What is THE most difficult creature we can keep in our reef tanks?

Miami Reef

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Fish, corals, and invert, sponges, anemones… they are all included.

In your opinion, what animal is the most difficult to keep in the reefing hobby?
 

ISpeakForTheSeas

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I believe there are still a lot of butterflyfish that are next to impossible to keep long term .
with specific hard to find dietary requirements .
Along these same lines, nudibranchs with incredibly difficult diets (like the Blue Glaucus nudibranch, which eats things like the Portuguese man o’ war and venomous siphonophores).
 

AydenLincoln

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There’s difficult and impossible longterm with a lot of the harder ones being best left in the ocean or those who require perfect water quality and no room for error! I’d say octopus, sharks (not all), and sea lillies/crinoids.
 

i cant think

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Tilefish are some of the ones at the top of my list. The main reason it as soon as the lid comes off these fish will be out within a matter of time. Will always be a fish I want to attempt again though and maybe one day I will. My number 1 tilefish that I will hope to attempt again but also is extremely difficult will always be Hoplolatilus chlupatyi. These guys will be at the bottom of the tank and all of a sudden launching at you. They’re also EXTREMELY hard to 1. Come across and 2. Come across a healthy specimen without issues.
73AF97CC-4227-4345-8717-FE56B273F510.jpeg
 
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Rmckoy

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Based on the sheer number of deaths in hobbyists tanks, it should be clowns and mandarins. Surely no other animals suffer and die more than these 2,
Not quite reaching the hardest to keep list though .
I believe this goes with maintaining acceptable water chemistry .
clownfish once we’re used as a sacrificial ammonia source which a large percentage of them were hardy enough to live through such toxic conditions .
I believe part of the blame should be on the lfs providing false information suggesting using fish to cycle a brand new system ( that was more likely setup and stocked in very little time .
Race home add water and drop in fish with no other information or education how to properly care for such animals .

mandarins : again one of the most attractive fish available and from a new persons perspective is desired by many .
sadly setting up a system and dropping it in will only lead to starvation .
now that they are captive bred it might be a lot easier than it was 20 years ago to get one offered foods and not only copepods .

would it be wrong for a lfs to tell someone new that this fish can’t be sold to them at this time ?

the way society is now . I can only assume if someone was told no they can’t buy it . It would be a lawsuit
 

Oregon Grown Reef

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Not quite reaching the hardest to keep list though .
I believe this goes with maintaining acceptable water chemistry .
clownfish once we’re used as a sacrificial ammonia source which a large percentage of them were hardy enough to live through such toxic conditions .
I believe part of the blame should be on the lfs providing false information suggesting using fish to cycle a brand new system ( that was more likely setup and stocked in very little time .
Race home add water and drop in fish with no other information or education how to properly care for such animals .

mandarins : again one of the most attractive fish available and from a new persons perspective is desired by many .
sadly setting up a system and dropping it in will only lead to starvation .
now that they are captive bred it might be a lot easier than it was 20 years ago to get one offered foods and not only copepods .

would it be wrong for a lfs to tell someone new that this fish can’t be sold to them at this time ?

the way society is now . I can only assume if someone was told no they can’t buy it . It would be a lawsuit
When I was new to the hobby, I was led to believe by my LFS that I could easily get them to eat frozen food. It never ate and unfortunately perished. That's when I discovered that they are notorious for only eating live foods and very rarely eating prepared.
 

i cant think

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Not me. I've had a sperm whale going on 6 years now in my 75 gallon (not including sump)
I picked one up 6 years ago in December and he seems quite happy to be in a 30 gallon tank.
 

DeniseAndy

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For the actual animals we can realistically keep, ;) I say clams. These guys live for so long in the wild and the most I have gotten one is a full grown crocea I had for almost 10 years. They are finicky and so many things can bother them to perish in our systems. I still love them though.
 

vetteguy53081

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Bobbit worm followed by Mantis shrimp
 

OfficeReefer

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Fish, corals, and invert, sponges, anemones… they are all included.

In your opinion, what animal is the most difficult to keep in the reefing hobby?
Orcas...

1662304170618.png


They will fit the tank in the back, I just can't get them in the front door... :p
 

FishOkay

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Based on the sheer number of deaths in hobbyists tanks, it should be clowns and mandarins. Surely no other animals suffer and die more than these 2,
To be fair even if that was true which I'm not sure. I dont think, clownfish especially die because they are difficult to keep I mean it's probably the opposite as in they are so hardy and easy to keep that it goes against them because people probably abuse it :(
 
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