Rarest fish you have kept

[GraveKone]

What are the rarest fish that you have kept with pictures if possible

 

[lion king]

Blackfoot lionfish

Weedy scorpionfish

Yellow fuzzy lionfish

 

[mdb_talon]

Well not rare, but after this Hawaii mess it seems a common yellow tang is now my most valuable fish

 

[ca1ore]

Discounting the often-one-off hybrids, rare has typically meant either limited geography/hard to get to or deep/hard to collect. Neither may be actually rare in the ocean, just rare in the hobby. I have a few Mauritius fish that are rare in the hobby to varying degrees. Zebra tang the most infrequent .....

 

[GraveKone]

Blackfoot lionfish

Weedy scorpionfish

Yellow fuzzy lionfish

That scorpion is awesome

 

[ThatPhillyReefer]

This may not be “rare” but definitely my yellow tang

 

[Crabby48]

Not sure how rare but here is a couple

Macropharyngodon vivienae

Macropharyngodon geoffroyi

Paracheilinus hemitaeniatus

 

[Adamantium]

Not super rare, but swales candy basslets. Of course, my six line killed them. I’m still really upset about that. But the wife looooves “Mr. Pickles”.

 

[mfollen]

@lion king Bravo x 2

I love fuzzy yellows. The Blackfoot has always been a rarity. Where did you source those amazing creatures?

 

[Reverend Turtle]

Not a rare fish, but rare color "phase", my blue hippo tang has some hypermelanism going on on the back half of it's body.
I wish I could get a picture but it just hides 99% of the time. She's still small, so hopefully she keeps the color and loses the shyness.

 

[nereefpat]

Black cap basslet maybe for me? Or a red spotted sandperch...They aren't rare, really, but no one seems to keep them.

 

[Haydn]

Using Ca1ore's definition 'hard to get' these are definitely rare, it took me 9 years to source them


Fusilier damselfish (Lepidozygus tapeinosoma)

 

[Hot2na]

not rare , but most expensive: adult clarion angel back in the late 70's...

 

[Mark Gray]

around 30 years ago I had a Blue Ribbon eel

 

[LosReef]

Koi Scopas Tang. I've had it about a year now.

 

[Topekoms]

Achilles

 

[cmmatxh]

are borbonius anthias considered rare?

 

[toadstool_paradise]

Swissguard basslet, not super rare just not so common. Love this guy have had him for half a year and my favorite fish. Survived my tank crash last month.

 

[Tony Thompson]

Photo I took of my Gramma De Jongi - loreto Hybrid

 

[lion king]

@lion king Bravo x 2

I love fuzzy yellows. The Blackfoot has always been a rarity. Where did you source those amazing creatures?

The blackfoot was a fluke. I'm in a Vegas and there was a lfs here where the owner would take a trip to SoCal to shop in person at the wholesaler. He was in an unmarked tank and the lfs owner sent me a pic and asked me what he was, I just said you can get him for me, I paid $79. That yellow fuzzy came from iBluewater, I got this one from a lfs as a regular fuzzy, for $39; he was brown and kind of sickly with just a few specks of yellow. Once healthy and happy he turned into this.