The MOST beautiful fish and fish types in the hobby! Do you have one?
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LAA
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Seahorses are fun to watch and have an cool appearance,Other - Lionfish
Surprisingly beautiful
clowns are so popular but are very cute and full of personality
tangs come in lots of colors which is cool
wrasses come In LOADS of different colors, shapes and sizes
i mean I could go on about all the ones from the given choices and more cause they are all different unique and beautiful in their own ways.
jeffrey750750
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Queen angel hands down
Reverend Turtle
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I enjoy alllll the little fishies, but I always am drawn to the wrasses.
I had a very hard time choosing between angels and butterflies. But I also find tangs to be extraordinarily beautiful. The elegance of an angelfish is hard to compare other species against so I went with angels.
UnderseaOddities
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. What ONE fish do you think is the MOST beautiful fish in the hobby?
The Moorish Idol
Hawaiian moorish idols were 69.99 in 2005 when I first started, now you can never buy one again....(atleast until the Hawaii ban ends)thanks to the Hawaiian government you have to buy dirty idols from mexico or Africa or pay 200$ from one from palau
(Note to moorish idol fans a moorish idol in sri lanka is 5$usd if u can find a plug
This fish is the reason I got into reefing I seen documentaries about the ocean and the movie finding Nemo as a senior and high school and fell in love with the moorish idol (I lived in ne ohio and there weren't any lfs, only chains like petco smart and supplies) in 2006 a place called harbor pets opened up and specialized in saltwater fish and reptile ... I gave away my cichlids and converted my 29g aqueon with aqueon 75hob to a saltwater fowlr aquarium and bought 2 tomato clowns(every fish had ich that I ever bought back then because everybody just used tap with dechlorinator I went through like 10 tomato clowns in a year) but I impulse bought a Hawaiian moorish idol that had white spots on special(was sick when I bought him) I didnt qt or anything and the fish was sick and beat ich.. and lived in a 29 g in declorinated tap water(hob filter monthly waterchange no topping off) for 6 years until 2012 where he developed a cyst on his eye went blind started to get to big as he was a male idol and started swimming against the aquarium walls.
One day when I cam back from work I seen him dead on the bottom hermit crabs feasting upon his poor soul
I did this fish so wrong but it lived along time
Looking back I did this fish dirty and shouldnt have impulse bought even though it lived for 6 years it wasnt a good six years their was alk swings salinty swing,probably heavy metals and chloramines and flouride(who knows maybe tap is the secret sauce to idols)survived ich flare ups
Flukes ,internal parasites
These fish come from clear waters they come from dirty waters, it all depends on where your idol is sourced many coin these fish as a rainbow u see them one day the next day it's gone. This is common stereotype of the moorish idol being considered a harder species to keep or its sensitive i find this to be bunk, if this was true they wouldn't be found in every ocean accept the arctic
There are four reasons your idol is dying
1.quallity in quality out
It was dredged from the ocean(maybe sedatives or explosives were used who knows maybe it was netted)put on a boat, from a boat to a village were it gets bagged then by motorcycle or van to airport or harbor were they go to lax customs for re ox and re bag they may even be a few middlemen between point a and b then it goes from b the air port customs holding to c the wholesaler where it is housed for a period of time before sale then it goes from c the wholesaler to d the distributor to where they break down the shipment possibly qt the animal and introduce them to their sale tanks with other what well assume are dirty animal from the wild that all share the same water;from d the distributor to e the lfs were it is housed and cared for before it is then put in a car and travels again and ends up with e the customer
By the time you get a fish or coral it has already been in the hands of 10 or more people from the diver the pulled the piece or farmer that growed it to your tank traveling halfway across the world enduring shipping stress heat stress(if its loaded on containers and sent across see no ac on a cargo ship or plane)then is stressed out by being acclimated to 6 to 10 different systems before it gets to you...rember quality in quality out u dont want something that's half dead before it even got to you
2.your not feeding enough, their is no variety in the diet
Moorish idols need sponge like Angel's and are coralivores like butterfly fish they need a steady supply of sponge to stay healthy..these fish are grazers and like to graze all day you should buy sponge and soft coral frags that are cheap like zoas for your mi to eat you should be feeding mysis and spirulina soaked in selcon twice a day... tea spectrum pellets have microfauna in the system, buy macroalgaes....feed red brown ad green nori,feed blackworms dipped in reefroids..feed oysters in a half shell the more food the better the more variety the better,food should always be available your idol should be able to eat without you feeding him,u can hatch baby brine and rubberband nori to frag plugs. Avoid pellets and flakes foods this is a wild fish a giant hand isnt gonna sprinkle pellets in the water in the wild plus it unhealthy pellets food is more like a a snack imo something in between meals you should look at pellets like McDonalds you wouldn't be to healthy if you were eating a big mac for every meal ?
