Marine marvels: Do you keep uncommon fish in your tank?

[Dave-T]

I keep a lot of uncommon even rare fish and I’ve done it without paying ridiculous prices!

What’s the first one? Pretty fish!

 

[Mark Gray]

I have no uncommon fish now but in the mid 90s I had a Blue Ribbon eel, I had a Passers Angel in the 90s and an Emperor Angel in the 90s too. You did not see any of them back then

 

[zoomonster]

Difficult yes but nothing especially rare.

 

[Slocke]

What’s the first one? Pretty fish!

Pyronotanthias flavoguttatus. I’ve heard it called a flavo anthias or a red saddled anthias.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Greissenger Goby in a dedicated pico! He's actually out tonight perched in a very visible place! And no, I didn't pay a lot for him (not that it really matters).

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

uncommon and rare are marketing ploys

With corals, yes. With fish, sometimes yes, sometime they really are rare. With fish it isn't so difficult to determine their rarity.

 

[Jase4224]

I have a Neopomacentrus Filamentosis which is a damsel fish. The pic is not mine and I couldn’t find a decent pic of this fish at all and there’s no way I’ll get a good pic of my fish with my phone. In reality this fish is a very dark blue/grey almost black with its fins iridescent blue and all ending in trails. It was actually bi-catch in a shipment of chromis (that ALL had uronema) but this fish never got sick and I feel lucky to have it. Very peaceful, low key stunning fish for $9!

 

[KrisReef]

My “uncommon” fish is a blue tang with an unusual pigmentation. I rescued him from a lfs where it was showing signs of ich or something similar?

 

[Sump Crab]

My most uncommon fish is a candy basslet, my other fish are all very common.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I have the extremely rare and exclusive royal gramma and a pair of those super uncommon one-of-a-kind clownfish. Looking to add a shoal of those super-duper exclusive blue damselfish in the near future.

 

[MoshJosh]

Red pygmy roosterfish is my most uncommon fish. Had some store credit so it didn’t cost too much.

Same! I voted yes cause I have one of these (though mine is a gal). . . Maybe not crazy rare but I have only ever seen one for sale. . . and I bought it!!! Guess rarity is relative

 

[SaltCreepReef]

I had a clutch of 13 cuttlefish I hatched from eggs, extremely entertaining to watch but quite difficult and expensive to feed having to import shrimp weekly to MI in the wintertime. Admittedly I was not fully educated on how to care for them and was given the eggs for my birthday, only had a couple instances of cannibalism before I learned how to keep them happy, ended up with 6 living a full year and 8-9 made it to the 9 month mark, unfortunately no eggs were laid.

 

[MoshJosh]

I had a clutch of 13 cuttlefish I hatched from eggs, extremely entertaining to watch but quite difficult and expensive to feed having to import shrimp weekly to MI in the wintertime. Admittedly I was not fully educated on how to care for them and was given the eggs for my birthday, only had a couple instances of cannibalism before I learned how to keep them happy, ended up with 6 living a full year and 8-9 made it to the 9 month mark, unfortunately no eggs were laid.

Just out of curiosity, what was the difficulty with getting food? Live shrimp?

 

[Kpdiver]

I keep a lot of uncommon even rare fish and I’ve done it without paying ridiculous prices!

What is the top fish here?

 

[Slocke]

What is the top fish here?

Pyronotanthias flavoguttatus. I’ve heard it called a flavo anthias or a red saddled anthias.

 

[TinyFish]

I have a Jawfish in my main tank who is the star of the show aswell as A breeding pair of seahorses and a pair of wild caught clowns. Although not very rare at most stores, at my small lfs these are pretty decent catches.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

When I was a public aquarium curator, I had the opportunity to work with many rare fish, but my staff would give me a hard time about some of my acquisitions, as there were often pretty drab colored. Here is a picture of the only deep sea Armorhead, Pentaceros japonicus in the United States (at the time) that we had about 20 years ago:

Jay

 

[davidcalgary29]

I once kept a tang in a tank that was suitable for its size. True story!

 

[Chasmodes]

Well, I guess it all depends on the definition. My fish aren't rare if you want to go catch your own, but they're rarely seen in private aquariums. In fact, my entire "reef" concept is rather rare, not a true reef, but rather, and oyster reef. The first video is when I set the tank up and entered it into a biotope contest. The only new addition since then is that I've added 3 Norfolk Spot (Leiostomus xanthurus).


This second video is a more recent update showing all of my species:

 

[Nheko]

Does uncommon count if they’re on the rarer side in the hobby or a PITA to keep alive for many?
If so… Here’s just a few of my many uncommon fish I’ve yet to struggle with but everyone else seems to struggle with or they’re just uncommon and 3 digits.

What species is the blue one at the end? Never seen one before.