Unique and Rare Reef Inhabitants for my new tank

[aentrop]

I intend to make my new reef a very unique one.

I want to have mostly livestock that is rare, and not often if ever seen at pet stores.

What are some good ideas for fish or corals?

Money is not an issue... well, for the most part... :-D

 

[bimmerzs]

@aentrop wrote:

:lol: :lol: :lol: That's a funny one, you must not have purchased a lot of reef stuff yet. :wink: A lot of the wild exotic stuff is just that for a reason, most require very established tanks with super stable parameters and a very experienced reefer. Others are poor shippers, hard to get eating or jump out of your tank as soon as you turn around. You will also find the exotic fish etc will not have a arrive alive guarantee, it would really blow to order that $3500 Gem Tang and have it arrive dead in the bag. Folks with money to burn buy several of these exotics before they get one to live sometimes.

Cheers,

 

[DaveJ]

Gem Tang... $2000+

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Conspicuous Angelfish $2000+

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Black Zebra Maxima Clam $500+

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[Guest]

if you want to keep unique corals i would upgrade your skimmer first since "money is no object"...red sea skimmer is not really a quality skimmer for a top notch rare reef tank.


filtration is numero uno when it comes to rare corals as they are very sensitive and will rtn in a second if the tank get out of whack

i would go deltec, elos, or a kz skimmer as an upgrade

 

[Wes]

a cheaper, less seen (never by me) is the flashlight fish which could be housed in a hundred gallon or so

read up on them

 

[aentrop]

Ok, I made a big mistake on the money thing,

Agreed, I haven't shopped for any of the exotics.

Lets adjust the thread to help me find some...

Things that aren't carried at EVERY saltwater pet store.

I am looking for suggestions other than, yellow tangs, royal grammas, fire/cleaner shrimp, nassarius's... things of that nature. What are some animals under lets say:

$200 each

that might be obtainable from a fish store, but not under totally normal circumstances...

 

[Ashlar]

There are some odd looking angler / frogfish / scorpionfishes.

 

[Charlie]

I usually go to Neptune's Cove, he always seems to have unique fish. Liveaquaria's diver's den or collector's corner are also pretty good. I personally like the Clarion Angel, but out of my price range

 

[Guest]

@Charlie wrote:

I second liveauaria's divers den and collector's corner as they a wysiwyg....Just make sure you are a conscious collector as usually rare and unusual can mean there is not that many left in the ocean.

 

[ReefGod]

I don't care much for fish, LPS, or soft corals, I think it's things that anybody with a 6 week established tank can keep, and it makes the tank look like a store display rather then a reef no matter how much money you invest, but if you wish to have a unique tank, buy stuff online, usually if one LFS store can get it, another one can do it also, and before you know if everyone around you has a particular coral. ATL, UF, etc. good places to drop a few hundred $$, but as I stated in your built thread, if you have money to spend, first upgrade that skimmer, I guarantee you wont be disappointed in a long run. What you have now is good for soft corals, but again, I used to run a soft corals tanks without a skimmer at all, so it doesn't tell me much.

Also there are a few members that i could recommend to buy frags from, beats paying crazy prices online or at a LFS any day. Some of them have posted in this thread already.

God! Gem Tang?!? When did they dug up that one from? Looks like a black tang with ick.

 

[BigJay]

I'd love to try some of the really pretty anemones someday. The brightly colored blue/red Magnificas and Giganteas are somewhat rare and really expensive. On top of that, they don't ship or acclimate well.

The biggest problem with carpets is that they'll eat all your fish except for the clowns. :sad:

I want one bad, but I'm not about to clear out my 180 for it.

 

[Opus]

Check out True Percula if you want to see some rare fish. They had what looked like a Gem tang a few weeks back that they were calling a hybrid tang. I think it was either $400 or $500. If my son wouldn't have told on me I might have bought it. There are some nice rare pygmy angels that you don't see everyday. I have a golden pygmy. You will see them occasionaly at a few stores. I would love to have a resplended pygmy but all I've ever seen are pictures of those.

There are also a lot of wrasses that would be put in the "rare" category. I just got a Jordani wrasse which I really like. Bill gave me a deal I just couldn't pass up.

I agree with the others. Keep checking the Divers Den on liveaquaria.com if you want to see what is available.

 

[Darby]

Get a Clarion Angel. Really expensive (due to the infrequency of their collection) but really hearty and resiliant. Beautiful too!

 

[BigJay]

@Darby wrote:

It's probably the most gorgeous angel you can find. This is definitely on my list if I ever win the lottery.

 

[hegi]

Regal Angel:
http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/angelfish/regalangelredsea/

Most beautiful fish in existence IMO. When I have a reef large enough to accommodate it's needs it will be my #1 fish.

These guys are fairly rare and very cool/pretty--Flaming Prawn Goby:
http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/gobies/flamingprawngoby/

I believe you can pair them with pistol shrimp as well. At $130-$150 they fall into your price range. They are small though.

 

[Firewolf4]

I think one thing has been passed over on this thread. Match the fish to the tank and habitat that you are establishing. Not all fish and corals do well in all Tanks. We've all heard not to put tangs into nano and pico tanks and that's said for a reason. So Look at what each fish you'd like and see if it will work in your tank and will it work with your other tank inhabitants.

 

[DaveG99]

Nothing wrong with common corals and fish. Most of the people I know dont even know what xenia is. I only have one good friend of mine (who lives in Florida) who even knows any saltwater fish besides a "nemo". So my shrooms, candy canes, frog spawn, sixline wrasse, etc, are all rare and unique fish to the people I see every day.

 

[Wes]

i always thought it would be cool to have a yellow, purple and a black tang in one tank. those 3 would be good in your 150 and you have a nice fairly common not so expensive, i little more desired semi pricey fish, and then the show fish that may cost a bit but i think 3 fish that look alike together in different colors would be cool.

 

[Darby]

You could tell them that the Purple Tang is the hybrid baby, and they'll think you're a Mad Scientist! lol.

If you want 'weird and unique', I might also suggest anything that lives in or looks like Sargasso. There are some REALLY cool Toadfish and Anglers that live in sargasso and look all hairy and leafy, as well as some seahorses.

Queen Angels and French Angels are beautiful, and rather LARGE, easy to come by onl;ine, but almost never seen in most peoples tanks.

Queen Triggers are even better, but you need a HUGE tank for those, they get to be bigger than the large pillows, and will destroy most reefs.

 

[ss95003]

I am with the others before i dropped to much money on expensive corals/and fish i would upgrade the skimmer. You will make your rare corals look much better.