Personable fish

C

CrayolaViolence

New member
I'm trying to put together a list of personable fish. Fish that tame easily, have lots of personality, and become more like "pets" than ornaments for the fish tank. I know my own emperor angel has proven to be very lovable, as are my clarkii clown fish. But I'm looking for other fish as well as how difficult they are to take care of (and why they are difficult if they are).
Yes, I have an ulterior motive. I'm trying to decide on fish that will do well with my emperor, who will soon be moving into a 150 gallon tank. I'd like for him to have tank mates, but don't want to risk any harm coming to him. He's a bit of a wimp, but I love him.
 
P.s. I don't plan on heavily stocking this tank. I just want maybe 2-3 at the most 5 other fish. If I get larger ones it will only be 1-2 more, smaller ones up to 5. But I want very pleasant easy to get along with fish who I'm not going to worry about fighting and hurting my emperor.
 
Fun, personable fish in my 180 include a diamond goby, purple tilefish, blue throat trigger, orange shoulder tang, pair of occellaris clowns, and a blotched anthias.
 
In my experience, the flame hawkfish was my most personable fish. Absolutely love mine. Any time I walk up to the tank he leaves his perch and swims right into the water column, hovering waiting for his meal. They have a lot of personality. Watch some videos on them and you can tell right away. Only thing is, you can not add them to a tank with shrimp.
 
kevin21 said:
In my experience, the flame hawkfish was my most personable fish. Absolutely love mine. Any time I walk up to the tank he leaves his perch and swims right into the water column, hovering waiting for his meal. They have a lot of personality. Watch some videos on them and you can tell right away. Only thing is, you can not add them to a tank with shrimp.
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I got to agree with Kevin, Flame Hawkfish are awesome, really any hawkfish are great personable fish. I've had 2, flame and falco and both are modeled citizens and they are always the first to swim up to the front of the tank and greet you when you get home. In a 150 I'd personally get a freckled hawkfish.
 
puffers have been on my list for a while. The only thing I worry about is it's a 150 and I'm not sure its enough room for a puffer and an emperor. Both get pretty large. While I know they don't usually reach full size in the aquarium, I don't want to stress either of them. I thought about a golden puffer. I really love those, but whew, what a price tag. Porcupine puffers are cute, but i've really wanted either a golden or a mappa and both get huge. A porcupine might be the way to go though. The get big, but not *as big* as the other two. IDK, just love those arthorons.
 
You want personable fish? Then DON'T get ANY clownfish, or ANY OTHER damsels!! I speak from EXPERIENCE! :(
I have a Coral Beauty, Pakistani Butterfly, and a Scopas Tang and they are just awesome! (If you want a tang and a butterfly that are different, those are the ones to get, IMHO).
But if you want a reef eventually - the PYRAMID BUTTERFLY would be what you want as far as butterfly fish go because they are the only ones that are truly reef safe. Otherwise it WILL be munch city; you'll have nice, fat and happy butterfly fish but VERY miserable corals and inverts!!
My Royal Gramma and Black Neon Dottyback are awesome too!
Also, you might want to CONSIDER getting an Aiptasia Eater! Not the most striking fish, granted, but as mellow as a fish can be! Plus, you WILL be rewarded with the absence of this horrid anemone!
If I had a tank the size of yours I'd get a Flame Angel and probably a Kole Tang!
As Heathlinder said, puffers are quite the characters, and so are GOBIES and JAWFISH!!
 
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heathlindner25 said:
Don't get any more lovable than the puffers.
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100% agree, and puffers all have their own personality. But as you already stated your tank size eliminates all but the small species as tankmates. The only of these that I have experience with is the Green spotted Puffer which is often mistakenly sold as a FW or Brackish fish because of it's ability to move through all three environments temporarily to seek food and for breeding. There are also the Canthigaster puffers which would probably a better fit, but all puffers come with a box of traits that tend to come with them. Because they are crustaceavores, they will eventually catch on and eat your CUC. They also have a bad habit of nipping or eating tankmates, or being shy and not eating around tankmates. I have three puffers and I love them to death, but they can definitely be a handful depending on what personality you end up with.
 
monkeysee1 said:
You want personable fish? Then DON'T get ANY clownfish, or ANY OTHER damsels!! I speak from EXPERIENCE! :(
I have a Coral Beauty, Pakistani Butterfly, and a Scopas Tang and they are just awesome! (If you want a tang and a butterfly that are different, those are the ones to get, IMHO).
But if you want a reef eventually - the PYRAMID BUTTERFLY would be what you want as far as butterfly fish go because they are the only ones that are truly reef safe. Otherwise it WILL be munch city; you'll have nice, fat and happy butterfly fish but VERY miserable corals and inverts!!
My Royal Gramma and Black Neon Dottyback are awesome too!
Also, you might want to CONSIDER getting an Aiptasia Eater! Not the most striking fish, granted, but as mellow as a fish can be! Plus, you WILL be rewarded with the absence of this horrid anemone!
If I had a tank the size of yours I'd get a Flame Angel and probably a Kole Tang!
As Heathlinder said, puffers are quite the characters, and so are GOBIES and JAWFISH!!
Click to expand...

I have a reef tank in my 180. This will be pretty much a fish only tank. I also have a 40 gallon with clowns and anemones. I really enjoy my clowns and find them quite friendly when they're in the mood ;)
 
Walla2GSP said:
100% agree, and puffers all have their own personality. But as you already stated your tank size eliminates all but the small species as tankmates. The only of these that I have experience with is the Green spotted Puffer which is often mistakenly sold as a FW or Brackish fish because of it's ability to move through all three environments temporarily to seek food and for breeding. There are also the Canthigaster puffers which would probably a better fit, but all puffers come with a box of traits that tend to come with them. Because they are crustaceavores, they will eventually catch on and eat your CUC. They also have a bad habit of nipping or eating tankmates, or being shy and not eating around tankmates. I have three puffers and I love them to death, but they can definitely be a handful depending on what personality you end up with.
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Yes, I have a species only tank with two green spotted puffers and a softy reef. While they are very cool fish I don't know if I would call them personable because they startle so easily and panic. But I love watching them all the same and hand feed the one who will come up to the top.
 
Some people have a different experience with clownfish; my two ocellaris are great, they come up to the glass and wiggle happily when I come over to the tank. Other than them, I love my yellow wrasse. He's a lot of fun to watch, he looks around for little things to eat on the rocks and sand and plucks them off. He also comes over to the glass when I'm near the tank, swimming back and forth waiting for food.
 
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