Reef Safe With Caution Fish (best and worst)

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Recently we talked about "reef safe" angelfish but today I want to expand the conversation to all fish that are considered reef safe, but with caution. Thanks to @Gtinnel for the QOTD idea. So let's talk about these fish!

1. Do you keep "Reef Safe with Caution" fish? If so what fish and what's your experience with them been?

2. What would you say are some good fish to take a chance on and some that are a bad bet?

Cuban Hogfish image via @reefs4less

 

[blaxsun]

1. Yes. I have a pair of dwarf angelfish (coral beauty, midnight) and a quoy parrotfish. The coral beauty has never touched any of my corals (good fish!); the midnight ate all my acans (bad fish!) The parrotfish has actually been surprisingly good, but he's unintentionally fragged a few soft corals (zoas, mushroom) chewing on the ceramic frag plugs.

2. I think dwarf angels are a mixed bag of snakes and can be hit or miss. If you have more than one they also tend to mimic any behaviour they see in other angels, which means one nibbler has the potential to become two, etc. The parrotfish is a relatively safe bet if your frag plugs are placed securely and more or less covered. If there's more ceramic plug than coral it will probably end up being scraped. Parrotfish are also the mandarin equivalent of algae consumers, so they need a lot of rock work to keep themselves occupied.

 

[Just a Wrasse.]

I've got angels in a 50g tank with a small amount of coral and no losses yet!

 

[Jeffcb]

I had a African Flameback. He was great with all types of coral until I introduced a Scolymia. I had to drain the tank completely to get him out. He is now in my FOWLR tank. I just added a Bi-Color Blenny. From what I read they can be a menace but this one is good so far.

 

[icedearth15324]

Huma Huma trigger and a flame angel. Other than my trigger eating my cleaner shrimp (i'm assuming), he's been pretty good.

 

[HeyLookItsCaps]

Foxface, coral beauty in mine. Haven’t seen anything yet! Pray for me

 

[Rocketfish]

Aptaisia eating file fish. Had one, ate all the visible aptaisia then started nipping Acans... Lost an entire colony unfortunately. Still have a few aptaisia popping and considered Peppermint shrimp, but they are in the same boat from my experience.

 

[kittenbritches]

I have a One Spot Foxface and keep him well-fed.

 

[jda]

Many non reef safe fish are coral safe. If you take away inverts, many of those fish will not eat corals. If you can live without shrimp, some crabs and stupid snails (the smart ones can keep from being eaten), then many fish will do ok in tanks with coral.

Additionally, nearly all species have counterparts that are totally reef safe. The Xanthichus triggers are planktivores and totally reef safe (sargassum, crosshatch, bluethroat) and should not be compared to other kinds. Same with the Genicanthus angelfish which are the same way. Nearly everybody seems to get this with wrasses where the flasher and fairies are good and other types are nightmares, but it applies to other fish too.

For the photo - I have a cuban hog in my reef right now and it is fine with everything.

 

[mdb_talon]

Nope. I find there are plenty of truly reefsafe fish I can add and not worry about my coral being eaten.

 

[Llyod276]

My CB is good with all coral except hammers. Leaves torches alone. But hammers he eats in a day. Also my clowns kill and feed cleaners shrimp to the anem now.

 

[Gtinnel]

In the past I've kept a foxface without issue, but from asking other reefers like most "with caution" fish it just the luck of the draw.

I did keep a copperband butterfly for a short amount of time before it starved to death. Towards the end of its life it started eating my hammers and duncan corals. Although I can't say as I blame it since it wouldn't eat anything else.

 

[SeaDøøby]

1. Do you keep "Reef Safe with Caution" fish? If so what fish and what's your experience with them been?

I keep a foxface and a copperband in my reef. Absolutely no problems, so far.

2. What would you say are some good fish to take a chance on and some that are a bad bet?

Foxfaces in my opinion are the best cautious fish to keep. They have great personality and get up to a good size. Also different choices of foxfaces. I’m not sure about bad bets except maybe large angels or some butterflies.

 

[ImaFlippinDolphin]

I've rolled the dice on an emporer angel and moorish idol, and as expected they ate lps and nipped sps like crazy despite heavy feeding...so unfortunately I had to move them along. I do have a foxface which I've not had any issues with

 

[Smite]

I avoid them now for the most part.

I really loved the smaller angels like flame, coral beauty and cherubs but when I have one in the tank and something starts to happen with sps, I always get stuck wondering if it's them.

I'll say the best one would be the copperband butterfly. I've had pretty good success as far as not eating coral/sps while still eating aiptasia. Just so hard to get them to eat prepared foods.

 

[stephj03]

Klein's Butterfly and melanurus wrasse. Wouldn't have a tank without them.

They "snack" and move things around a bit but great workers as well.

 

[brmreefer]

I have a Zebra Moray Eel that has been for the most part a very model citizen in regards to other fish inhabitants. I've only witnessed our eel snatch a hermit crab that was walking by and partially crush it's shell, but with luck it survived the ordeal. Recommended with planning. :D

Another is our One Spot Foxface. I've only witnessed it mow down a large colony of pulsing xenias, guessing 6+ months ago. Since then, have had no issues. Was worried for a bit as to what the next coral it was looking to snack on, but nothing else has been targeted to date. Not sure I would get another after this one, but really on the fence on it. Maybe later on if upgraded to a larger system, then may lean towards getting another. :)

 

[elorablue]

I don’t have any rswc fish but after seeing the tank of @JMacedo I’d say all bets are off :cool:

 

[bnord]

I have a One Spot Foxface and keep him well-fed.

have been interested to see fox face on the caution list, didn't know that before I added one and 1) never seen him touch a coral and 2) rarely seen him graze. So good news bad news....

 

[bnord]

Have a Coral Beauty (CB) and has been a model, have a blue Jaw trigger as the safest bet trigger, and has been model (though no more peppermint shrimp) and have a CB aptasia File and it has removed one ( and only one) variety of paly, leaving the zoas alone (hope he doesn't hear me). Interested to see folks add Fox Face to the list of risk, had not heard that before.