Fish I decided not to keep

[gone fishin]

I was posting in another thread and it got me to thinking about some of the fish I like but decided not to keep. Other than price constraints I was curious what others had took a pass on.

The two that came to mind for me was the Catalina goby and the Splendid dottyback.

The catalina is a beautiful fish but since it comes from colder northern waters it typically does not do well in our tanks with the temps we keep our tanks at.

The Splendid dottyback was not a good fit for my relatively low key tank. If I ever decide to get a more aggressive tank then this fish will go in.

 

[Sk8r]

Worst decision I ever made was the most beautiful: a ghost eel. They said reef-safe. I was naive. It ate 300.00 worth of fish before I realized my beginner mistake. (reef-safe does not mean it isn't a carnivore.)

Second worst: a yellow dottyback. For low cunning and uncatchability, tops. Get a royal gramma instead.

 

[jenjen]

For me it's most tangs. I have a 180 gal and many 'fit' as far as min requirements but seeing a full size tang in a 180 gal just looks so out of place to me. I prefer the look of smaller fish that are more to scale with my system and are more likely to naturally live within a space similar to what I have to offer them.

I do have a 8" foxface who I've had since the start. He's the gentle giant of my system!

 

[Cliving1]

Lol my post is similar to Sk8r's. I bought a Mexican dragon eel in college, after a few months, he/she decided he wanted to eat everyone... He was always friendly to me, but was not a fan of his/her tankmates.

 

[Maritimer]

Years ago, had a 55 that was _owned_ by a tomato clown and a magenta dottyback. Between the two of them, they killed every fish I ever tried to put in there.

I research more carefully now, (Mind you, the 'net didn't exist back then) and prefer perculas and grammas . . .

~Bruce

 

[Texas Paul]

Lol. I tried to keep fish I shouldn't have kept.

 

[Texas Paul]

Years ago, had a 55 that was _owned_ by a tomato clown and a magenta dottyback. Between the two of them, they killed every fish I ever tried to put in there.

I research more carefully now, (Mind you, the 'net didn't exist back then) and prefer perculas and grammas . . .

~Bruce

Tomatoes are a&&$"@holes. Nothing but peaceful for me. Try the really shy fish. If you get nothing but them they do awesome together.....

 

[Sk8r]

The absolute worst---a mated PAIR of most things, particularly clarkii clowns, bless 'em---they have teeth. And will bite the hand that feeds them. A blue velvet damsel nearly 4" long and fat as a tuna ran in terror from that pair in a 100 gallon tank.

 

[OrQidz]

For me it's definitely mandarins. They are exquisite, but I just don't want the stress of always needing enough pods, or worse - watching it starve.

 

[Marchillo]

Bad advice from a lfs landed an atlantic blue tang in my 40g breeder. Did fine for a bit and I was going to upgrade tanks, so I'll keep it! But soon it was harassing my starry blenny brutally so I brought him back. I then discovered reef central and now have a happy community in both my tanks. My starry blenny is as happy as can be coexisting with many fish and gets all the algae to himself!

 

[ZeeSparrow]

As already mentioned, no mandarin or tang for me. I stop by the LFS and spend a few minutes watching theirs, instead.

 

[dendrite]

a diamond back Goby. Covered and killed a scoly, goniastrea, and a trachyphyllia . Finally had to bait a tiny hook and actually fish him out. Now resides happily if warily in a friends fowler