[Reefland]

Lee,

There are many, many beautiful reef fishes indeed. But what are some of the no so commonly seen in aquarium, but suitable for captive life reef fishes? We currently have a Flamehawk in our 75 gallon reef, and want to add probably 2 more fish to the tank. I was orginally going to go with Anthias but have steered clear of that idea. Just looking for your opinion.

[leebca]

As more and more fishes are captured for our hobby, there are more and more fishes being captured which, heretofore, have gone less noticed. Such fishes are coming through the system in various quantities. Some of those are not good choices. They are less seen (semi-rare) but the question exists 'should they be kept by aquarists.

The unusual fishes come from places where the export of fishes have gone through restrictions or from which transportation is very expensive. Restrictions have risen out of China and some Japanese waters. You'll find there a fishes from those waters which are quite suitable for reef systems, but not often imported into the USA and when they are, they are often 'scooped up.' There are those fishes from the Red Sea that are expensive to transport to the USA usually because they have to go through one or more holding or hold-over sites in transit. All these fishes may be considered in the 'less commonly kept' category. IF you were European, you'd have greater access to some of these fishes and to those aquarists, such fishes wouldn't be considered less common.

When I was in Tokyo I visited some aquarium shops. I couldn't stop drooling! They have fishes in tanks-after-tanks which we don't even see in the USA, much less keep.

The next group of not-often-seen are the fishes out of Australian waters. The USA does get some good imports from those waters, but there are still some less commonly seen fishes in those waters.

It would be difficult to list all those fishes from those waters. So I'll duck your question by suggesting you obtain books that highlight those fishes from those waters. Some online fish suppliers will list fishes from those waters, though they don't frequently import them. Such sites as The Marine Center are good to look through for possible choices of the less commonly available fishes. This is how I obtained my Blue Line Angelfish.

I will say in general there are very unusual Gobies and Wrasses that are coming through the system from 'common waters' but not often seen because I think, they have not be a group of fishes in high demand.

[Poseidon]

Scott, since Lee mentioned the Marine Center....


Photo by The Marine Center

A friend posted a question about these on another board, and I was smitten!

[weez1959]

Have you see this little guy? The Helfrich's Firefish on this page:
J&L Aquatics - Aquarium fish tank equipment and saltwater aquarium fish worth noting

[weez1959]

Actually I just noticed they have a few of the more rare fish on the same page...