Am I alone or there are people who don't like GEM tang too?

I've always said- a gem tang is pretty cool looking- probably about 80 to 120 dollars worth of cool looking. Beauty is subjective. I'd pay about blue spot jawfish price for a gem tang.

Few of the high price fish are as appealing to me as others fish that cost far less.

Tangs- for me the Powder BROWN is my favorite. Achilles is a close second.
Never found the zebrasoma tangs too appealing.

The only high priced fish I lust after are the tinkers butterfly and some day I'd like to own a pair of crosshatch triggers. I've got a thing for reef 'cautious' but awesome looking and personable fish.
 
Rarity of the species in the hobby will interest some as well. They aren't a rare fish, but rare cuz of collection issues as stated before. That was one of my driving factors to get one. Now, I won't pay 300 for a coral, cuz those will grow, and I'll wait it out. But collection of fish most of the time becomes more strict, meaning less obtainable and rare in the hobby. So for me, this was a big reason.
 
I like the gem as well, just not enough to fork over the entry fee. There are many other tangs I like as much, or more, than can be had for $50 or less.
 
I don't like any tangs or any angels. Not sure why. But if I ever got a large tank, I think I would just fill it with dozens and dozens of small fish.
 
Ostri said:
One of the biggest thing is people's aesthetics can change based on the price tag. In this money-driven world, if something is very expensive and rare, some people will look at it and think it's amazing but the same person may say "meh... just a fish" if the person looks at the same fish with a much lower price tag. I can try really hard to tell people OMG I love my bandit because it's really about the fish not the price tag but deep inside I doubt if my "love" for the bandit was really 100% because of it's color and personalities. How can you say a regal is not colorful? I believe more or less no rare fish collector completely just love her/his fish because of their colors and personalities. That's why they are called collectors. It applies to every type of them - doesn't matter fish, antiques, crystals... The rarity and the feeling of exceptional ownership drives the desire and changes the person's mind.
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+1

Probably the most accurate, honest and level headed observation I've read on this topic.
 
bat21 said:
I don't like any tangs or any angels. Not sure why. But if I ever got a large tank, I think I would just fill it with dozens and dozens of small fish.
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I definitely prefer a tank loaded with small fish, but I think much of the appeal of the larger fish is they become more of a pet, that recognizes you and they tend to have longer life spans than the smaller guys. A well cared for tang or angel could exceed 20 years in captivity (not super common, but entirely possible).
 
RDtrack said:
Nice choice in the joculaters. I have a pair and love them.

I've had a purple and loved my purple but I couldn't pass up a Gem. So the purple was sold and I now have a Gem.

In my experience my purple was more of a jerk to every fish around it. The Gem seems to be better. The purple was a constant beautiful jerk, the Gem is not.

My thought is there aren't that many fish (at least I don't know any besides a wrought iron butterfly) that have the white spotted pattern.

Either way both are beautiful.
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Calloplesiops altivelis and argus ;)
 
I love the gem , and was a gem tang owner. Couple things I really disliked about the fish- it took a lot of the fun out of the hobby, bc it went from just a fish to a rather expensive tiny fish child. Would worry about him all the time, and as he grew up we had to re home a Achilles hybrid , chevron and abberant yellow bc the gem was getting picked up and I was nervous about it. It was a great fish to own but wouldn't and won't do it again.



 
^Beautiful fish.

Am I the only one that thinks freshwater fish are ugly? There are a few that look OK IMO, like cichlids and some bettas, but other than that... gross.
 
bobkill said:
I love the gem , and was a gem tang owner. Couple things I really disliked about the fish- it took a lot of the fun out of the hobby, bc it went from just a fish to a rather expensive tiny fish child. Would worry about him all the time, and as he grew up we had to re home a Achilles hybrid , chevron and abberant yellow bc the gem was getting picked up and I was nervous about it. It was a great fish to own but wouldn't and won't do it again.



Click to expand...

A moment of silence for this beauty.
 
bobkill said:
it took a lot of the fun out of the hobby, bc it went from just a fish to a rather expensive tiny fish child. Would worry about him all the time
Click to expand...

The way you described your experience with the gem tang reminded me of how I feel about Gigantea carpet anemones. Always worrying about sneezing the wrong way for them not to die and re-arranging the tank to accommodate them. After switching to a bubble tip and a Magnifica, I feel more at peace and enjoy the hobby more. I know it's like comparing apples to oranges but the feeling is exactly the same. I am sure others can relate too in different ways.
 
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