best pet fish

[fungia]

i dont know if you guys think fish as pets but i am looking for one that is like a pet. i hear puffers are but they are not reef safe. any other fish that are good pets?

 

[Inno]

errr so what size tank do you have, firstly? Also, what type of tank is it, reef or fish only?

Also depends regarding the puffer, I had a porcupine puffer in my 125 reef and it didn't touch a thing, but I "trained" it that way

 

[monkeyboy]

Can't beat a porcupine puffer with those big blue eyes, squirting water at you when you open the top to feed...

 

[danmhippo]

My personal favorite are the seahorses. You can literally reach down to pet them. However, reef setting is not ideal for them.

Otherwise, I would go for a moray, just be careful that you don't get your fingers bitten. The same goes for trigger and puffers.

 

[dtiedke]

If your tank is large enough, a Naso Tang is very friendly and personable. My large Naso comes right up to me any time I put my hand in the tank. At first I was scared, as they have a rather large beak on them...but he is just very inquisitive and not aggresive towards me.

I have been known to give him a little rub between the eyes once in a while....he seems to dig it.....


Dave

 

[Bryan Thompson]

What do you mean puffers are not reef safe? Stanley has not touched a thing in my reef. Here is a photo or two:

Bryan

 

[Len]

I've found hogfish also to be great "pets," but they will eat shrimps. If you aren't planning on small crustaceans, they're great choices (awesome personalities, very hardy).

Fairy Wrasses are still my favorite fish.

 

[klingsa]

Perhaps the non-reef-safe reputation of puffers has to do with the toxin they can release, killing everything in the tank including themselves. I know a lot of people who have them for years with no problem, but it would really suck to lose an entire reef. Ostratoxin, it's called. And puffers are very prone to ich. Sure are cute, though. At the LFS I work at, we have the cutest dog-face puffer. What a face! We also have a very personable long-horned cowfish, related to boxfish and puffers. He follows the customers back and forth, and eats out of my hand. He tried to eat my hand once, so I've been a bit more careful since then! Took a nice round chunk outa me. 8O

I like my cleaner wrasse...he comes up to my hand whenever it's in there and takes care of any dead skin or ich, velvet, that kind of thing. I haven't had ONE white spot since I got him...

Sara