What are some good personality filled fish?

[Oldsalt]

Thank you so much for this essay of a response lol. I really enjoyed the read. So one thing is, I know that you mentioned a Six Line Wrasse. I plan on keeping a flasher wrasse so I’m not sure if aggression would be a problem between the two. Another thing is don’t fox face get quite large for a 40b? They are amazing fish don’t get me wrong, but I feel like it would limit the amount/types of other fish I could have. What is the scientific name for the anthias you mentioned? I’d be interested is anthias if they wouldn’t get to large. Before reading this I was debating on either getting clowns or bangaii. If I do more small fish, I will probably go with the cardinals, but on the flip side, if I choose to have more bold fish then I will choose the clowns. Also I’m sorry that I forgot to mention that my tank will be a reef tank. I plan on having softies/gorgs but that could change. Thanks for all the help with this topic!

Excuse my protracted essay! I always enjoyed writing.
Here's a link to Anthias. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthias_anthias
There are so many varieties available. Mine are lyre tail and are indigenous to the Indian and Pacific oceans. The Pacific ones live amongst the great barrier reef on the north-eastern coast of Australia and also populate the Indian Ocean up near Coral Bay, Ningaloo Reef areas - even further north off Indonesian waters. They stay rather small (up to around 4 inches) and are extremely placid and easy to care for. I see so many types of Anthias that are available here. You really can't go wrong with these beauties.
With regard to Foxface, mine is 6.5 inches inches fully grown. They are pretty shy, so make sure you provide plenty of rockwork for them to hide in if they feel threatened. They are very placid and easy to care for, providing that you give them plenty of greens - mine eats meaty foods as well (brine shrimp, mysid etc) as does my Naso. Now, getting to their size, it's not hard to find small ones, so you could accommodate one until it starts to have trouble negotiating tight turns in a smaller tank. They don't seem to grow very fast - I got mine 18 months ago and he was 6 inches. So he grew another half an inch in that time. You shouldn't have any trouble trading one with another reefer once it starts to grow too large. Perhaps you might want to forget about getting one of you're worried that it might suffer from the confines of a smaller aquarium. It's your call.

Having said that, the Banggai Cardinal fish are a great addition to almost any aquarium. It you want a mated pair, sexing them can be very difficult. Here's my observations and advice: Male Banggais are ever so slightly smaller, but their 2nd dorsal fin is slightly longer than a female's - it can just about touch the top if its tail fin as it trails back, relaxed, while swimming. Another feature of the male Banggai is its unique mouth structure. Looking head-on at mine (photo in my above post) you can see the 2 parallel white lines under its mouth forming a pair of inverted "V's" (that never happens in the female). It's like that because he's carrying a lot of fry. Also you can see it has a much wider "bulldog" mouth geometry; that is so he can accommodate a full mouth of ever growing eggs/fry. Here's a head-on photo of my female. Note that the 2 parallel white lines below her mouth. That feature never changes. To add to the sexing difficulty, once the male releases his fry, his mouth notably reduces its size. Those 2 white parallel lines below his mouth lose those inverted "V's". It just disappears. I learned to differentiate the sex between my pair by carefully observing the patterns of white spots on their bodies. No two Banggais have the same pattern - they're like fingerprints! My male has a pattern that looks like the stars of the southern cross constellation, but my female's pattern is almost perfectly circular - they look a lot more like a white paint gun splatter! She's also slightly larger and her 2nd dorsal fin doesn't quite reach far enough back to touch her top tail fin. Watching them mate is interesting. They do a "dance". The female approaches the male and starts to quiver. He then moves close to her and starts to quiver in unison. The female then moves under a rock ledge and lays a large gelatinous glob or eggs. The male hovers over them and releases his sperm. Then he opens his enormous mouth and sucks in the entire ball. The whole ordeal lasts just a few minutes. He then hovers over an urchin and becomes protective of that area - both he and she will chase away other fish. He won't eat anything for 21 days. It's amazing. There are also "Pygama Cardinal fish" but I don't know much about them except that they are less expensive and a bit less appealing IMO.
About the photo:
Note the female (closer to the camera) and her 2 parallel lines below her mouth. Behind her is the male with a mouthful of eggs/fry, the parallel lines below his mouth are a now forming pair of inverted "V's".

