Coolest reef safe fish

CoralNerd · Mar 16, 2016

This is odd. Aggressive Purple Tilefish.

jerk1998 · Mar 16, 2016

CoralNerd..........love your fish selection! Did you put the two pygmy angels in at the same time to minimize aggression? Also, the two wrasses? I have a flame angel and a melanarus wrasse but am afraid to add the other two.

CoralNerd · Mar 16, 2016

Sorry that's not my video, I just found it and wanted to share. Curious if that tilefish aggression in the video was extremely unusual. I didn't see any real harm in the aggression in the video. I guess a little chase and nip is ok.[emoji79]

eatbreakfast · Mar 17, 2016

CoralNerd said:
Sorry that's not my video, I just found it and wanted to share. Curious if that tilefish aggression in the video was extremely unusual. I didn't see any real harm in the aggression in the video. I guess a little chase and nip is ok.[emoji79]

That is unusual in my experience. I have seen them behave aggressively toward congenerics, and one behave aggressively toward a newly added baby bamboo shark, but peaceful toward community reef fishes.

mcmc1717 · Mar 17, 2016

eatbreakfast said:
Get another species rather than trying to get prs of the same species. Females tend to transition into males, even with a male present, and fights between males of the same species are worse than displays to males of different species.

Thats good to know

sc50964 · Mar 17, 2016

CoralNerd said:
This is odd. Aggressive Purple Tilefish.

I once kept a school of tilefish in a 180g. I had 2 purple, 2 blue head, and 2 skunk. The blues and skunks like to share the same cave. The purples definitely have more attitudes and also more skittish. They love smelly mussels, and I even got them to take formula two medium pellets. Too bad I didn't take any pictures coz when they all swam together it was a good sight. What I did learn was that they can be aggressive, especially during feeding, but love to hang out with anthias. I had them for months and my downfall was the introduction of larger tangs and Angels, who are bolder fish when it comes to space, motion, eating habit, speed, and size. I believe the key to keep them long term is to 1) let them to be the dominate specie, 2) give me large open space to swim, and 3) provide them multiple caves where no other fish can compete to live in.

acer · Mar 17, 2016

Some Anthias will fight within females as well , female lyretails actually fight between themselves alot.

When u say snowflakes are they Eels or Clownfish, sorry I am late to the thread.

mcmc1717 · Mar 17, 2016

clownfish lol

Jdizlejd · Mar 17, 2016

A Melanurus wrasse would be a pretty cool addition, there reef safe, they also eat a lot of unwanted critters. There very colorful and cool to watch, and usually around 40-50 dollars.
Good luck finding a fish!!

Eienna · Mar 17, 2016

I have heard that tiles need about a 6" deep sandbed.

I second the flame hawk. Ours is fun to watch.

lewis.maryann08 · Mar 17, 2016

I love the hawk fish but I thought they wasnt good with corals?

AllSignsPointToFish · Mar 17, 2016

They're okay for corals, but will eat peppermint and cleaner shrimp.

Eienna · Mar 17, 2016

They will eat shrimp but to my experience so far that's ONLY if the shrimp is significantly smaller than the fish. They don't injure corals, though some may be a bit po'd by its perching on them until they get used to it. Ours also has never bothered the rest of my cleanup crew. There is also the Arc Eye Hawkfish which is basically a color variant of the flame. You might want to look into that.

We picked the flame because it has a small mouth compared to other hawks I've seen, and because my darling loves its bright redness.

They are territorial, though, so only add one.

eatbreakfast · Mar 17, 2016

Eienna said:
I have heard that tiles need about a 6" deep sandbed.

This is a common misconception about tiles. In aquaria they usually don't construct their own burrow, instead utilizing existing caves and rockwork for cover. They will be perfectly fine in a bare bottom. tank.

Eienna · Mar 17, 2016

Personally I'm wishing I could keep a Majestic Angel....that'd be an amazing fish...but it's nowhere near reef safe, so there goes that

Eienna · Mar 17, 2016

eatbreakfast said:
This is a common misconception about tiles. In aquaria they usually don't construct their own burrow, instead utilizing existing caves and rockwork for cover. They will be perfectly fine in a bare bottom. tank.

Ah. Nice to know.
I saw one the other day and thought it was cool...

sc50964 · Mar 17, 2016

Eienna said:
I have heard that tiles need about a 6" deep sandbed.

I second the flame hawk. Ours is fun to watch.

IME, they don't need sand but need caves. The tank also needs to be completely covered on the top. Otherwise their superior jumping skills and slender body shape will find any opening that's big enough to fit through.