Care level - expert only...

[Paul B]

I don't know how sensitive these fish are because I never had any trouble with them but I know many people don't have much luck with them.
Blue striped pipe fish. They have been spawning in my tank for years.

Long nose butterflies

Here they are on the reefs in Tahiti

Banded pipefish

Moorish Idols

And in Tahiti

Mandarins. These I really don't know why so much is written about. They are the least maintenance fish there is and they live a long time with very little that goes wrong with them. They basically take care of themselves.

I would add twin spot gobies which I can't keep and orange spotted filefish as difficult.
Also ribbon eels, pinecone fish and flashlight fish.
I also never had any luck with manta rays. :scratchch

 

[reefoman]

Sorry, that's not what I said/meant...I meant that seeing people (who may not be claiming to be experts) try these fish, is ALL the 'affirmation' that some people need to also try them.
How many times do you a see a thread where someone asks if a certain fish is OK' to try...he gets 30 responces that say NO, but he keeps asking till someone says 'go ahead, try it'...and guess what!

IMO, everyone should try to keep stable params...in every tank

can that fish survive on brine shrimp? many 'experts' say there is little to no nutritional value!

I don't agree with you about the QT

I've been into SW for almost 40 years, don't claim to be a expert, and have asked MANY people here questions, and for help!
I am NOT judging you for trying that fish...I hope it does well...but I think I'd rather see this thread started, after you've had the fish for a year, and could tell us your secrets to success!

Albano you right about the parameters but in my tank before I start kalkwasser pH was jumping from 7.6 (night) to 8.1 (day) now I keep it at 8.2
I forgot to mention that I'm getting adult brine shrimps which are more like a snacks for my fish but also they helping me to keep alive wild caught bangaii cardinals, sometimes they don't want to touch anything else except live brine shrimps till they will start eat frozen food.
QT is imo personal choice, any of us has his own opinion about it as long as it works is fine with or without quarantine I simply prefer to not stress my fish more than I have to.
I gonna watch this wrasse, learn and update this thread once in a while but I started it not only to share my wrasse but also to see other members fish and like you said learn something.

 

[reefoman]

I don't know how sensitive these fish are because I never had any trouble with them but I know many people don't have much luck with them.
Blue striped pipe fish. They have been spawning in my tank for years.

Long nose butterflies

Here they are on the reefs in Tahiti

Banded pipefish

Moorish Idols

And in Tahiti

Mandarins. These I really don't know why so much is written about. They are the least maintenance fish there is and they live a long time with very little that goes wrong with them. They basically take care of themselves.

I would add twin spot gobies which I can't keep and orange spotted filefish as difficult.
Also ribbon eels, pinecone fish and flashlight fish.
I also never had any luck with manta rays. :scratchch

Paul thanks for all informations and pictures I want to read some info about the pipe fish my wife like sea horses and maybe some day I'll put one extra tank with them and pipe fish

 

[Paul B]

Those pipefish are tiny and you almost have to hatch brine shrimp every day to keep them. They do hunt pods all day but I think the baby brine is a huge plus for their survival. They have been spawning in my tank for many years but, like seahorses they have a short lifespan of a few years.

 

[Bry17nyc]

This is my blue ribbon eel
Got it to eat everything from guppies to silversides to shrimp

It's doing pretty good so far

 

[Imbarrie]

I don't think blue ribbon eels are hard to keep. As long as they are eating.
Mine is eating frozen krill and mysis.

 

[NYreefNoob]

paul my blue sided pipe fish i had for over a year till i had to put him in my smaller tank, mine ate aggressively on frozen food, mainly pieces of mysis and was in a full blown reef with alot of flow

fish that usually require pods dont do so well unless it is a larger tank, you would be surprised how quick they can wipe a pod population out, manderins arent hard to keep if you get a healthy one, ( no signs of stomach being pinched )

copperband buterflies, ive never had long term luck, even if they were eating frozen, there's alot of angels, butterflies and so forth. i truelly believe certain fish really need biggers tanks to survive

 

[duke62]

Pics

Here is a pic of my cleaner wrasse and copperband. Both around 8 months in my system. In the pic is feeding frenzy time

 

[Paul B]

Ribbon eels I never had much luck with. I kept them for a year or two but thats about it.
You guys are better than I am. I also have them jump out.

NYReefNoob my pipefish also will eat anything but their mouths are so small they have a hard time eating anything much larger than a pod, but the little suckers try hard to swallow anything.
I have two mandarins and a scooter bleeny in my reef, I never have any trouble with them and copperbands are one of my favorite fish so there has almost always been one in there. I like odd shaped fish.