Best regards

 

[ReefJunkie28]

I got a Tiger Pistol Shrimp today and it’s hilarious watching him bulldoze the sand. I’ve got a Goby that was in the same tank with him too. haven’t seem to have found each other yet, but when they pair they’re even cooler to watch. I’d look into those if you like livestock that “pair”.

 

[noxel56]

Excuse my protracted essay! I always enjoyed writing.
Here's a link to Anthias. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthias_anthias
There are so many varieties available. Mine are lyre tail and are indigenous to the Indian and Pacific oceans. The Pacific ones live amongst the great barrier reef on the north-eastern coast of Australia and also populate the Indian Ocean up near Coral Bay, Ningaloo Reef areas - even further north off Indonesian waters. They stay rather small (up to around 4 inches) and are extremely placid and easy to care for. I see so many types of Anthias that are available here. You really can't go wrong with these beauties.
With regard to Foxface, mine is 6.5 inches inches fully grown. They are pretty shy, so make sure you provide plenty of rockwork for them to hide in if they feel threatened. They are very placid and easy to care for, providing that you give them plenty of greens - mine eats meaty foods as well (brine shrimp, mysid etc) as does my Naso. Now, getting to their size, it's not hard to find small ones, so you could accommodate one until it starts to have trouble negotiating tight turns in a smaller tank. They don't seem to grow very fast - I got mine 18 months ago and he was 6 inches. So he grew another half an inch in that time. You shouldn't have any trouble trading one with another reefer once it starts to grow too large. Perhaps you might want to forget about getting one of you're worried that it might suffer from the confines of a smaller aquarium. It's your call.

Having said that, the Banggai Cardinal fish are a great addition to almost any aquarium. It you want a mated pair, sexing them can be very difficult. Here's my observations and advice: Male Banggais are ever so slightly smaller, but their 2nd dorsal fin is slightly longer than a female's - it can just about touch the top if its tail fin as it trails back, relaxed, while swimming. Another feature of the male Banggai is its unique mouth structure. Looking head-on at mine (photo in my above post) you can see the 2 parallel white lines under its mouth forming a pair of inverted "V's" (that never happens in the female). It's like that because he's carrying a lot of fry. Also you can see it has a much wider "bulldog" mouth geometry; that is so he can accommodate a full mouth of ever growing eggs/fry. Here's a head-on photo of my female. Note that the 2 parallel white lines below her mouth. That feature never changes. To add to the sexing difficulty, once the male releases his fry, his mouth notably reduces its size. Those 2 white parallel lines below his mouth lose those inverted "V's". It just disappears. I learned to differentiate the sex between my pair by carefully observing the patterns of white spots on their bodies. No two Banggais have the same pattern - they're like fingerprints! My male has a pattern that looks like the stars of the southern cross constellation, but my female's pattern is almost perfectly circular - they look a lot more like a white paint gun splatter! She's also slightly larger and her 2nd dorsal fin doesn't quite reach far enough back to touch her top tail fin. Watching them mate is interesting. They do a "dance". The female approaches the male and starts to quiver. He then moves close to her and starts to quiver in unison. The female then moves under a rock ledge and lays a large gelatinous glob or eggs. The male hovers over them and releases his sperm. Then he opens his enormous mouth and sucks in the entire ball. The whole ordeal lasts just a few minutes. He then hovers over an urchin and becomes protective of that area - both he and she will chase away other fish. He won't eat anything for 21 days. It's amazing. There are also "Pygama Cardinal fish" but I don't know much about them except that they are less expensive and a bit less appealing IMO.
About the photo:
Note the female (closer to the camera) and her 2 parallel lines below her mouth. Behind her is the male with a mouthful of eggs/fry, the parallel lines below his mouth are a now forming pair of inverted "V's".

