[FishKid]

I just had a novel idea for my 72 gal, which would be FO, then eventually FOWLR. I was thinking about some Rare/Unusual fish. Can anyone point out some peaceful but wierd/rare/quasi-expensive fish? I definatly want a snowflake moray, I want to try to keep the fish under 8" (except for the eel). And 1 or 2 Scotts Fairy Wrasse is up high on the list

can anyone point me toward some cool fish??

mark

[eses]

The frog fish or angler fish, I think they are two seperate fish, but are similar in type. They are ugly, scoot around on the bottom, and eat anything that comes near their mouth. Deffinatly odd, interesting, and within your size requirement as they get about 8-10" in size when fully grown. From what I've read and heard from owners of them is they are pretty easy to keep, but some require you to only feed them live food .. but many adapt to frozen or fresh/dead flesh.

If I had a tank your size I would have one. Unfortunatly, a football sized fish won't fit in my 29 gallon. That fish may however be pushing the limits of a 72 gallon with a snowflake eel; the snowflakes create a lot of nitrate.

[FishKid]

anglers are cool! except, from what I know, they wont thrive without caves, i am usually wrong though I did not know that snowflakes create lots of nitrate.

How about a pop-eyed sea goblin anyone have info on them?

would an adult angler make a meal out of a fish the size of an anthia?

mark

[ranaman]

Yes they would easily eat any fish, even one a little bit larger. I saw a large black angler in hawaii that was beginning fed a fish the same lenght as the angler. A little more compatible might be the Leaf Scorpion fish they only grow to about 4". Zebra morays are fairly peaceful to other fish since their wild diet is mainly crabs. I saw my dream tank at the Wilhelma in Stuttgart , a mixed exhibit of pinecone fish and chambered nautilius. Just have to win the lotto.
The Spring 2001 Sea scope has an article on sea goblins.

[eses]

Snowflake morays as well thrive with lots of caves, and places to hide. They do best in a lot of rockwork, with a tank that has a soft sandbed. They like to burrow, and they like hiding in rocks. If you don't provide them with adaquate choices to den they will try to get out any way they can. So it is best to have alot of LR in the tank, or rock of anykind, and some that is right on the sandbed so they can burrow underneath it. It is pretty cool watching them build their home.

In my 29 gallon reef tank, which is way too small biologically to support a moray; mine accounts for about 5-10ppm jump in nitrate when I feed it. I generally feed it about half of a 3" shrimp though every 2-3 days, so it eats pretty well. It is also about 12" in size. But by using a denitrafication chamber, and nitrate sponge my constant nitrate levels stay below 10ppm.

[FMarini]

Hey guys:
great question.
I spent alot of my time collecting rare and unusual, and have been successful and also troubled.
So first things first. Your tank is fairly small, so you'll need to pick and choose accordingly.
In general if you want rare and unusual expect to do homework finding these fish, expect to pay big dollars, and really have to work w/ these fish to keep them alive, as most of these fish have unknown feeding habits.

There are a number of unqiue and rare tangs, butterflies, and angels available, and pictures of these will make you drool.a safe start

I love eels, for me the real deal is dragon morays, but beside$$$ they will takeout any and all of your fish. The pebbletoothed moreys like snowflakes, chainlinks, and zebras are more or less fish safe, but get fairly large and clumsy..so if you have rock work make sure its secure. A recent thread on eels here
http://reefcentral.com/vbulletin/sho...highlight=eels
most are not rare, but are somehat unusual/

As far as frogfish/angelers (same fish really -all antennarids). they are really cool fish and unless you pick the right one you'll get a fish which will eat all of its tank mates, and get huge (no they don't need caves). Most of these fish can eat a fish their size or 1/2 times bigger. The commersons frogfish get to be as big as nerf footballs. For me anglers are a species-only fish, but cool never-the-less.

You can think about supercolorful groupers, I've seen quite a few bluestiped and pollini groupers available, minatus, and V-tailed are also gorgeous fish..amazing colors and very hardy.

Think also about the venomous fish, like lions and scorpionfish. One type like the small "leaf fish" are great leaf mimics and really cool (a little expensive and hard to fed but if your patient they do well). AS far as the holy grail of lionfish think rhinopias (see here http://www.marsh.addr.com/rhinopa.html ) amazing looking fish$$$$$$$. currently in my main tank I have a waspfish, a small scorpionfish. In the past I had a imidacius(popeyed seagoblin) ...not a good fish, interesting looking, but a poor feeder, and spends 99% of it time 3/4 buried in the sand($$$).

I would check out www.themarinecenter.com for rare and unusual as randy can get most of the stuff, just don't be shocked by the sticker price.
good luck in your quest
frank
__________________
To see my 180 gal tank of lions:
http://www.marshreef.org/members/fmarini/index.htm

[FishKid]

Frank,
You have no idea how much you just helped me! Looks like I will be getting another job for this one!! The anthia Grouper caught my eye! to save me some time, anyone know how big it gets?

mark