What working fish have you bought?

[vlangel]

Hi, I bought a few of my fish for the services they could help provide my tank. I have a bristletooth tomini tang to pick detritus off my macro algae. My Coral beauty angel picks bits of algae of the rocks and coral. And my neon cleaner gobies pick parasites off the fish and help with ich management.

How about you, who are your favorite working fish?

 

[WirelessMike]

Six line wrasse. The nasty pest mercenary. Love that guy. Also bought a lawnmower blenny, but I think he’s allergic to algae.

 

[Lavey29]

6 line pest slayer and yellow coris back up. My tailspot blenny and coral beauty nip some algae too. Peppermint for aptasia.

 

[ying yang]

Silver belly wrasse for all round pest eater.
Coral beauty for picking algae off rocks.
Bi colour blenny for algae control but not that good.
Copperband butterfly for aiptasia control ,only got about 5 very small aiptasia on a small zoa colony on frag rock thingy,but hasn't touched them in last year.
Blue streaked cleaner wrasse for dead scales/small parasites on fish.
Did have a tail spot blenny for helping me in algae control but died about month ago but didn't see much help from him tbh.
That's all fish I got except 2 clown fish that 5 year old girl wanted to add,as my intention was every fish I bought would have a job or potential job to do to help me in my tank ^_^

1 or a pair off ruby red dragonets are next purchase now tank older and more established at around 20 months old and 7 different kinds off pods I can tell off in the tank

 

[s_tooz_123]

My workhorses:

Diamond Goby.....amazing at turning over the sand and provides a high entertainment value.
In another tank---Yellow Watchman Goby and Pistol Shrimp. Amazing at turning over sand and entertainment value for the pair is even higher.

Also:

Six Line Wrasse
Lavender Tang

 

[mdb_talon]

Six line wrasse. The nasty pest mercenary. Love that guy. Also bought a lawnmower blenny, but I think he’s allergic to algae.

Haha I think that is common ailment among lawnmower blenny.

 

[bnord]

I try to make sure every fish has a job to do. Fox face, all the tangs, each of the wrasses (melanuras, 6 line, coris, others, including a cleaner, and peppermint and cleaner shrimp, file fish, now that I think of it the only pair that have nothing but decorative rolls is a pair of spot throat angels. Oh yeah starry blenny and urchins and cucumbers, lions and tigers and bears oh my.

 

[Petcrazyson]

Earmuff Wrasse: Eats critters and pests
Magnificent Foxface/White Tail Bristletooth Tang: eat and pick at the algae frequently
Diamond Goby: Sifts/cleans through sand and kicks up unwanted nasties
Black Velvet Phantom Angelfish: Picks at dirties on the rocks
Leopard Wrase: Eats critters and pests

 

[kevgib67]

I’ve had sixlines in every tank over 17 years, I’ve never seen a flat worm. My diamond watchman goby keeps my sand crystal clear though I do get some ever changing sand scape.

 

[Nick Steele]

So far in my 20g I’ve had

Tailspot blenny he kept algae at bay and when he passed it came back with a vengeance!

I currently have a hectors goby that is doing a bangup job on all algae including cyano!

I have loved both of these guys and will always have one in all my tank.

 

[Uncle99]

My simple yellow tang is my best worker for rockwork.
Constant manicure while lights on.
Mandarin keeps pods in control.

 

[shakacuz]

for me this is what has worked;

yellow coris wrasse for overall pest control(not complete eradication, but control)
court jester goby for algae/“cyano”
tomini tang for algae

that’s it. a diverse snail CUC will deal with the rest

 

[EugeneVan]

Power blue, power brown, Kole tangs and Foxface. They all constantly looking for algae to eat all day long

 

[i cant think]

Hi, I bought a few of my fish for the services they could help provide my tank. I have a bristletooth tomini tang to pick detritus off my macro algae. My Coral beauty angel picks bits of algae of the rocks and coral. And my neon cleaner gobies pick parasites off the fish and help with ich management.

How about you, who are your favorite working fish?

I brought a Ctenochaetus binotatus for detritus cleanup. My Halichoeres chloropterus was brought to help with a flatworm outbreak.

All of my other fish were brought because I liked them. I rarely buy a fish because it’s utilitarian and just think of that as a pro to the fish. My other working fish consist of;
- Siganus magnificus
- Halichoeres iridis
- Chelmon rostratum

- Macropharyngodon bipartitus
- Pseudocheilinops ataenia trio

This is split over 2 tanks (a 3’x16”x1’ tank and a 4’x2’x2’ tank).

 

[Gtinnel]

I keep a melanurus wrasse for general pest control, a foxface to take care of bubble algae, and a copperband to hopefully deal with aiptasia (he hasn’t so far). I like all of these fish and probably would keep them even if they didn’t serve a utilitarian role in the tank though.

 

[rd62rdstr]

Tuxedo urchin, never sleep just powers through the tank cleaning algae.

 

[blstravler]

Apparently my tangs are all confused as to what they should be doing. None of them pick at algea on my rock. Have an Adult Chevron, Gem and I just added a Powder Blue. The Powder Blue does pic at the rock so maybe the two other dimwits will get the message.

 

[Joe.D]

My Whitetail Bristletooth Tang is a pig! Eats everything - algae on rocks, sifts some sand, pellets, Reef Frenzy and Nori.

None of my other fish do much other than look nice - Banggai, Clowns and Tri Color Wrasse.

Had a yellow watchman goby/pistol shrimp pair - they both recently passed - but I can’t say they did much work. Once they made their forever cave - they pretty much stayed there.

Thinking Diamond Goby to clean up the dinos on my sand. Anyone have any success with that?

 

[Petcrazyson]

My Whitetail Bristletooth Tang is a pig! Eats everything - algae on rocks, sifts some sand, pellets, Reef Frenzy and Nori.

None of my other fish do much other than look nice - Banggai, Clowns and Tri Color Wrasse.

Had a yellow watchman goby/pistol shrimp pair - they both have passed - but I can’t say they did much work. Once they made their forever cave - they pretty much stayed there.

Thinking Diamond Goby to clean up the dinos on my sand. Anyone have any success with that?

I have! How old/establishEd is your tank? They will be a great addition to a tank 1 year old or older as they sift thru and clean the sand bed. Make sure to add some food under the sand for them to eat other than regular feedings.

 

[Joe.D]

My tank is still young. Only been up since May.