Fish with personality!

[jenjen]

I love all my fish and inverts and I love discovering all their unique personalities! Lately I've been observing my blue damsel (Chrysiptera cyanea). She's been in my tank for a few years. She continuously digs out a burrow or 2 at the base of the rocks. If it gets filled in, she studiously digs it out again. She doesn't really guard it,but seems intent on having it.

Recently a large hermit crab swapped shells right in front of one of her burrows. She HATES it! She spent a bunch of time and gradually pulled the shell away. Of course I put it back.. and she pulled it back out.

She's by far not the most spectacular of my fish, but I just love her persistence!

If you have a fish with unique personality please share!

 

[Diesel]

I have a yellow tail which has more more personality than my gem or interrutus.

 

[Katrina71]

Tailspot Blenny is so funny to watch. Knocks hermits off of barnacles. Then flips sand out with his tail. Looks so annoyed. Like I do when somebody walks on a freshly mopped floor with dirty shoes.

 

[The Reef Dork]

She doesn't really guard it,but seems intent on having it.

That's hilarious! This is why saltwater fish are sooo much more entertaining than freshies!

 

[Cheilinus]

We do quite a bit of entertaining at our house, and the fish that gets the most comments from our guests is our niger trigger. He's been with us for a couple years now, and has grown to pretty close to 12". Not the rarest or most expensive fish by far, but is always very amusing!

Had good timing with this pic as he shoots a jet of water at me trying to get my attention (and a bit of food).

Bottom right... tough to tell by the pic, but he is about half way out of the water (again begging for food).
The only downside is that with a "top-down" system like mine, he does create a good amount of surface agitation, making taking pics of the other fish an exercise in frustration. Most of my photo attempts turn out like this...

Aside from that, he really is a lot of fun to have in the pool, and not the least bit aggressive or territorial.

And one more pic... *smile!!*

 

[jenjen]

Tailspot Blenny is so funny to watch. Knocks hermits off of barnacles. Then flips sand out with his tail. Looks so annoyed. Like I do when somebody walks on a freshly mopped floor with dirty shoes.

HAHA love this!!!

 

[becks]

We do quite a bit of entertaining at our house, and the fish that gets the most comments from our guests is our niger trigger. He's been with us for a couple years now, and has grown to pretty close to 12". Not the rarest or most expensive fish by far, but is always very amusing!

Had good timing with this pic as he shoots a jet of water at me trying to get my attention (and a bit of food).

Bottom right... tough to tell by the pic, but he is about half way out of the water (again begging for food).
The only downside is that with a "top-down" system like mine, he does create a good amount of surface agitation, making taking pics of the other fish an exercise in frustration. Most of my photo attempts turn out like this...

Aside from that, he really is a lot of fun to have in the pool, and not the least bit aggressive or territorial.

And one more pic... *smile!!*

Pool? I think more photos are in need of I would love a tank big enough for a niger trigger i really like them.

 

[Diesel]

We do quite a bit of entertaining at our house, and the fish that gets the most comments from our guests is our niger trigger. He's been with us for a couple years now, and has grown to pretty close to 12". Not the rarest or most expensive fish by far, but is always very amusing!

Had good timing with this pic as he shoots a jet of water at me trying to get my attention (and a bit of food).

Bottom right... tough to tell by the pic, but he is about half way out of the water (again begging for food).
The only downside is that with a "top-down" system like mine, he does create a good amount of surface agitation, making taking pics of the other fish an exercise in frustration. Most of my photo attempts turn out like this...

Aside from that, he really is a lot of fun to have in the pool, and not the least bit aggressive or territorial.

And one more pic... *smile!!*

R2R @dbl needs to do a spotlight on this pool reef
Have a FPS (Full Pool Shot ) as a FTS doesn't match up on here.

 

[shrimped]

Yellow Head Jawfish. Really all Jawfish have great personality. Planning a Florida Keys Pair for next tank build.

 

[Kyl]

My tailspot is a bit of a riot, and yeah, always looks grumpy, or unpleased.

 

[Orm Embar]

Midas Blenny (wonderful fish, until he jumped when I had the screen off for 15+ minutes while rearranging live rock and going back and forth to the sink. Didn't realize it, and didn't find him until the day after :-( ). Common clowns are always fun, as are cleaner shrimp

 

[Hosscooper]

I have a yellow tang who plays with the cats. Now that he realizes he won't get ate

 

[Cheilinus]

I hope I'm not hijacking this thread... I'll have to start a build thread of the pool on R2R soon.

...But while we are on the subject of fish with personality, I thought I'd share a few pics of my porcupine puffers.

Seems like they have picked up the habit of squirting water from my niger. When the niger squirts water, it's just a small stream that usually doesn't leave the pool, but theses guys... What a deluge!!

Might have to add an acrylic panel or two to the spot where I feed to avoid the inevitable soaker.

This one somehow got a large NLS pellet stuck in his spines and wound up taking his lunch "to go".

The porcs usually stick together, and will on occasion change up their colors and patterns as if they are communicating with one another. Have done a few searches for any literature on the subject, but haven't been able to find much. Not sure if there is anything to it (a sign of threat/aggression, spawning, etc...). It is interesting to watch though!

Here's an example of the color/pattern changing... my apologies for the cloudy water in this one. Happens when I vacuum out the sump.

 

[JaimeAdams]

I have a porcupine puffer in my reef tank and he certainly has the biggest personality ever. I used to have a fuzzy dwarf lion fish that was like an excited puppy dog.

 

[Kyl]

They usually make a big mess when feeding, correct?