what are some fish that you will not try to keep again?

Here are some of my never again fish

Cleaner wrasse- leave them in the ocean

Sixline wrasse- Satan's little helper, hate them

Lawnmower blenny- Satan's little helper part 2, hate them

Red coris- never again will I get a burrowing wrasse in a big deep sand bed tank, what a nightmare getting him out. After eating a small fortune in clean up crew I had to completely tear down a 180 to get him, way too smart for a trap.

Bristletooth tangs- I have never had much luck with the genus and would be hard pressed to try another

blue green cromis/ most any damsels- I just end up killing lots of these over the years, mostly from aggression from other damsels/chromis. I keep a breeding pair of yellowtail blues in my 180 but I will be forever wary of this family. I've seen others keep groups of them but I always end up with a mated pair and a lot of dead fish as the pack whittles itself down to that pair

Radiata lionfish- so beautiful but I am 0-2, no more

Pomacanthus/Holacanthus angels- until I get something a lot bigger than my 180 I wont be doing any more of the largest angels

Most tangs- until I get something a lot bigger than my 180 I wont be doing very many species of tangs either

Triggers- once again I think even the smaller species deserve something bigger than what I can offer them

Wild caught clowns- no need to ever again really

Pseudochromis- I had a group of sankeys and loved them but many of them are just killers and I see lots of folks here bearing this out. I will be very careful with these fish and their kin in general

Hawkfish- like pseudos both some great experiences and a few aggression nightmares as well, I like shrimp too much

Really, really big fish- big groupers, big wrasse, big morays, I love the tankbusters but again unless I build that saltwater pond I need to resist the urge

Great thread.
 
@64ivy==="Hawaiian Flame Wrasse - Can't keep them alive."

how did your flame wrasse die i just bought one and its eating fine and is the most active fish i have
 
Matt_Wandell said:
I am surprised at the responses--I was expecting to see more fish that are just considered too difficult to keep long term.

I can only think of one species of fish that I've kept and will never try again. Ptereleotris grammica, the lined dartfish. They are just way too passive and skittish for captivity and never seem to get used to it, even in a dim tank, cool temperature, passive tankmates, multiple feedings, etc. Tilefish and ventralis anthias are easy in comparison.
Click to expand...

+1.

It seems like a lot of these responses might have been impulse buys. Most of the reasons for not wanting to keep the fish could have been avoided with research. I think some fish are getting a bad rap in this thread too, like some pseudochromis (orchids and sankeyi's aren't as mean as most of the others). Sure purple firefish and orchid dottybacks won't get along in small tanks, but you should know that, it doesn't mean orchid dottybacks are terrors and shouldn't ever be tried again...

I think the only fish that should be avoided are those that get too big (batfish, queen triggers, etc.) or have too specific of a diet (coral eating butterflyfish). Large damsels are also not the right fit for most home aquariums like sergeant majors and jewel damsels.
 
Funny about purple pseudochromis. Orchid dottyback is such a nice fish.

Loved my 6 line. Great fish for 5 years for me when all I had was larger tangs and a damsel that could hold its own.

My only never again so far is Copperband butterfly. For me, hard to keep healthy long term and eats the wrong stuff when they are. I would pick a more robust butterfly.
 
diamond watchman goby. I couldn't keep anything on the sand due to him constanly sifting and covering everything up. Lost several corals to him before he jumped into the overflow where I could catch him.
 
I'm going to have to 2nd the Flame wrasses. I've had 7 and am down to 2. I don't know what is going on but it doesn't make sense. Fish will be fat and healthy and just drop dead or disappear.

Keep in mind I have quite a few fish including a BSJ, mandarin, tangs, and a bunch of other wrasses (lineatus, rhomboid, labouti, pink margin, solar fairy, exquisite) that I have had for years and the flames are the ONLY ones that slowly keep dying off.

Among other fish I will never purchase again:

Powder Blue Tang. Had a very healthy one for years and all of a sudden it just snapped and hated everybody in the tank.

Mystery Wrasse. Beautiful fish but did just as I was told he would and flipped one day and decided he had to be the only wrasse in a large tank.

Sixline Wrasse. Little devils in disguise.

Engineer Goby. I knew they got big and was prepared for it. I even liked the way they look but the rate at which they attempt to turnover a sandbed is a major headache in a reef tank.
 
great thread to learn from others' mistakes.

Purple pseudochromis - mean as hell

6 line wrasse - mean spirited

Multibarred angel - too delicate

Potters angel - died x 2 in my hands

Condei wrasse (always listed as passive, but they are fairly aggressive to other wrasses)
 
So what does my wife bring home on monday night? Another blue spotted jawfish. This one was in a friend's tank for almost a year so hopefully it is better suited then the others. He ate the first night and has started a burrow. We will see (Yes the tank is covered, the tank was originally setup for a BSJ).
 
blue devil damsel-picked on everything and smarter than me when trying to catch

blue/green chromis- 20 down to 0. Had the red sore disease that spread to the entire bunch

wild caught banggai cardinals- can't get them past quarantine

tangs in general- ich problems and feeding seaweed always made a mess in the tank. They need more space than my 4ft tank IMO when whey get big, too.

On the other hand, my two clowns and bicolor psuedochromis get along ok.
 
It seems like a lot of these responses might have been impulse buys. Most of the reasons for not wanting to keep the fish could have been avoided with research.
Click to expand...

I my early days in this hobby information was often hard to come by and often incorrect to boot. The internet has opened the amount of information available to a huge degree but a lot of the information out there is still inaccurate, dated, or just plain wrong. Some online sellers and LFS's have contributed to the problem by just flat lying to people in order to sell fish or other products, this is all too common.

This is why I love forums like this, you are getting advice from people with nothing to gain except through sharing their passion with others. There are so many on this board who have years and years of experience and have made all the rookie mistakes, it is invaluable to gain from their knowlege but in this hobby it seems we are often fighting an element that is bent on making money at all costs.
 
Unless I get a much larger tank, I'm not going to buy another sandsifting goby. Mine sifted constantly, and ate my frozen food mix, but still starved in my 75g with 2inch sandbed.
 
Mandarin dragonets. Had one WC, and then much later, one ORA-bred, and couldn't get either to eat anything but pods (which I could never have enough of)--had to give them away to a friend with huge, pod-filled tanks just to save their lives. And to be honest, I'm not patient enough to cut off all my powerheads for 20 minutes and pipeline food to them two or three times a day.

Not a fish, but hermit crabs. They never did anything for my algae, but they did climb all over my corals, causing them to close up, and kill and eat all my snails. All crabs, period, really...I just don't trust them. Too many of them are either downright predatory at some point, or inclined to at least "sample" other livestock.

Dottybacks, unless I have a very large or specially dedicated aquarium. Beautiful, but even the supposedly peaceful species I've kept (orchid, sunrise) became bullies after a while. And they're near-impossible to catch.

Wild-caught specimens of species that are available captive-bred...I don't think saving a few bucks is worth depleting wild populations.
 
I'd say any fish from the Phillippines (if not 100% guaranteed collected without cyanide). Due to poor survival rate but mainly due to destructive method.
 
add golden butterflyfish to my list. one eating like a horse one day, and two days later it is gone. now the other one is acting the same way...
 
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