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

SlugSnorter

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Can I say the correct answer would be great white shark? Other than jaws 3 there has never been one successfully kept in an enclosure or confined space.

while some animals pose more logistical dilemmas like size, the blue whale, I think with a 0% success rate the great white takes the cake
great white? nah, Frilled Shark.
 

firechild

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Can I say the correct answer would be great white shark? Other than jaws 3 there has never been one successfully kept in an enclosure or confined space.

while some animals pose more logistical dilemmas like size, the blue whale, I think with a 0% success rate the great white takes the cake
Monterey Bay Aquarium only released the one they had because it became too aggressive. I would say for the time they had it, it was kept successfully.
 

Eye H8 Empty V

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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.
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About 20 years ago I had a flashing tilefish that lasted less than 24 hours. It was the most stunning fish I had ever seen. I would love to try a pair or group of them but they're way too expensive. Back then I paid $100, right now on marine collectors they're $350/ea. That's crazy!
 

Sleepingtiger

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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 .
I remember reading an article where they would smear paste type food on the dead piece of acro. The butterfly did pick at it and soon enough adapted to prepared food.
 

Sleepingtiger

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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 up a mermaid at a local gentleman club. everything was cool until the wife threaten to divorce me. She looked great on the waterbed though.

NOT REEF SAFE. Ate all the shrimp and lobsters in the house
 

HBtank

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Always wanted to get some calamari, I mean cuttlefish. Watching them feed reminded me of my chameleons, was fond of the ambanja panther.
My college had a tank for them. Having them make signs at you with their tentacles through the glass and flash colors is surreal.
 

family reefer

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I would say hard ones to keep long term would be any type of scallops and Blue Linckia starfish.
 

HBtank

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I’m going with lace corals (Distichopora) for even being available, and certain to die.

For me it is zoanthids :confounded-face:
 
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Slocke

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Some people near me keep trying whale sharks. They keep dying as far as I know but they keep trying....












<-- Hint
 

ComfortRacing

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For the community not really sure the Hardest to keep. I mean some people have dumb luck and some people have smart luck. Just depends. I can keep some of the most “difficult” corals, inverts and fish but the “easy/beginners” ones are the ones i have the most difficulty with…go figure.
 

Rmckoy

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For the community not really sure the Hardest to keep. I mean some people have dumb luck and some people have smart luck. Just depends. I can keep some of the most “difficult” corals, inverts and fish but the “easy/beginners” ones are the ones i have the most difficulty with…go figure.
Zoas . Torches , elegance coral , bubble coral , trumpet ( candy cane and almost every chalice are all on my can’t keep alive list based on a few years ago . But could keep and grow any sps imaginable
 

AKG

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Cribrochalina sponges
Heteractis Magnifica
Ovula ovum cowrie
Horse conch
Diminovula culmen
Yellow sea krait (this one is illegal though iirc)
 

mandyvan

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Add Magnificent Sea Anemone aka Ritteri to the list. Doesn't ship well, doesn't acclimate well, very sensitive to changes in water chemistry, and will grow really large when happy.

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Darned if you do, darned if you don’t.
 

mandyvan

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Things that would never be found in the wild anywhere near each other, in the SAME tank. From different parts of the planet with all kinds of differences like depth, temperature, light, surrounding nutrients. Unnatural predators or none. Sand is different everywhere, made from the Earth’s inhabitants before it, and Urchin poop.
 
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mandyvan

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A lot of that comes down to the interpretation that "getting them to eat frozen food" only requires throwing frozen food in the tank and hoping the mandarin outcompetes the twelve other fish, which is never the case. I think a more accurate expectation that should be given by the live fish store is: "If you want a mandarin in the first year of having the tank up, this needs to be your only fish and you need to dedicate your time to ensuring it eats something every ten seconds. You can try to sneakily pipet frozen brine & mysis, but be prepared to buy lots of copepods by the bottle in case your fish is particularly stubborn." I think that right there is a reasonable expectation and would deter lots of people. As for clownfish, LFS tell customers to start with them. Unfortunately, these customers tend to come from owning freshwater tanks and don't understand that our cycling is different from freshwater.
Isn’t it amazing that fishes and all these things feed themselves in the wild!
 
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