Fish or Inverts That You Would Never Have Again?

[Jesterrace]

They’re just not as active as conches from what I have seen. And conches partially fulfill the same purpose and are more well guarded vs hermit crabs and tank inhabitants.

They’re not a bad choice, but they’re not a great choice.

I've never had Nassarius, but after seeing the work that 5 conch snails do on my sand bed, I know I would easily need 20-30 nas snails to do the job that they do, and the conch snails have a wider range of diet of waste, excess food, algae, etc. that they help clean up. Mine even clean the lower part of my live rock as well and you are correct about them being less likely to be picked off. My Wrasse has tried several times, only to end up frustrated each time. Arguably the most useful snail I have had.

 

[Rcpilot]

I've never had Nassarius, but after seeing the work that 5 conch snails do on my sand bed, I know I would easily need 20-30 nas snails to do the job that they do, and the conch snails have a wider range of diet of waste, excess food, algae, etc. that they help clean up. Mine even clean the lower part of my live rock as well and you are correct about them being less likely to be picked off. My Wrasse has tried several times, only to end up frustrated each time. Arguably the most useful snail I have had.

What type of wrasse was that?

 

[norfolkgarden]

My tank has been running for 7 months and I have a pistol shrimp in there that I have never seen, not even a glimpse (hitchhiker from a piece of live rock). Only his single snap several times a day. Just curious, what happened with yours that made it a pest? I don't seem to have any problem with mine, but I dont have a clue how big he is.

The pistol shrimp eventually reached about 3".
Pistol shrimp $15 kills
Cleaner shrimp $20
Blood shrimp $35
We lost a number of small fish as well that may have been attributable to the pistol shrimp.
The pistol shrimp clicked constantly, which was fine and kind of neat. But every time I heard a click I wondered what was dying next.

 

[Jesterrace]

What type of wrasse was that?

Melanurus. They are known for having a taste for the smaller inverts.

 

[Royy13]

Rock (flower anemone).

Darn thing ate my $90 tank raised mandarin. So ticked about it. It’s going back to the store the first chance I get before it eats something else.

 

[twreefer]

Yellow coris wrasse. You look at it wrong and it gets scared and runs. Suicidal fish was saved from the floor 6 times after finding a way thru top grate. Disappeared for 4 months and I knew he was dead, until one day he decided to awaken from hibernation. He finally shriveled and died when he decided to jump when no one was around.

 

[KMench]

Pistol shrimp! Constantly moves my sandbed around and occasionally steals my coral frags :mad:​

 

[KMench]

Pistol shrimp! Constantly moves my sandbed around and occasionally steals my coral frags :mad:​

 

[Seipster]

I will never have a tiger pistol shrimp again. Wake to a rearrange tank at least once a week. Also tank was in my room and that pop would always wake me up. And he got to be about 2.5 inches killing my clean up crew over time.

 

[Brian1f1]

In the remote past, 15 years ago, I have a Sixline pair and Mandarin pair in a 420. All four fishes (Sixline and Mandarin) coexisted for at least 1 year, and were spawning regularly in my tank. One day the Sixline pair attacked the female Mandarin. The attack last about 15 second and happened right in front of my eyes. Over so quickly that I cannot do anything about it. The wrasse took one pass each, one go for the R eye and the other one go for the L eye of the female Mandarin. After that they completely ignored the blinded Mandarin, and her mate. She starved and become emaciated. There was no hope of recovery, I euthanized her after 2 weeks. I was lucky enough to caught the two Sixline and traded them in for another female Mandarin.

It is all instinct, but it seem to be instinct from Satan-Spawned fish for me. I vowed never put another Sixline wrasse into my tank again, even for free.

I did not know they instinctually blinded fish!

 

[ducklady]

Lemonpeel angle is the meanest little fish ever!

 

[andyg1960]

So many people blasting the flame angels. Ive had 2 in 2 different tanks and no issue with corals. Lucky I guess? My never again would be the diamond goby. Little $&##()=/+ constantly burying corals, rocks, making giant sand piles. PITA!

 

[SPEEDBUMP1204]

Emerald crab, caught him munching on my corals. He was convicted and evicted that night.

 

[fishybizzness]

Beaugregory damsel! Had to remove all my rock to catch it! It attacked everything in the tank relentlessly!! All day, every day! Never again!!

 

[jp_75]

What’s the problem with Nassarius snails

Hermit crabs
Nassarius snails (if I have a choice, I’ll go conch any day)
Triggerfish in general (though I have two)
Dwarf angels
Pistol shrimp
Crabs in general actually, horseshoe crab excluded, as it is not a crab, but it is a pretty cute and pretty effective sand stirrer (don’t shoot me for this one).
Groupers and lionfish: too much risk to have it potentially gulp down a tankmate.
Clownfish: cute as heck, unless or maybe until they start to get aggressive. Much more aggressive than their size would imply.
Green spotted puffers: I’ve had these guys demolish a toadstool despite in theory the toadstool being unpalatable and also despite being well fed.

 

[blue.flyzz]

Tailspot Blenny....placed in my nano...after a week of hiding in rocks it came out and nested on one of my 3 scolys, which at first I thought was cute. Two days later the scoly was stressed and I could see some of the skeleton. Didn't put 2 & 2 together until a few days later second scoly was stressed and I saw a string of poop stuck to the blenny the same color as the scoly. All 3 scoly were placed in my main and the 2 made a full recovery. The Blenny, not so much...made a trap from a water bottle and it went down the toilet.

 

[chap34]

I’ll never purchase another cardinal fish in my life. I bought 5 and they all died out of pure stupidity

 

[Medic58]

Peppermint shrimp

 

[Acartia]

Yep, that would do it for me!! I love acans.

For me - it's the 6-line wrasse and any clown fish. They're aggressive and not all that community minded.

I have a six line wrasse, a clown fish and a Bengai cardinal in a 20 gallon. And they get along fine.

 

[rkpetersen]

Had an elephant ear mushroom years ago. Bright purple, really beautiful. Then one morning when I awoke, it was all closed up! And my mandarin was gone.

Also Enoplometopus reef lobster. So beautiful, but. Bought one, again years ago before there were as many ready sources of information, and put it in my tank. Critter vanished immediately. Never saw it out again, but small fish and shrimp started disappearing. So sly, there was no way to catch him. I'd even try hunting him with a spear (!) at night, but all I managed to ever do was knock a claw off (which of course reappeared a couple of weeks later.) When I finally tore down the tank, I sold the entire contents to an LFS; that dang lobster was the last thing out, he was hiding behind the very last rock.