What are some underrated fish for a large reef tank?

CoralGoblin8

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I have a 200g 6ft tank.
Current stock is:
- Pair of Barrier Reef Clowns
- Sailfin Tang
- Foxface
- Yellow Coris
- Timor Wrasse
- Royal Dottyback
- Group of damsels (Yellowtail, Humbug, Talbots etc)

Wha are some underrated or unknown fish that I could add? Ive been looking at a Harlequin Tusk and Birdnose Wrasse.

Thanks!
 

i cant think

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never seen a black tang for sale would love 1 of them if i didn't have a purple my fav tang i love its extremely long face :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:
Black tang… last time I saw one for sale, it was £1800 and it’s only 3 inch long, definitely a true rostratum though.
 
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Dave1993

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Black tang… last time I saw one for sale, it was £1800 and it’s only 3 inch long, definitely a true rostratum though.
outch quite pricey then tbh the fish store i use are really cheap and they sell high quality fish you should ask them about a flashing tilefish i saw them have 1 once must have went quick though as it didn't make it on the website but if you asked them about it they would supply it for you if they could i mean they sold me a 2k fish for 380 lol
 
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Zionas

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I want to say Blue Line Angel and they’re some of my favorites and have been successfully kept (others have had theirs eat LPS) in reefs by people including copps, the fish is beautiful but it loses out a little compared to some others for me because from the videos I’ve seen they are noticeably more active than lots of other angels and have a more fast paced swimming style. As an Angel lover, my vote goes to the Regal and Goldflake. If you want to go a bit more higher end, a pair of Bandits I’d not pass them up someday if they were captive bred and I can afford them lol.

I’d say Majestic, Gold Flake, Regal, Bandit, Tiger and some of the other Chaetodontoplus angels look fantastic in pairs. My gripe with the Blue Line, beautiful as it is, is that it seems to reach 7-8” more regularly and maybe more quickly than some other angels while being more nervous in its swimming style compared to some of the others, at least in videos. If they had the temperament and the smaller captive size of many Regals (I have yet to see anything over 7” in home tanks, larger ones were usually collected not grown to those sizes), they’d make the cut without a doubt.
 
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waterskiguy

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I have a 200g 6ft tank.
Current stock is:
- Pair of Barrier Reef Clowns
- Sailfin Tang
- Foxface
- Yellow Coris
- Timor Wrasse
- Royal Dottyback
- Group of damsels (Yellowtail, Humbug, Talbots etc)

Wha are some underrated or unknown fish that I could add? Ive been looking at a Harlequin Tusk and Birdnose Wrasse.

Thanks!
I feel like the Caribbean blue tangs are very underrated in the aquarium trade. Beautiful colors and super fun to watch the transition. Some that aren’t underrated but just stunning are, labouti and lineatus and rhomboid fairy wrasse, yellow belly regal angelfish and blotched anthias. All add a splash of unique colors and fairy’s have a knockout personality.
 
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CoralGoblin8

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I feel like the Caribbean blue tangs are very underrated in the aquarium trade. Beautiful colors and super fun to watch the transition. Some that aren’t underrated but just stunning are, labouti and lineatus and rhomboid fairy wrasse, yellow belly regal angelfish and blotched anthias. All add a splash of unique colors and fairy’s have a knockout personality.
Living in Australia, I have great access to Lineatus/Labouti wrasses. Unfortunately I have found them to be kind of short lived, especially the "supermales". It might just be my bad luck although I have tried a few over the last decade or so.
 
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i cant think

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Living in Australia, I have great access to Lineatus/Labouti wrasses. Unfortunately I have found them to be kind of short lived, especially the "supermales". It might just be my bad luck although I have tried a few over the last decade or so.
I have also found this to be the case with Labouti’s and lineatus, unless you find a young male they often die within a few months. I have never figured out why this is and just go by the assumption of they are hard to get settled into a tank.
 
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I have a 200g 6ft tank.
Current stock is:
- Pair of Barrier Reef Clowns
- Sailfin Tang
- Foxface
- Yellow Coris
- Timor Wrasse
- Royal Dottyback
- Group of damsels (Yellowtail, Humbug, Talbots etc)

Wha are some underrated or unknown fish that I could add? Ive been looking at a Harlequin Tusk and Birdnose Wrasse.

Thanks!

Small fish. I'd love to see a big tank with tons of small fish. I think it would look more natural
 
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i cant think

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Small fish. I'd love to see a big tank with tons of small fish. I think it would look more natural
Yes!
Gobies, Blennies, Smaller wrasse, ect all look beautiful in a large tank. Also they won’t pose as a threat to the large tangs as much as another would. I’d also add a viviens leopard wrasse as they’re beautiful, and as the OP is in Australia, they may have better luck with a Choats as they’ll be in the same day/night cycle.
 
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Yes!
Gobies, Blennies, Smaller wrasse, ect all look beautiful in a large tank. Also they won’t pose as a threat to the large tangs as much as another would. I’d also add a viviens leopard wrasse as they’re beautiful, and as the OP is in Australia, they may have better luck with a Choats as they’ll be in the same day/night cycle.


I think it makes it looks like a massive mini reef when you have a bunch of smaller fish haha.
 
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i cant think

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I think it makes it looks like a massive mini reef when you have a bunch of smaller fish haha.
Totally!
I love my nano for the same reason - 5 small fish and 3 “large” fish.
Even if you don’t see them all the time, you’ll still have several, possibly 10-20 other fish you can see.
 
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I feel like the Caribbean blue tangs are very underrated in the aquarium trade. Beautiful colors and super fun to watch the transition. Some that aren’t underrated but just stunning are, labouti and lineatus and rhomboid fairy wrasse, yellow belly regal angelfish and blotched anthias. All add a splash of unique colors and fairy’s have a knockout personality.
The issue with ABT is that the majority of fish we put into our tanks are not of Caribbean origin. Abts are highly susceptible to disease and when you throw microbes that are foreign to their immune system from indo/pac many abts suffer
 
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