Coral in fish only tank

[Blue Collared Aquatics]

Looking to start a fish only tank but wanted to add some kind of coral that the fish wouldn’t go after. Could you guys help me with a few of any are possible. I was think anemones maybe. Is there more?

 

[Joe31415]

You're not so much looking for corals that fish won't eat, but rather, you're looking for fish that won't eat corals.

Every site that sells fish and every LFS that deals in saltwater tanks will have all of their fish labeled as "Not Reef Safe", "Reef Safe" or "Reef Safe, WITH CAUTION".

Not reef safe means what it sounds like, they'll eat your corals.
Reef Safe is what you're looking for. Those are the fish that won't eat the corals (or at least won't ruin them).
Reef Safe with caution are fish that generally leave the corals alone but will happily eat it if it's hungry and doesn't have any food or any other number of reason.

 

[Blue Collared Aquatics]

You're not so much looking for corals that fish won't eat, but rather, you're looking for fish that won't eat corals.

Every site that sells fish and every LFS that deals in saltwater tanks will have all of their fish labeled as "Not Reef Safe", "Reef Safe" or "Reef Safe, WITH CAUTION".

Not reef safe means what it sounds like, they'll eat your corals.
Reef Safe is what you're looking for. Those are the fish that won't eat the corals (or at least won't ruin them).
Reef Safe with caution are fish that generally leave the corals alone but will happily eat it if it's hungry and doesn't have any food or any other number of reason.

You're not so much looking for corals that fish won't eat, but rather, you're looking for fish that won't eat corals.

Every site that sells fish and every LFS that deals in saltwater tanks will have all of their fish labeled as "Not Reef Safe", "Reef Safe" or "Reef Safe, WITH CAUTION".

Not reef safe means what it sounds like, they'll eat your corals.
Reef Safe is what you're looking for. Those are the fish that won't eat the corals (or at least won't ruin them).
Reef Safe with caution are fish that generally leave the corals alone but will happily eat it if it's hungry and doesn't have any food or any other number of reason.

Got ya. Didn’t know if those meant legit like no coral. Bummer, kinda wanted something in there to add to it. This is a tough one to decide on. All the cool fish I really like aren’t reef safe lol

 

[Hugh Mann]

Another thing that gets a fish labelled as “Not reef safe” are because they will eat the invertebrates often kept in reefs. An example would be an eel. They don’t bother coral, but will eat every single shrimp and crab in there.
But generally yeah, most not reef safe will eat or damage your corals unfortunately. That being said, there’s lots of beautiful fish you can keep with corals.

 

[Joe31415]

Got ya. Didn’t know if those meant legit like no coral. Bummer, kinda wanted something in there to add to it. This is a tough one to decide on. All the cool fish I really like aren’t reef safe lol

Clown fish? Royal Grammas? Maybe take a look at some of the more "exotic" inverts like shrimp or urchins.
Take a walk through your LFS and see what they have to offer. Or, if you really have your mind set on Non reef safe fish, and really want corals in the tank, get cheap corals that you don't mind losing.
That's not a strategy I know anything about, so maybe someone else can help. But maybe something like a GSP or other fast spreading coral, that I see more posts about getting rid of than caring for them, would work.

Also, if you do go to your LFS (or more than one), talk to the people there and tell them what you want to do. Always keeping in mind that it's their job to get you to buy things, they might be able to guide your towards fish marked as non reef safe that, in their experience, has never touched a coral or maybe they can point you in the direction of certain non reef safe fish that aren't known to eat some specific type of corals (maybe euphyllias).

 

[albano]

Every site that sells fish and every LFS that deals in saltwater tanks will have all of their fish labeled as "Not Reef Safe", "Reef Safe" or "Reef Safe, WITH CAUTION".

I’ve probably been to nearly 100 stores in many different states in ~50 years. I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen a LFS that has fish labeled like that.

 

[Joe31415]

I’ve probably been to nearly 100 stores in many different states in ~50 years. I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen a LFS that has fish labeled like that.

Maybe it's just mine then. The two I go to do it, between that and LiveAquaria and hearing other people mention it, I just assumed it was a universal thing.