Best regards

You are pushing me towards the bangaii cardinals now lol. It’s very interesting that they can go without food for 21 days! As for the anthias, I might skip on them for this build. For a proper school it would tank up all that space in my tank. And I wouldn’t want to have a fish that I will that I will eventually have to be re-homed. So no tang or fox face. I had a few questions about some fish that you haven’t recommended if you don’t mind me asking. I was wondering about two fish, those being the Midas blenny and the Diamond watchman goby. Would my tank be to small for them, that being a 37.4 gallon tank? I’ve heard stories of Midas blennies going after gobies and dartfish, but I’m not 100% sure they were completely factual. And with the sandsifting goby, do you think it would be a “pest” in a way? I’m talking about them going into the water column and dropping mouthfuls of sand. Thanks for all you help. This hobby is better with people like you that are willing to help the newbies like me. Happy reefing!

-Chris

 

[Ike]

+1

Dwarf angels are great fish, but it's definitely hit or miss with them in regard to picking at corals.

Mostly miss in the long run... I've never had one long-term that didn't eventually nip. The people that come in threads like this talking about how wonderful their dwarfs are generally haven't had their fish very long. I've had them start terrorizing corals after being model citizens for 3+ years. They're all banned from my reefs.

 

[Ike]

Chris, welcome to the community. I started reefing when I was 10 years old and had a similar attitude to yours. I wanted to learn and understand everything I could about my inhabitants and by the time I was your age I was reading Spotte and marine biology text books.

You've received mostly good advice from this thread, though a couple warnings from my years of reefing...

1.) Tailspot blennies and the like will often nip SPS, so if that's an area of focus you may want to rethink.

2.) Valenciennea (aka sleeper, sandsifting) gobies rarely do well long term in aquaria and would generally be a terrible addition to a small reef tank. They cause problem with rock work, dust and harm corals with sand. On top of all that, their nutritional needs are rarely met in anything but the largest systems with well established sandbeds.

3.) Others warned of this, but just reaffirming. A pair of clown fish can easily take over a good chunk of a 40 breeder and make life pretty rough on other inhabitants.

4.) Cardinals would be suited, but they usual shoal and don't "school" and they should either be added as singles or pairs. Groups usually result in having one or two cardinals left.

5.) I like the the orchid dottyback suggestions and find that orchid, Springeri, Sankeyi, and many other Pseudochromis mostly mind their business. However, it's not a bad idea to add a couple or a few of them at the same time as your last fish. I think I've had an orchid and Springeri in nearly every reef I've had since the mid 90's. They're smart little fish with personality. Avoid the Caribbean dottybacks..

6.) Definitely get a shrimp goby. It's a fascinating relationship to watch. I'm partial to the Yasha gobies.

Good luck with the tank, and keep up the good work researching your purchases!

 

[Birdbrains?]

I totally agree that it is wonderful to see somebody going into the hobby like this, great work so far, please do continue to give us updates

I would also advise you against having clowns at this point, clowns shouldn't be in reef setups in the first place, so if you want clowns, just make a separate anemone tank and keep them there.

I really like the way you research thoroughly about the lifeforms you like. People can be too broad about their ideas with this hobby sometimes..
It is like saying, "I want a barn, what animals should I keep in it?". Sure, a horse and a goat can easily be friends but generally it is better to let them have their natural friends instead of pushing our visions upon them

I am looking forward to seeing your tank photos

 

[BryanD]

Blennies. Tons to choose from and I swear their like water dogs! I had a lawnmower that would come to the front of the tank when I got home and called his name.

 

[noxel56]

I totally agree that it is wonderful to see somebody going into the hobby like this, great work so far, please do continue to give us updates

I would also advise you against having clowns at this point, clowns shouldn't be in reef setups in the first place, so if you want clowns, just make a separate anemone tank and keep them there.

I really like the way you research thoroughly about the lifeforms you like. People can be too broad about their ideas with this hobby sometimes..
It is like saying, "I want a barn, what animals should I keep in it?". Sure, a horse and a goat can easily be friends but generally it is better to let them have their natural friends instead of pushing our visions upon them

I am looking forward to seeing your tank photos

What’s your reasoning for me skipping on clowns? I’m not asking in a smart way just wanting to know why. The ones I can acquire are captive bred so they have never seen an anemone in their life.

