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]

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

How long have you had them? What's your feeding list/schedule like? Don't think I'll ever attempt them again, just curious.

 

[Rtaylor]

How long have you had them? What's your feeding list/schedule like? Don't think I'll ever attempt them again, just curious.

I’ve had 2 of them for about 18 months, the others a bit less. Auto feed pellets 3X daily, Masstick and frozen in morning. 1-2 additional feedings of Panta Rhei Polyp pellets and/or frozen food. I did a full write-up on them in the Humblefish forum.

 

[Rtaylor]

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.

How much acropora? If you have huge colonies, they will be fine. If lower volumes of sps, just make sure they are confidently eating prepared food before introducing them. If you properly train the filefish on other food before introducing them to a tank with acros they will typically give up on them as the sps will stop extending it’s polyps from the filefish pecking at it. No polyp extension = no food for osff, so they will leave it be for the readily available food you are providing. They are actually 100% reef safe in an appropriate system to meet their needs. They don’t eat coral, they eat the mucus from coral polyps. It wouldn’t benefit their survival to kill their food source in the wild. Particularly since it takes such a relatively long time to grow coral.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

How much acropora? If you have huge colonies, they will be fine. If you properly train the filefish on other food before introducing them to a tank with acros they will typically give up on them as the sps will stop extending it’s polyps from the filefish pecking at it. No polyp extension = no food for osff, so they will leave it be for the readily available food you are providing. They are actually 100% reef safe in an appropriate system to meet their needs.

Lots of frags, no colonies yet. Restarted my tank back in December. Missed the hobby too much. I had one of these guys in a 380 gallon a few years back. He did great on food mashed into an Acropora skeleton. He and the melon butterfly shared their feeding spot and were weaned together in quarantine with a juvenile regal angel and a couple chromis for dithers.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

I’ve had 2 of them for about 18 months, the others a bit less. Auto feed pellets 3X daily, Masstick and frozen in morning. 1-2 additional feedings of Panta Rhei Polyp pellets and/or frozen food. I did a full write-up on them in the Humblefish forum.

I'm assuming wild caught? I haven't seen captive bred offered in a long time. How do you quarantine and train them onto prepared foods?

 

[Rtaylor]

I'm assuming wild caught? I haven't seen captive bred offered in a long time. How do you quarantine and train them onto prepared foods?

Keeping Orange Spotted Filefish (Oxymonacanthus longirostris)

I get a lot of questions on my fab five (orange spotted filefish), so I thought I would share my experience with them. Warning, This is going to be long ;) I purchased the first 3 in September of 2020 from Reefbeauties. They were shipped overnight and arrived thin, but active and otherwise...

humble.fish

 

[Costareefer]

Sargassum triggerfish

 

[Shooter6]

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.

Personally the lavander tang and the vampire tang are much prettier fish and for a heck of a lot better price too!

 

[Shooter6]

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[Elliott ll]

Margined Coralfish, Harlequin Tusk, Emperor Angelfish just to name a few...

 

[Stang67]

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

Dave's not here man.

 

[i cant think]

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IME, the lavender just stays a dull brown colour and the lieutenant stays grey with the blue scalpel.

 

[JerSaint]

These are my two Goldline Rabbit Fish that I grew from babies.

I am a huge fan of these for reef tanks!! The Biota Goldlined Rabbitfish are absolutely rockstars!

 

[Shooter6]

IME, the lavender just stays a dull brown colour and the lieutenant stays grey with the blue scalpel.

Nope very wrong on both! Lavander gets pinks purples, streamers and sometimes yellow on the edge of the fins! Lieutenant get blues yellows on their fins and throat area! To many people follow the pack with fish choices and never see the true beauty of other options
Another great tang choice is fowleri tangs.
They chang colors throughout the day and even almost instantly depending on mood ect

 

[PokeFish]

boxfish :d

Im just worried about the other rabbitfish digging into my huge collection of LPS haha

 

[Steve and his Animals]

boxfish :d

Most eat fleshy corals as they grow. My boss at work has a 7+ year old longhorn cow that decided one day to eat all her acans, trachys, and even kenya trees.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

If we're talking large tangs, my favorite has always been dussumieri.

 

[PokeFish]

Most eat fleshy corals as they grow. My boss at work has a 7+ year old longhorn cow that decided one day to eat all her acans, trachys, and even kenya trees.

ive had cowfish ( a pair) in my 50 g and they only thing they have done is absolutely DECIMATED some clove polyps, and tasted a couple sponges and gorgs

 

[Chrisv.]

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.

I will never forget the first time I saw an adult chevron tang. They are stunning. I was always apathetic about them as juveniles. The adults look incredible. Not that it matters these days.

 

[i cant think]

I will never forget the first time I saw an adult chevron tang. They are stunning. I was always apathetic about them as juveniles. The adults look incredible. Not that it matters these days.

Yeah… My LFS has 3 chevrons I think, all 3 are teens still, wonder if they’ve been offered some ridiculous amount for them yet.