Scary Fish: These fish are too scary for you to keep in your aquarium?

[ppatches24]

My tank isnt big enough, but I wanna keep some garden eels or a moray only tank

garden eel tank is a dream. Ive seen them at the aquarium of the pacific and I feel in love.

 

[reddevilant]

Well give us a look, then.

I don't have any recent full tank shots. But here's a couple pics. The first pic is my pride and joy lol. It's one of my large pieces of String of Pearls macro (which I happen to selling some of if anyone is interested ). My Citrinis Clown Goby loves it too!

 

[Karen00]

I voted too aggressive but there is no particular fish for me. Any fish (or coral) that can fit my tiny fish in their mouths would be a "no no" for me. I would setup a separate tank. For instance I love the frogfish/anglers but no way are they going in the tank I have now.

Cost would be a lesser one but it wouldn't be the actual cost itself, it would be the stress of keeping a very expensive fish and fearing it gets sick/attacked and dies. It's awful when any fish dies but doubly so for one that put a hole in my bank account. The stress of that would kill me before the fish died.

 

[SlugSnorter]

garden eel tank is a dream. Ive seen them at the aquarium of the pacific and I feel in love.

Ive dove in areas where they are and its a breath taking sight! Although skittish, a very docile reef environment could be amazing with these guys

 

[i cant think]

Cost would be a lesser one but it wouldn't be the actual cost itself, it would be the stress of keeping a very expensive fish and fearing it gets sick/attacked and dies. It's awful when any fish dies but doubly so for one that put a hole in my bank account. The stress of that would kill me before the fish died.

This is what has been putting me off the Achilles tang (and also how it seems just about everyone has one). To spend almost £700 on a 4” fish to have it die that week would be heartbreaking for me and the wallet I just broke. I’ve been debating on the Goldrim as a more viable and cheaper option but I keep going against it to because “It’s not as pretty as the Achilles everyone has” which is also what makes it my favourite fish. Very few people have it because it’s not solid black or like the Achilles in any way other than body shape and genus, and over here it’s actually rarer than it’s price tag suggests at a nice price of £89.
the other thing putting me off of this fish is the 4’ tank I have, I can’t upgrade to the 6’ tank or so in a few months and I was tempting an orange shoulder that was a juvie but didn’t because yes they’re slow growing, I won’t have a 6’ tank in a few months when it hits 4”.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Certain lion fish, frog fish, jumpers and sargassum fish
They’ll eat anything that can and can’t fit in their mouths and sneaky hunters

 

[Beau_B]

The fish I can afford are coral eaters and/or aggressive.
The fish I want are too expensive and/or fragile.

 

[mwilk19]

I really would love to have an Emperor Angel but I'm afraid he would eat my reef tank.

 

[Karen00]

This is what has been putting me off the Achilles tang (and also how it seems just about everyone has one). To spend almost £700 on a 4” fish to have it die that week would be heartbreaking for me and the wallet I just broke. I’ve been debating on the Goldrim as a more viable and cheaper option but I keep going against it to because “It’s not as pretty as the Achilles everyone has” which is also what makes it my favourite fish. Very few people have it because it’s not solid black or like the Achilles in any way other than body shape and genus, and over here it’s actually rarer than it’s price tag suggests at a nice price of £89.
the other thing putting me off of this fish is the 4’ tank I have, I can’t upgrade to the 6’ tank or so in a few months and I was tempting an orange shoulder that was a juvie but didn’t because yes they’re slow growing, I won’t have a 6’ tank in a few months when it hits 4”.

I completely agree. Everyone says this is a relaxing hobby... I seem to have the opposite experience... I'm seeing a ton of grey hair that wasn't there four months ago when the first drops of water in my tank. Haha. Also, if anyone told me ten years ago that I would be spending $100+ dollars on a single fish/coral I would've told them they were crazy. Well who's the crazy one now!! LOL. I honestly think I keep staring at my tank not to relax but to make sure everyone is still alive and healthy!! Haha.

 

[MaxTremors]

Achilles tang. I don’t have a tank large enough right now, but that’s a fish I’ve always wanted but been scared to try.

 

[Karen00]

Harlequin tuskfish! I had the opportunity to pick one up from a local reefer -- and that's a one-of-a-kind event here -- and then spent the night fretting that it would make several new and unattractive holes in my angelfish. And eat all of my shrimp. And fill up my tank with poop that the skimmer couldn't handle. I ultimately passed on the fish.

I haven't heard of this fish before so I just googled it and one of the first pics to up pop is one where someone overlayed the wording "Pure Evil" on a shot of their tuskfish. I would say you made the right decision! LOL Too bad it's so evil, that's a beautiful fish! The teeth are a different story!

 

[Karen00]

Cured the problem and did a 200 gallon fowlr tank, got a lot of the ones mentioned. If they can’t go in the big tank they go to the fowlr. Lol

That's a great way to solve the problem!! Haha.

