What is your dream captive-bred fish?

[ReefRondo]

Achilles for me

 

[Corallus123]

Achilles for me

 

[Corallus123]

Declivis butterfly……and pretty much all butterflies!

 

[jaganshi066]

Totally jealous!

Can your fish store get you one?

 

[Sean Clark]

Count me in the potters angel camp.

 

[TangGang]

Red tail tamarin wrasse

 

[TheWB]

Starcki Damsel, Australian version.

 

[Doctorgori]

do you want to captivate or breed or both?

 

[toadstool_paradise]

Can your fish store get you one?

I never asked, most fish stores are pretty far from me. Also may be moving out of state in the next few months so holding off on any more purchases until then. Definitely going to look for one when I set up a new tank!

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Got one more: Rhabdamia gracilis, the Luminous Cardinalfish. It has a transparent body so you can see its shiny metallic insides. There are apparently large schools/shoals of them feeding over reefs at night.

They're not exported in the aquarium trade, but it's not because of their locations or scarcity (they're all over the place):


Anyone know why these fish are so hard to get a hold of? Are they just impossible in captivity? I can find only one video of them in an aquarium and they're so awesome looking:

I had a pair of these in my old 110 gallon. Came in as assorted cardinals at my LFS. $10 each. They sat at the store for months until I broke down and brought them home. I had them for about 6 months, then the stand broke and I had drain the tank and sell all the fish. I wonder if the guy I sold them to still has them? They got along with everyone else in the tank, and ate like pigs.

 

[laverda]

Yellow Assessor..know they were breeding them years back but can never find one. Definitely a dream fish for me!

I have one that I have had for about 18 years now. I would love to get a couple more.

 

[jaganshi066]

I have one that I have had for about 18 years now. I would love to get a couple more.

18 years?????? Pictures please!

 

[cpbartak]

To add to my earlier picks... There are a number of beautiful corallivore butterflyfish that I'd kill to be able to get captive bred, eating standard aquarium fare. My favorites being:

 

[Rmckoy]

Any of the large angelfish but specifically emperors , queens and blue ring angelfish

next list would include purple tangs ,

 

[reeftwincities]

potters angelfish!

 

[dennis romano]

To add to my earlier picks... There are a number of beautiful corallivore butterflyfish that I'd kill to be able to get captive bred, eating standard aquarium fare. My favorites being:

TSM has a C. melapterus(bottom photo) for sale, eating pellets

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

TSM has a C. melapterus(bottom photo) for sale, eating pellets

Just to add to this comment - I haven't heard of any long term success with these (including the ones sold by TSM). Most people I've heard from report the fish doing fine for weeks/months, then just suddenly dying with no warning on them (i.e. the fish was still eating, swimming fine, not looking stressed, etc. then just died). I'm assuming it's diet related, but I don't know for sure.

Absolutely a beautiful fish, and I would love to see them captive bred.

 

[i cant think]

1. Pseudocheilinops ataenia - Pink Streaked Wrasse
2. Wetmorella tanakai - Tanakai Possum Wrasse
3. Centropyge multicolour - Multicolor Angel
4. Anampses chrycosephalus - Red Tailed Tamarin Wrasse
5. Paracentropyge venusta

These are all fish I’d love to find CB on the UK market (Captive bred fish in the UK are almost unheard of).

 

[Sonatine]

I want a captive bred rhomboid wrasse. Is my tank big enough? No. But the heart wants what it wants. Maybe they will exist by the time I have a bigger tank.

 

[cpbartak]

Just to add to this comment - I haven't heard of any long term success with these (including the ones sold by TSM). Most people I've heard from report the fish doing fine for weeks/months, then just suddenly dying with no warning on them (i.e. the fish was still eating, swimming fine, not looking stressed, etc. then just died). I'm assuming it's diet related, but I don't know for sure.

Absolutely a beautiful fish, and I would love to see them captive bred.

Interestingly, I was just speaking to Matthew Pedersen yesterday. He did a talk on obligate corallivores at MACNA back in 2018 (). He has a Melon and Arabian that he's kept in his care for 6+ and 5+ years now, respectively. He made several unsuccessful attempts with others along the way, but I'd definitely consider that long-term success.

I also know Tanne Hoff kept an Orangeface for 2-3 years, too, because he had a number of videos documenting it along the way.

I'd consider both to be expert aquarists, and there appears to still be a lot of luck involved in their successes.