3. Your water is to clean
This meaning your kh is to low, maybe too many water changes a week. Maybe your skimming out all your nutrients.moorish idols usually live in more temperate waters 69 to 75 degrees in the wild and this water always isnt the cleanest,moorish idols also tend to like a more moderate flow was the gyre movement helps for a more muscular fish,because much like yellow tang they are ffg found in more rocky turbulent shallow water or deep reefs with a fast moving current and are usually found in groups of three called a shoal consisting of two females and a bonded male who grows a longer whip like extension on his dorsal fin
4.not enough space...
Sure you can keep a moorish idol in a 29g but is it ethical? Is it something you'd brag to your friends or fellow reefers about?well no probably not
These fish would probably do better in a 150g plus, I wouldn't put one in anything smaller that a 75 but again what quality of life is that for a fish that swims miles a day
I would like to do mi again but get a pair or a trio for a 300g
2. What "types" of fish do you think are the overall most beautiful fish in the hobby? (Angels, Wrasse, Gobies, and so on etc?)
I believe gobies/blennies/dragonets are the most diverse and beautiful fish in the ocean,as well as one of the most useful in the home aquarium..
It doesn't matter who you are there is a goby out there for you... each of which filling a specific niche or role. Some are for show, some control the microfauna,some stir up the sandbed some clean the tank some clean the fish... but 80% eat algae and this is why I chose this "type" as there. Js a goby for everyone it doesn't matter if your a Rockefeller or you have 2 pennies to rub together.. there is a goby that will fill the niche that you need it to and become a useful contributing member of the tank(not like that copperband you bought for aiptasia and it wont even look at it...),and along with getting a great utility fish you will also find them to be generally peaceful and hardy
The only goby I would stay away from is the Okinawa coral goby aka yellow clown goby and clown goby .sometimes these guys get a taste for sps polyps and that's no good if your a stick farmer have a nice colony or have a mixed reef or even have a few frags that 9$ fish can munch 100s of dollars in sps if you let them... that little yellow fish that looked so cute in the petstore has a sinister apetite
The Moorish Idol
Hawaiian moorish idols were 69.99 in 2005 when I first started, now you can never buy one again....(atleast until the Hawaii ban ends)thanks to the Hawaiian government you have to buy dirty idols from mexico or Africa or pay 200$ from one from palau
(Note to moorish idol fans a moorish idol in sri lanka is 5$usd if u can find a plug
This fish is the reason I got into reefing I seen documentaries about the ocean and the movie finding Nemo as a senior and high school and fell in love with the moorish idol (I lived in ne ohio and there weren't any lfs, only chains like petco smart and supplies) in 2006 a place called harbor pets opened up and specialized in saltwater fish and reptile ... I gave away my cichlids and converted my 29g aqueon with aqueon 75hob to a saltwater fowlr aquarium and bought 2 tomato clowns(every fish had ich that I ever bought back then because everybody just used tap with dechlorinator I went through like 10 tomato clowns in a year) but I impulse bought a Hawaiian moorish idol that had white spots on special(was sick when I bought him) I didnt qt or anything and the fish was sick and beat ich.. and lived in a 29 g in declorinated tap water(hob filter monthly waterchange no topping off) for 6 years until 2012 where he developed a cyst on his eye went blind started to get to big as he was a male idol and started swimming against the aquarium walls.
One day when I cam back from work I seen him dead on the bottom hermit crabs feasting upon his poor soul
I did this fish so wrong but it lived along time
Looking back I did this fish dirty and shouldnt have impulse bought even though it lived for 6 years it wasnt a good six years their was alk swings salinty swing,probably heavy metals and chloramines and flouride(who knows maybe tap is the secret sauce to idols)survived ich flare ups
Flukes ,internal parasites
These fish come from clear waters they come from dirty waters, it all depends on where your idol is sourced many coin these fish as a rainbow u see them one day the next day it's gone. This is common stereotype of the moorish idol being considered a harder species to keep or its sensitive i find this to be bunk, if this was true they wouldn't be found in every ocean accept the arctic
There are four reasons your idol is dying
1.quallity in quality out
It was dredged from the ocean(maybe sedatives or explosives were used who knows maybe it was netted)put on a boat, from a boat to a village were it gets bagged then by motorcycle or van to airport or harbor were they go to lax customs for re ox and re bag they may even be a few middlemen between point a and b then it goes from b the air port customs holding to c the wholesaler where it is housed for a period of time before sale then it goes from c the wholesaler to d the distributor to where they break down the shipment possibly qt the animal and introduce them to their sale tanks with other what well assume are dirty animal from the wild that all share the same water;from d the distributor to e the lfs were it is housed and cared for before it is then put in a car and travels again and ends up with e the customer
By the time you get a fish or coral it has already been in the hands of 10 or more people from the diver the pulled the piece or farmer that growed it to your tank traveling halfway across the world enduring shipping stress heat stress(if its loaded on containers and sent across see no ac on a cargo ship or plane)then is stressed out by being acclimated to 6 to 10 different systems before it gets to you...rember quality in quality out u dont want something that's half dead before it even got to you
2.your not feeding enough, their is no variety in the diet
Moorish idols need sponge like Angel's and are coralivores like butterfly fish they need a steady supply of sponge to stay healthy..these fish are grazers and like to graze all day you should buy sponge and soft coral frags that are cheap like zoas for your mi to eat you should be feeding mysis and spirulina soaked in selcon twice a day... tea spectrum pellets have microfauna in the system, buy macroalgaes....feed red brown ad green nori,feed blackworms dipped in reefroids..feed oysters in a half shell the more food the better the more variety the better,food should always be available your idol should be able to eat without you feeding him,u can hatch baby brine and rubberband nori to frag plugs. Avoid pellets and flakes foods this is a wild fish a giant hand isnt gonna sprinkle pellets in the water in the wild plus it unhealthy pellets food is more like a a snack imo something in between meals you should look at pellets like McDonalds you wouldn't be to healthy if you were eating a big mac for every meal ?
