
-Scopas Juvenile ($25)
-Tailspot Benny ($30)
-Regular old Ocellaris Clown ($24)
-Royal Gramma ($35)
-Yellow Corris Wrasse ($35)
-Talbots Damsel $18/ea I have 6 of them
-Convict Tang - the color white is underrated in this hobby IMO.
 

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

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 69 52.7%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 68 51.9%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 34 26.0%
  • None.

    Votes: 29 22.1%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 6.9%
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