 

[noxel56]

Blennies. Tons to choose from and I swear their like water dogs! I had a lawnmower that would come to the front of the tank when I got home and called his name.

I love blennies! I’ve heard lawnmowers and ones alike can nip at sps polyps. I really wanted a Midas Blenny. Hopefully it wouldn’t go after my peaceful fish.

 

[noxel56]

Chris, welcome to the community. I started reefing when I was 10 years old and had a similar attitude to yours. I wanted to learn and understand everything I could about my inhabitants and by the time I was your age I was reading Spotte and marine biology text books.

You've received mostly good advice from this thread, though a couple warnings from my years of reefing...

1.) Tailspot blennies and the like will often nip SPS, so if that's an area of focus you may want to rethink.

2.) Valenciennea (aka sleeper, sandsifting) gobies rarely do well long term in aquaria and would generally be a terrible addition to a small reef tank. They cause problem with rock work, dust and harm corals with sand. On top of all that, their nutritional needs are rarely met in anything but the largest systems with well established sandbeds.

3.) Others warned of this, but just reaffirming. A pair of clown fish can easily take over a good chunk of a 40 breeder and make life pretty rough on other inhabitants.

4.) Cardinals would be suited, but they usual shoal and don't "school" and they should either be added as singles or pairs. Groups usually result in having one or two cardinals left.

5.) I like the the orchid dottyback suggestions and find that orchid, Springeri, Sankeyi, and many other Pseudochromis mostly mind their business. However, it's not a bad idea to add a couple or a few of them at the same time as your last fish. I think I've had an orchid and Springeri in nearly every reef I've had since the mid 90's. They're smart little fish with personality. Avoid the Caribbean dottybacks..

6.) Definitely get a shrimp goby. It's a fascinating relationship to watch. I'm partial to the Yasha gobies.

Good luck with the tank, and keep up the good work researching your purchases!

Thanks for all the tips. A few questions/thoughts. I really like clowns but if the would be agressive I might just skip. I would only want a pair of bangaiis so would just two work out? I’m not very fond of dottyback a since my grandmas bicolor bullies her yellow tang in a 120g. I will look more into orchids though. And I have moved on from wanting a sandsifting goby and have decided I want a shrimp goby. Yasha and high fin red banded are the two I’m most interested in. Oh one more thing, I was thinking about getting a Midas blenny instead of one that is prone to nip sps polyps. What do you think of that idea? Would a 40b be too small? Would it be agressive towards more passive fish? Thanks for all the help, and happy reefing!

 

[Birdbrains?]

What’s your reasoning for me skipping on clowns? I’m not asking in a smart way just wanting to know why. The ones I can acquire are captive bred so they have never seen an anemone in their life.

Sure, np. I really want you to keep them in a separate tank from the community/reef environment that you are planning now Imagine that you are about to open a zoo with exotic animals but you also have a loyal dog and you happen to ask advice of how to keep all these animals the best way. It is a matter of keeping some animals in a good distance, where they will be more at ease but still being able to keep other types of lifeforms closer to you.

Clowns follow chemical markers left by their parents and other adult clownfishes and without parents around leaving the chemical trails to the anemone, one might experience the issue with zero bonding to the available anemone.

- but more importantly, clowns will pick a favorite spot (depending on the flow in your tank but also depending on where they are first introduced into the tank) and if the anemone is elsewhere in the tank, clowns may reject it's location. I don't mind tank raised clowns, they are more easy to domesticate, so I guess my advice can be summoned up as "wild horses are cool, domesticated horses are actually usually cooler, so why let all your horses run wild".

This is an extremely simple 60L nano with bubble skimmer, anemone and a medium size species of clowns. One can easily replace the anemone with something like wild growing pachyclavularia or something.

 

[Birdbrains?]

Thanks for all the tips. A few questions/thoughts. I really like clowns but if the would be agressive I might just skip. I would only want a pair of bangaiis so would just two work out?

Their personalities can be different, so always stick with what you really want. Personally I love bangaiis with clowns, especially the black and white types of saddlebacks look awesome with bangaiis imo.

Best wishes and enjoy...