Uncommon fish

[Tyler Flynn]

After picking up a few new fish (1 of which i had never seen before, and 1 i had just recently come across early in the week) i was wondering what rare and odd fish people have (or had) that a lot of people would not know about.
Include pictures with your responses.

Hanae goby (new to me)
Orange spotted blenny (not common, but local store had 2)
White cap goby (rare)
Griessengers goby (very small)
Nocturnus goby (was one of my favorites i’ve had)
Golden angel (risky in a reef or i’d have a pair)

 

[WheatToast]

Mosquitofish (Gambusia sp.)
What? Few people know they can survive in saltwater.

 

[WheatToast]

Enough joking around. Here is a list I posted on a similar thread. I have only kept the last two fish in the list (which can survive in saltwater), but they all deserve to be known in my opinion.
Stippled clingfish (Gobiesox punctulatus)
Skilletfish (Gobiesox strumosus)
Peacock flounder (Bothus mancus)
Bluespotted maskray (Neotrygon kuhlii)
Atlantic stingray (Hypanus sabinus)
Lesser electric ray (Narcine bancroftii)
Hasselt's bamboo shark (Chiloscyllium hasseltii)
Columbian shark (Arius jordani)
Green spotted puffer (Dichotomyctere nigroviridis)

Edit: Here are a few others
Pelagic porcupinefish (Diodon eydouxii)
Hawaiian cleaner wrasse (Labroides phthirophagus)
Red spot cardinalfish (Ostorhinchus parvulus)
Masked goby (Coryphopterus personatus)
Molly miller blenny (Scartella cristata) I've heard they may eat Aiptasia
Fluffy sculpin (Oligocottus snyderi)
Striped stingaree (Trygonoptera ovalis)
Red stingray (Hemitrygon akajei)
Lookdown (Selene vomer)
Japanese bullhead shark (Heterodontus japonicus)
Striped trimma goby (Trimma striatum)
Tiger goby (Gobiosoma macrodon) Sometimes hitchhikes on Caribbean live rock

 

[Tired]

Roughhead Blenny

Roughhead Blenny, Acanthemblemaria aspera, is a very small blenny with a ton of character. Their maximum length is 1.5 inches, and the fish you will receive will likely be one inch or less. They live with their slender body inside a small hole or rock crevice and they rarely leave it. With...

www.kpaquatics.com

Roughhead blenny! Pics and observation on mine here: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/420540-roughhead-blenny-the-perfect-pico-fish

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/617887981620953109/872572802891390976/image0.jpg

Here she is staring suspiciously up at the water's surface during a particularly big water change. She's like a tiny barnacle blenny in general care. They come in brown, white, gray, and yellow, and can lighten or darken depending on situation.

If you like cute little fish, and you have a tank where nothing will eat one of these, you should try and get one. They're great. Perfect for picos, since they just need a few holes to sit in and don't care about swimming space.

Oh, and I haven't kept any, but Endler's livebearers can be acclimated to saltwater. They're like a smaller, more colorful, slightly metallic guppy, and are very closely related to actual guppies. Arguably the same species, depending who you ask.

 

[Just John]

Not fish that are necessarily rare, but usually not in an aquarium. I kept these fish as juveniles in my 80 gal. and released them later. They were all caught at about 1/2" long or less. These are not my pictures - mine are film prints in a box somewhere.

Juvenile Cobia

Juvenile Short Bigeye - Live at depths of 600 ft. Mine was about 1/4 inch when I caught it. I had it for quite a while, but it died of, not surprisingly, an eye infection.

Juvenile Tripletail - mine was about 1/4 in.

It's a common aquarium fish, but I had to include this because they look so funny.
A baby pufferfish

 

[Mickle]

I have a Skilletfish (Gobiesox strumosus) and a true Molly Miller Blenny (Scartella cristata) right now, never seen either in any fish store. The Skilletfish is pretty much impossible to photograph, it sits in a dead mussel

Ive kept several goby species Ive caught- Used to have a Frillfin goby (Bathygobius soporato) I caught while micro fishing, that thing was the hardiest fish Ive ever owned, it would beat up damsels.

I had a naked goby harem, crazy how big the teeth on those guys are for their size. I had another goby, no idea what it was but it sifted like a diamond watchman, it was no bigger than an inch and it disappeared after a day.

I tried growing out a Tripletail (Lobotes surinamensis) too, had it for 4 months before it carpet surfed :c
Have also kept Banded Rudderfish (Seriola zonata) and Crevalle Jack (Caranx hippos)

I really enjoy keeping the 'uncommon' fish and sharing it!

