What are some underrated fish for a large reef tank?

[CoralGoblin8]

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!

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Following.

I've been contemplating a "school" of cardinals for my S-1000.

If you want cardinals that actually school, try a group of longspine cardinals. Those are supposedly the best and are actually diurnal, unlike most cardinals. If I can get my purple pygmy anthias to work out, I'm going to try a group of those.

 

[TL1]

I've got 3 right now: a pajama and pair of banggai. The pajama is about 2-3x the size of the banggai but they all seem to be getting along.

That's my problem, I can't decide on how many, on whether I want cardinal or banggais, and if I even like them when they get old and huge.

 

[dedragon]

a pair of bluethroat triggers would be amazing, matters the types of corals you want to keep for some reef safeish angelfish like regal or more reef safe like genicanthus (lots of really cool ones and super expensive ones as well, watanabe are my faves and lower priced)

 

[JumboShrimp]

Pajama Cardinals and Banggais are BORING. There. I said it publicly.

 

[blaxsun]

That's my problem, I can't decide on how many, on whether I want cardinal or banggais, and if I even like them when they get old and huge.

The pajamas get 'uglier' (IMHO) when they get bigger, but they do have some nice colorations and seem to be a fairly mellow fish.

 

[HB AL]

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!

The Harlequin Tusk is a great fish, I would add a trigger or 2. Now I'm biased as I love triggers and have 8.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Pajama Cardinals and Banggais are BORING. There. I said it publicly.

Thank you for saying what we all have been thinking. I feel the same about seahorses, especially for the work they require. I know, shoot me.

 

[JachPot]

Pajama Cardinals and Banggais are BORING. There. I said it publicly.

They're fancy lawn ornaments

 

[ninjamyst]

I love my pair of bluethroat trigger in my 200g. They eat everything and always out and about. Mix reef and they haven't bothered any corals. I also feed heavy.

I plan to get 6-7 anthias if I can find them for under $50 each.

My current list is:
Powder Brown
Tomini Tang
Bluethroat triggers x 2
Fire fish x 2
Talbot damsels x 2
Canary blenny
Melanurus wrasse
One spot foxfaxe

 

[Shooter6]

I dont mind spending a bit of money on nice fish but whitetail bristletooths are $1000+ in Australia, and I havent even seen a chevron in years!

Chevron really are a let down after they get bigger. Not very attractive at all.

 

[HB AL]

I love mine

madagascar broomtail wrasse - Google Search

www.google.com

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Pajama Cardinals and Banggais are BORING. There. I said it publicly.

That's because they're nocturnal and just sit there looking stoned all day long. (I named mine Dave...)

 

[i cant think]

Chevron really are a let down after they get bigger. Not very attractive at all.

The teen stage isn’t attractive, the adult phase though! They’re beautiful as adults, although adults like these are rare in the hobby and are too big for moth of our tanks, I’ll bet these are Atleast 8 inch if not bigger.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

My old trio of yellow stripe cardinals looked great and always hung out together, as did my group of 5 threadfin cardinals. My red stoplight cardinals do as well, but they're completely nocturnal and hide in the caves until like 2AM. You have to use a red flashlight to get a glimpse of them... Glass cardinals (Rhabdamia gracilis) also school really well. I had the pleasure of keeping 2 as that is all the store had received, but great peaceful, super tight schooling fish. Mine were inseparable.

My current tank has a school of 5 green chromis (that always hang out together) and a trio of orange line chromis (that school with the green chromis). I've also done schools of vanderbilt chromis, pajama cardinals, staghorn damsels, lyretail anthias, dispar anthias, and Bartlett's anthias before without issues in previous setups, and all of them stayed in their prospective groups pretty well.

Photos of yellow stripe cardinals and glass cardinals for tax. You can see even though they didn't school super tight, they always hung around one another.

 

[Mflores888]

If you don't have any acros them I would get like 4 Clown Gobies. They are cute, bright, very active and friendly. Even in large tanks they stand out because of their personality

 

[i cant think]

If you don't have any acros them I would get like 4 Clown Gobies. They are cute, bright, very active and friendly. Even in large tanks they stand out because of their personality

+1 to this - I love my gobies. But be warned:
Large fish like triggers, bird wrasse, tusks may eat them for a snack.

If you don’t want any aggressive fish then I’d recommend getting several groups of gobies (5-6 Eviota Gobies, 4-5 Clown Gobies, ect). You will want to double check how they prefer it in the wild though! Some gobies are not communal and only want one male and one female in the tank!

 

[Marks38]

I would have to go with a Striped Blenny. They cover some distance in the water column for the little guy that they are. Mine loves swimming in the currents around my tank too. It is only a 40 g and can only imagine what he would do in a large tank.

 

[Mflores888]

+1 to this - I love my gobies. But be warned:
Large fish like triggers, bird wrasse, tusks may eat them for a snack.

If you don’t want any aggressive fish then I’d recommend getting several groups of gobies (5-6 Eviota Gobies, 4-5 Clown Gobies, ect). You will want to double check how they prefer it in the wild though! Some gobies are not communal and only want one male and one female in the tank!

I recently discovered the pygmy hawkfish and he looks pretty cool, another possible addition as well just a bit mean towards gobies. But eviotas are absolutely amazing to have

 

[Rtaylor]

How about a group of filefish….I’ve got 5 of these beauties

 

[Fishfreak2009]

How about a group of filefish….I’ve got 5 of these beauties

I would in a heartbeat if I didn't have a bunch of Acropora. I really considered doing a FOWLR with these and the red sea cleaner wrasse (Larabicus quadrilineatus). They have a gorgeous red sea cleaner at one of my LFS, he's been there for months.