Dream Fish

[Gxry]

New to the reefing life with my 88g reef.

If you had the space and the money what would your perfect dream fish be?

As for myself I think I’d go with the Sailfin Tang, I know it’s not the rarest fish but I just love those fins.

 

[fishguy242]

hi ,i think 88 too small for sailfin they grow pretty fast,i'll throw one at you,tomini tang,happy reefing

 

[Gxry]

hi ,i think 88 too small for sailfin they grow pretty fast,i'll throw one at you,tomini tang,happy reefing

I don’t plan on having one in that tank, that was just what I would like to have if I had the space for one.

 

[fishguy242]

ok ..lol..in that case ,yes love the desjardini sailfin,my personal favorite is the vlamingii,most personality of all tangs,but..they go 24"long 2+inches thick

 

[MrZoaCrazy]

Dream fish simple one for me yellow tang running a 130litre shamefully can’t have one

 

[Zionas]

Mine would be a Clarion Angel.

 

[Crowbar]

My dream fish is a magnificent rabbitfish! I have no idea what it is I like so much about them, they're just beautiful. I will definitely never have a tank big enough for one, but I like to eyeball them anytime I see them at the stores and sigh wistfully about it.

 

[Zionas]

From quite a few videos I’ve seen of YTers with tanks in the 180 gallon-210 gallon range, they put in Naso and Vlamingii Tangs. Lol. I know that’s prolly not a good idea and I hope they realize that lol.

Sailfin Tangs would also eventually need to be rehomed to a tank 7 foot or longer lol. I think the best we can do for Tangs in a 6’ tank would be one that gets up to a foot long, but no more than that.

 

[Haydn]

I finally got my dream fish after 9 years of trying- Fusilier damsel (Lepidozygus tapeinosoma)

 

[Peach02]

Hmm I’ve got a handful from most common to rarest (in shops) , snowflake eel, gem tang, Asian arowana, blacktip reef shark

 

[Zionas]

Gem Tang, Black Longnose Tang, and the Purple Tang are a bit too expensive for me. I love them but I’m a beginner and I don’t want to buy an overly expensive fish, if it dies that’s a lot of cash out the window. Generally as a rule of thumb, where I am, I buy fish within the equivalent of 200 US dollars, which is about the price of a Bellus or Watanabei pair (that’s 2 fish).

I really like the Clarion Angel and Bob Fenner’s book describes it as “needing a stick to kill” but when I look at the price tag.....

Actually just checked. In China Purple Tang is not too expensive, maybe 1.5-2x the price of a Yellow Tang but still just the equivalent of maybe 130-150 USD.

 

[Streetlamp]

Moorish Idol for me.

 

[mort]

A reefsafe idol would be tempting but a pair of orange spot filefish would be my first choice. I know they are doable in my tank but I don't have the time to dedicate to them at the moment.

 

[pcon]

A month ago it would have been any of the true Roa butterflies but I just got one. rounding out my collection of the big three groups of reef safe-ish deep water butterflyfish. the cheapest Roaops, Prognathodes and true Roa, a burgess, aculeatus, and modesta.

Realistic dreams: the true larvatus butterfly, try my hand at the obligate butterflyfish. or Prognathodes aya, the bank butterfly, expensive but a subtle beauty. similarly lipogramma evides. Hard to justify the low 4 figure price tags on these last two.

Deep pockets dreams: one of the expensive butterflyfish, prognathodes basabei, Chaetodon daedalma, Roa excelsa.

Unrealistic dream are some of the truly rare angels and butterflies, Centropyge nigriocella, Centropyge hotumatua, Centropyge narcosis, Paracentropyge boylei, a male Genicanthus spinus Chaetodon flavocoronatus, Chaetodon smithi, Chaetodon litus

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

Most of my dream fish are the same as @pcon lol

Currently have a few of my dream fish from when i was younger such as the black cap gramma and a multibar angel (paracentropyge multifasciata), and now chaetodon burgessi as of yesterday.

In the future i would love to keep chaetodon melapterus and meyeri, in a dedicated sps tank. Maybe as pairs. Venusta angels too. Aswell as some bandit and goldflake angels from the genus apolemichthys (well the bandit maybe doesnt belong there). A shoal of ventralis or privitera anthias would be another dream fish. I would love a prognathodes of some sort, always have had a sort spot for the aculetus. Cant forget anampses chrysocepahlus, cirrhialbrus rhomboidalis, halichoeres pallidus, macropharyngodon cyanogutatus.

More unrealistically i would love lipogramma klayi, chaetodon smithi, chaetodon litus, chrysiptera rapanui, centropyge hotumatoa, chaetodon tricinctus, parachelinus nursalim, cirrhilabrus squieri, centopyge debelius.

Thats a few fish i have been some what obsessed with, especially the easter island species lol. I think a pair of multibar angels would be my overall dream fish to have now, so im halfway there.

 

[Waters]

Mine would be a Blueface Angelfish.

 

[Zionas]

Blueface are native to the coastal areas where I’m from (southern China and Taiwan). Local hobbyists say it’s hard to keep, though. Best bet is to find one captive bred by Poma Labs if you’re in North America.


(Sorry, I meant the Chinese Blue Lined.)


Blue Face looks like a beautiful fish to have.

 

[Chrille26]

I would love to keep a Powder blue tang at one point! Beautiful fish with great colour pattern. My lfs had several young ones in last time I was there but my tank are way too small, next upgrade though!

 

[Dragon52]

I would love to keep a Powder blue tang at one point! Beautiful fish with great colour pattern. My lfs had several young ones in last time I was there but my tank are way too small, next upgrade though!

I've had 3 & they all died within 2 wks so wont buy anymore unless I'm able to setup a better control system(Apex type). But I've always loved the Emperor Angel.

 

[Pbh-reef]

Love the replies here, many of my dream fish are similar to @pcon and @Angel_Anthias lover

My somewhat realistic dream fish are:
copperband butterfly
pair of venustas or multibar dwarf angels
baby yellow belly regal angel
blue star leopard wrasse
sunburst anthias

I think one day I will try to get at least some of these fish in a 4' 75-120 gallon tank. This will be years from now, since I have an international move coming up and only a ten gallon now.

Honorable mentions go to any other leopard wrasse or tamarin wrasse, potters angelfish, leopard toby puffer, yellow headed jawfish, starry blenny and burgess butterflyfish

Less realistic dream fish:
Any of the 'powder' tangs and achilles tang - need too big of a tank
Long nosed black tang - too expensive and too big
Mitratus butterflyfish - price is a bit too high
Red Sea sail fin tang - too big

totally never gonna happen dream fish
Tinkers butterfly - I've loved this fish since I first saw it in a book
Ventralis anthias (seem way too hard for me)

I notice a lot of my dream fish are harder to find and keep. Sometimes I 'dream' about an easier version of that tank with hardier fish:
long nosed or burgess butterfly instead of the CBB
flame or coral beauty angel pair
melanarus and canary wrasse/ other similar easier wrasses instead of the leopards
One of advantage of this version is the fish are a bit less delicate and so it would be less likely a tang like a kole, yellow, mimic or scopas would terrorize them.

Finally, my dream nano reef would be around 30 gallons, 30” long and have:
geometric pygmy perchlet
pink streaked or possum wrasse
helfrichi firefish (but realistically a different firefish cause $)
rainford or hectors goby
rubre basslet
yasha goby
cleaner goby
a comb tooth blenny of some kind like the pictus or tailspot