Do you prefer buying fish when they're big or small ?

[ShrimpDemolisher]

Title says it all. When you want to buy a specific fish and there are a big one and small one in the LFS, which one would you go for? If the the answer is "depends", then what kind of fish?

 

[Cassian]

Medium sized is ideal to me. So half of whatever adult size it should be

 

[ReefRy]

Always smaller with me. I know they arent as hardy as more mature fish, but Id rather give them the opportunity to grow up in my tank and adapt to it rather than having to relearn their routines or parameters they developed elsewhere. It also helps with aggression if everyone essentially grows up together.

 

[chris k.]

I like small ones and watch them grow

 

[Qasimja]

i prefer medium to larger fish

 

[Dvanlier05]

I prefer smaller. I like watching them grow.

 

[pcon]

I think it varies by species. There are some that I want in tiny for the best bet of success. But there are others that need a little size on them so they can handle stress of shipping and animation to captivity. I tend towards small because it is easier to condition to captivity, but too small can be difficult to keep fed or handle shipping stress. There is a Goldilocks zone for most species.

 

[Peace River]

...it also depends on the context of the ecosystem that they are joining.

 

[eternalsea]

Agreed, the temperament of the fish also matters for adding to an established ecosystem

 

[secret_reefer337]

Mostly small ones.

 

[1stNoel]

If my boss fish is peaceful, then I will never buy a fish bigger than him that could upset things.

And with some fish...like the Emperor Angel, I prefer the juvenile coloration.

Plus, like others have mentioned, I like watching them grow.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Typically small and watch them grow but with recent large tank- I have to have 3-3.5" minimum.

 

[jt17]

The little ones are sooooo cute.

 

[S2G]

Large juvie is about perfect all around for me. Big enough to survive but not so large to have bad habits

 

[tigre44]

I prefer small and watch them grow. My most successful was a 2” pinneatus batfish that grew to about 14”. I got a job transfer which ended my 135 gal tk

 

[EmptyWallet]

Definitely as small and young as possible, so they adapt to my tank faster and hopefully forget the great crime of stealing them from nature faster

 

[Falcon53]

Generally small. You buy an adult and you don't know if it's a year old or five years old. If you buy a $300 wrasse that has six months left on it's natural lifespan and you don't know, you might not be happy.

 

[C. Eymann]

Depends on the fish, but majority of the time I prefer to buy smaller- juvenile size that way they have more time/development to become adapted to aquarium life, IMO "show" size WC adults aren't as suited to being in captivity.

 

[alton]

Medium juveniles. They ship better plus large adults need to stay in the ocean to lay more eggs.. Transformation from juvenile to adult on most fish are awesome to watch.

 

[Squidward]

Prefer getting more aggressive fish small so they can't bully the current tankmates. I got a small sized Powder Blue Tang for this reason. He still flares up and goes right next to my Hippo who is twice it's size smh... But the hippo is so mellow, it just ignores him.