3. Your water is to clean
This meaning your kh is to low, maybe too many water changes a week. Maybe your skimming out all your nutrients.moorish idols usually live in more temperate waters 69 to 75 degrees in the wild and this water always isnt the cleanest,moorish idols also tend to like a more moderate flow was the gyre movement helps for a more muscular fish,because much like yellow tang they are ffg found in more rocky turbulent shallow water or deep reefs with a fast moving current and are usually found in groups of three called a shoal consisting of two females and a bonded male who grows a longer whip like extension on his dorsal fin
4.not enough space...
Sure you can keep a moorish idol in a 29g but is it ethical? Is it something you'd brag to your friends or fellow reefers about?well no probably not
These fish would probably do better in a 150g plus, I wouldn't put one in anything smaller that a 75 but again what quality of life is that for a fish that swims miles a day
I would like to do mi again but get a pair or a trio for a 300g
2. What "types" of fish do you think are the overall most beautiful fish in the hobby? (Angels, Wrasse, Gobies, and so on etc?)
I believe gobies/blennies/dragonets are the most diverse and beautiful fish in the ocean,as well as one of the most useful in the home aquarium..
It doesn't matter who you are there is a goby out there for you... each of which filling a specific niche or role. Some are for show, some control the microfauna,some stir up the sandbed some clean the tank some clean the fish... but 80% eat algae and this is why I chose this "type" as there. Js a goby for everyone it doesn't matter if your a Rockefeller or you have 2 pennies to rub together.. there is a goby that will fill the niche that you need it to and become a useful contributing member of the tank(not like that copperband you bought for aiptasia and it wont even look at it...),and along with getting a great utility fish you will also find them to be generally peaceful and hardy
The only goby I would stay away from is the Okinawa coral goby aka yellow clown goby and clown goby .sometimes these guys get a taste for sps polyps and that's no good if your a stick farmer have a nice colony or have a mixed reef or even have a few frags that 9$ fish can munch 100s of dollars in sps if you let them... that little yellow fish that looked so cute in the petstore has a sinister apetite
Last edited:
Koty
Well-Known Member
P. Imperator Juv and adult are some of the most impressive when I used to dive in the Red Sea. In the tank, it's the copperband and triggers. I have the blue-throated t. and he is amazing in color, swimming style, and general complex behavior. He is very slow to recover from the travel and intro into the tank
Patientman
Well-Known Member
I voted "other" because there was not an "ALL THE ABOVE"! Set me in front of a tank with a variety of fish and I almost get dizzy trying to move my attention from one beautiful variety to another! Appreciate and enjoy getting to see/watch all of them!
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At $900 a pop, it would rival the cost of show koi!
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Angels would be my vote, followed by butterflies, Tangs, Wrasses, Basslets, and the more solitary, more stocky Anthias species. However, Angels definitely top the list.
1. Angels
2. Butterflies
3. Basslets
4. Wrasses
5. Some Anthias
6. Tangs
1. Angels
2. Butterflies
3. Basslets
4. Wrasses
5. Some Anthias
6. Tangs
Paul B
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I would also have to say Moorish Idol.
I have kept them a few times, but this last one only lived for 5 years which is a total failure for such a majestic fish.
I have kept them a few times, but this last one only lived for 5 years which is a total failure for such a majestic fish.
sksouthpaw
Active Member
My favorite by far is the blue star leapord, beautiful, elegant, and so peaceful!
That’s a hard one Rev.
My favorite fish is the blue mandarin. The way they move and how cryptic their colors can be love it.
but I selected Wrasse. there are so many varieties and all the colors of the rainbow there
My favorite fish is the blue mandarin. The way they move and how cryptic their colors can be love it.
but I selected Wrasse. there are so many varieties and all the colors of the rainbow there
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