 

[Wyvern]

I have a Molly Miller and a Monster shrimp Goby.

Both are ugly but endearing fish, my Molly Miller is super friendly so far (just a 2.5" baby) Comes right up to the surface as soon as you approach the tank.
The monster Goby is just a baby, don't trust him with a pistol shrimp yet.

 

[Tired]

Oh, I just had to look it up; I didn't realize "monster shrimpgoby" was an actual species. I thought people just meant a shrimpgoby that's unusually large. Neat fish.

My roughhead blennies are pretty unusual, I think. I can't find anyone else talking about keeping them, and it's only KP Aquatics that sells them. Kinda like a super small barnacle blenny? But not social, so far, not even the "will tolerate someone in the next space over" kind.

 

[Mr Cypher]

My 1/2 bar flasher Wrasse also know as a madagascar flasher wrasse I would post pic if I could get him to sit still lol super colorful fish with a ton of personality but you rarely see them because they have a high mortality rate in shipping but super awsome fish Beautiful

 

[Paul B]

Sunburst Anthius.



I forget



Perchlet.



Clingfish



Striped clingfish



Banana fish



Burfish (I collected this guy in the Atlantic)



Janss Pipefish.



Koi, OK Forget that one.

 

[WheatToast]

Clingfish

What were your experiences with feeding this fish? I have heard they will eat almost anything (even smaller fish and invertebrate tankmates).

 

[Wyvern]

Sunburst Anthius.



I forget



Perchlet.



Clingfish



Striped clingfish



Banana fish



Burfish (I collected this guy in the Atlantic)



Janss Pipefish.



Koi, OK Forget that one.

I like the I. Forget fish, looks like a deep water fish no?

 

[Seneca]

I have 15 mono sebae in my reef. Also a 13 inch (and growing) naso brevirostris

 

[Paul B]

What were your experiences with feeding this fish? I have heard they will eat almost anything (even smaller fish and invertebrate tankmates).

My clingfish eating clams. Those fish are small and I doubt they will harm anything they can't fit in their mouth.

 

[Tired]

Aw, look at the little guy wiggle!

I've seen a thread elsewhere (I forget where) that had some clingfish in a tank with other fish. They'll definitely eat anything that fits in their surprisingly large mouth, however since they're fairly small, there are plenty of things they can't eat.

 

[WheatToast]

My clingfish eating clams. Those fish are small and I doubt they will harm anything they can't fit in their mouth.

I've seen a thread elsewhere (I forget where) that had some clingfish in a tank with other fish. They'll definitely eat anything that fits in their surprisingly large mouth, however since they're fairly small, there are plenty of things they can't eat.

I believe it was @Chasmodes who had a well-fed Skilletfish (a clingfish and close relative of/possibility the same species as @Paul B’s clingfish) eat a somewhat smaller Striped blenny. There was also a terrifying scene from Blue Planet 2 where a similar clingfish (pretty sure it was a Northern clingfish) consumes a large limpet, shell and all .

 

[blueface]

Wrought Iron

 

[davidcalgary29]

I keep waiting for someone to post some pictures of their hogchoker build. Someone here must collect flatfish!

 

[WheatToast]

I keep waiting for someone to post some pictures of their hogchoker build. Someone here must collect flatfish!

A LFS near me (Aquatic Collection in Hayward, California) regularly stocks juvenile flounders. They look absolutely adorable, but considering their adult size and feeding habits, perhaps I will attempt them when I have a larger system.
Link to their site:
https://www.aquaticcollection.com/

 

[Tired]

Are there any reasonably small flounder/flatfish type species? Under a foot long, maybe? I've seen juveniles at my LFS now and then, and I've even seen them stick onto the tank walls. I didn't know they could do that. I'm not sure by what mechanism they manage it, but they can definitely somehow paste themselves to a wall.

(I have no space in which to put any size of flatfish, but I figure a probably-not-super-active fish under a foot long is much more manageable than the food flounders I've seen. Particularly more manageable than the giant halibut they've got up in Alaska. Those guys get a good 8+ feet long, have seriously people by flopping around in boats and breaking important bones, have definitely killed at least one guy via said totally understandable thrashing, and can drag you into the water if you're handline fishing. The native people have special hooks that prevent fish over a certain size from biting, so they won't get hauled out of canoes. Not an aquarium fish!)