 

[rmcrom]

I like safe and easy fish with a nice personality.

 

[Kingston]

Will love to add a Gem and Achilles tangs but the current tangs will make life difficult for any new additions. A few angels are on my list but I am worried about eating my corals in the future when I start adding corals.

 

[Karen00]

Deep water/Cold water fish, I find it VERY hard to keep my tank cool (from 30 Degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius) so a cold water tank is just a nightmare for me, even in the UK we get hit with VERY warm summers due to global warming. Deep water fish scare me to keep because they tend to be more delicate aswell as hardish to keep.
Coral I don’t really mind about however when it comes to something like size… that scares me a lot because my tank is only 4’ and the biggest I can go atthe moment is 6’ so anything that gets 1’+ is out of the picture. I also put range into place because if we do it with coral and wonder where it’s from and what it’s habitat looks like, why don’t we do it with fish too? Clownfish aren’t always found on reefs in fact many photos are actually them on the outskirts of reefs in their nems. Wrasse at 90+ meters down probably only live near NPS corals if at all any coral, any planktivorous fish probably don’t stick to coral reefs and more hang around the edges/drop offs of coral reefs. My tank is Indonesian dominant so yes I have the odd “forever Tourist” but most of my fish are Indonesian so that also plays a BIG factor in what fish go into my display tank.
Also, if you want to recreate the ocean or a piece of the ocean, why not try get your fish that are found mostly around one area with a few “tourists”? I don’t understand why the origins of a fish don’t come into play when we pick out our fish - I know most are more adaptive than others but still, we focus on “Will this get along with this” or “Will this eat my coral”

I started to do biotopes (as much as possible) with my freshwater tanks. I'm finding it hard trying to do a biotope with my saltwater tank because there are just too many fish from all over that I want to keep. LOL. I love your dedication to keeping a tank related to a specific area and I love your wording of "tourist" for the odd fish that doesn't belong. Haha. Right now my tank is looking like a cruise ship where everyone is a tourist. Haha.

 

[Kayanarka]

My wife said I can get the peppermint angelfish. Who wants to tell her how much it costs.

 

[i cant think]

My wife said I can get the peppermint angelfish. Who wants to tell her how much it costs.

Lol, just say “Are you ready to be homeless and legless?”

 

[i cant think]

I started to do biotopes (as much as possible) with my freshwater tanks. I'm finding it hard trying to do a biotope with my saltwater tank because there are just too many fish from all over that I want to keep. LOL. I love your dedication to keeping a tank related to a specific area and I love your wording of "tourist" for the odd fish that doesn't belong. Haha. Right now my tank is looking like a cruise ship where everyone is a tourist. Haha.

I’d love to imagine of how a fish would react from being taken from a place with a bunch of fish they recognise to being in a tank with fish from the other side of the world, I love tanks like that though because it just adds a bit of every country/continent to the tank whereas a tank like mine adds a part of an Indonesian reef instead of a piece of reef from everywhere in the world!
I’m debating on my nano tank being mainly australian or African, because I have one African wrasse and another one growing out to be in the 4’ tank I’m tempting on doing an australian dominant tank. I have added the idea of the Caribbean too since it’s opposite to Indonesia.

 

[mslabonik]

Snowflake Ell! i would love to own one but I'm scared my tank mates would be eaten if not immediately one day when it where to decide its extra hungry

I really would love to have an Emperor Angel but I'm afraid he would eat my reef tank.

The emperor angelfish would eat your corals. I had a fowler tank for 13 years because I love dogface puffers, harlequin tusks, angel fish, which by the way the majestic angel is the favorite of mine, numerous others, the only reason dont still have them is because we remodeled after my motorcycle accident and my 220 gallon tank had to go, it about destroyed me, but made my husband estatic!! Needless to say I snuck a 75 gallon tank in downstairs and it was a while before he knew I had it, lol!! So that is when I started trying corals. Which has cost my wallet a lot because I have lost so many due to my alkalinity sky rocketing at times. I still haven't figured out what is causing it, but at least have it down to 10 now, will keep trying to figure it out. I also have a snow flake eel in my tank, as long as you feed him silversides or krill each day or so, he doesn't mess with my fish.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

I have FOWLR tank, but I am still very afraid to take on fragile fish.
I would love to have butterfly fish or Achilles Tang. But I do not want to take off a beautiful fish from the ocean, to have it die in a few hour/days in my tank.
When the fragile fish are available captive bred, I may try them then....
I do not have much patience for people who keep on buying fragile fish and have them dying one after the other in their tank. I would ,however, credit the scientists who helped us discover how to keep and raise and even breed some fragile fish such as the mandarin fish, the seahorses and the pipefish. I do not have any of these fish yet though.