Reefing regrets

[Gumbies R Us]

Have you ever bought a fish before and were super excited to get home to put it in your tank? A month later, the fish starts causing all sorts of issues in your tank, and you begin to regret ever buying that fish. I am wondering if there has ever been something you have bought or used in the hobby that you regret getting or doing.

 

[vlangel]

Hhm, I wanted a leopard wrasse so went to the lfs and of course there were none. There was a small red fin fairy wrasse and I tried to Google to see if she would be okay in my tank. There was no internet reception there so I took a chance. Bad decision, she needs a bigger tank than mine. She is small now, only about an inch and looks comfortable in the display so I will wait a bit. I have had good luck with bottle traps so will try that when the time comes.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I regret getting out of the hobby and selling off all my equipment. At the time it was the financial and mental health right thing to do, but i regret it to this day

 

[Fish Styx]

Hands down a red flame cardinal. I always hope for long healthy lives for the specimens in my charge. For him, however, I am cheering on the reaper.

 

[BristleWormHater]

I regret getting a Mexican turbo!
He ate my birdsnest gracillaria overnight, still haven't removed him because whats the point after the macro is gone? He'll get evicted once the gha is gone and then I'll get more macros.

 

[Red_Beard]

NO RAGERTS!!!

but i regret freakin regret blue/green discosomas... so hard.

 

[Red_Beard]

Hands down a red flame cardinal. I always hope for long healthy lives for the specimens in my charge. For him, however, I am cheering on the reaper.

tinsy fish stick in the making sounds like

 

[Andreas' Reef]

Hhm, I wanted a leopard wrasse so went to the lfs and of course there were none. There was a small red fin fairy wrasse and I tried to Google to see if she would be okay in my tank. There was no internet reception there so I took a chance. Bad decision, she needs a bigger tank than mine. She is small now, only about an inch and looks comfortable in the display so I will wait a bit. I have had good luck with bottle traps so will try that when the time comes.

are you sure you meab red fin fairy? because im pretty sure they'd do fine in a 50 gallon while a leopard wrasse needs 90

 

[timmyrules]

I regret using cheap fish food off Amazon. It killed all my fish and crashed my tank.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Blue Velvet Damsel FIsh!!! When I was young and dumb I purchased without researching....it was such a pretty fish.

After killing three of my other fish, he was put into a witness protection program (He went to a friend who had a predator tank.)

I swore off all damsels except clown fish.

 

[vlangel]

are you sure you meab red fin fairy? because im pretty sure they'd do fine in a 50 gallon while a leopard wrasse needs 90

Well, I hope you are right! Like I said, it looks very comfortable and well adjusted. It'd be wonderful if I don't have to try and catch it!

 

[Sdbuehler1]

A powder brown tang… after what I thought was a successful QT period I put it in my display tank and it began harassing everything. It then came down with what looked like ich in just a few days after adding it and died quickly before I could capture it. I had to get the remaining fish out and go fallow. I have now read that blue and brown powder tangs are pretty high on list of aggression. I wish I had done better research.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Hhm, I wanted a leopard wrasse so went to the lfs and of course there were none. There was a small red fin fairy wrasse and I tried to Google to see if she would be okay in my tank. There was no internet reception there so I took a chance. Bad decision, she needs a bigger tank than mine. She is small now, only about an inch and looks comfortable in the display so I will wait a bit. I have had good luck with bottle traps so will try that when the time comes.

Sorry to hear that! Hopefully, you can get it out smoothly and get the leopard wrasse!

 

[Chrisv.]

Have you ever bought a fish before and were super excited to get home to put it in your tank? A month later, the fish starts causing all sorts of issues in your tank, and you begin to regret ever buying that fish. I am wondering if there has ever been something you have bought or used in the hobby that you regret getting or doing.

Haha this hobby is full of regrets. My two biggest categories in terms of livestock are the ones related to livestock that causes trouble, or livestock with specialized needs that I realize that I can't meet.


For example: I recently bought a tailspot blenny who quickly developed a taste for scolymia flesh. Getting a tailspot blenny out of a full blown reef is an absolute nightmare. I had never heard of this happening before, but when I came to r2r and searched for it, I found it has happened in other tanks too.

And don't even get me started on corals I regret due to growing too fast or stinging their neighbors.

Another of my regrets was buying a cocoworm. For like 20 years I avoided cocoworms because they have very challenging to accommodate food needs and are essentially a cut flower in most tanks. I finally was running a tank with no skimmer, and I was able to feed phyto and reef roids, and I figured the combination of pelagic bacteria in the water column (that wasn't being skimmed out!) and the ability to target feed would be enough for me to finally keep one. It lasted 6 months before it finally started to death.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Blue Velvet Damsel FIsh!!! When I was young and dumb I purchased without researching....it was such a pretty fish.

After killing three of my other fish, he was put into a witness protection program (He went to a friend who had a predator tank.)

I swore off all damsels except clown fish.

It is stories like these that I will never have, damsels!

 

[Sea_forest]

No regrets about the fish or other inhabitants but with the size of the tank. I should have bought a 300 gal or more instead of 210 gal. I know I have a space for 8 ft but too hesitant at the time to go longer than 6 ft.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

 

[Gumbies R Us]

No regrets about the fish or other inhabitants but with the size of the tank. I should have bought a 300 gal or more instead of 210 gal. I know I have a space for 8 ft but too hesitant at the time to go longer than 6 ft.

Maybe an upgrade is in your future, haha.

 

[Sea_forest]

Maybe an upgrade is in your future, haha.

Hahaha! Maybe…but the boss will definitely kill me.

 

[McPuff]

Hmm, there are quite a few I would never buy again... but not sure I regret any of them as I learned valuable lessons. Here are some of them:
tomato clown
3 stripe damsel
domino damsel
4 stripe damsel
undulated trigger
trying to put ANYTHING in with a fimbriated moray
sunset monti
mystic sunset monti
ricordia yuma

I should probably stop there. :0)