Guide to Saltwater Aquarium Fishes
The Best Fishes for the Tropical Marine Aquarium
Angelfishes – Whether large or small, these are all magnificent animals—brightly colored and interesting to watch. Some are only appropriate for advanced aquarists, but others are appropriate for beginners.
The Most Expensive Dwarf Angelfishes
Dwarf Angelfish Online Buyer's Guide
Dwarf Angelfishes Essential Stats
Excellent Reefsafe Angelfishes
Anglerfishes and Frogfishes – These fishes are unusual and interesting fishes appropriate for the intermediate aquarist.
Anthias – Generally considered difficult to keep due to their dietary needs; if you have a mature aquarium with health pod populations, however, you may want to try these quintessential reef fishes.
Rare and Exotic Anthias
Tropical Marine Aquarium Basses
Basslets - Many basslets are hardy, colorful and peaceful fishes. They are interesting to watch and commonly available.
Basslets are Great Beginner Fishes
Batfishes – While not a beginner fish, batfishes can easily be the centerpiece of a large saltwater aquarium. They are personable, clever, unusual, and engaging.
Walking Batfish in the Aquarium
Blennies – While many aquarists know the common blennies from the family Blenniidae, there is a great diversity amongst this group of often lovable marine fish. It’s hard to generalize about blennies.
Got a Marine Algae Problem? Get an Algae-Eating Blenny
Boxfishes - Boxfish and Cowfish require careful attention to their dietary and habitat needs, but they can and do make personable and fascinating aquarium specimens.
Aquarium Boxfishes and Cowfishes
Butterflyfishes –The majority of butterflyfishes should be left in the wild, but a few make excellent aquarium specimens based on their striking appearance and adaptability to captive environments.
Cardinalfishes - Cardinalfishes are great aquarium fishes for the beginning aquarists, especially if they are interested in trying their hand at captive breeding. Many are hardy, distinctive-looking and interesting.
Clownfishes – The most popular and recognizable of all marine fishes, most are hardy and appropriate for the beginning marine aquarists.
Damselfishes – Damsel fishes are some of the toughest marine fishes for the saltwater aquarium. Some are quite aggressive, but others are peaceful, colorful shoaling fishes.
Dartfishes, Wormfishes & Firefishes – Dartfishes make excellent aquarium species. They are really gobies and are excellent additions to a marine set-up.
Dartfish, Wormfish and Firefish
Firefishes for the Marine Aquarium
Dragonets – These exotic looking fish are appropriate for experienced marine aquarists with well-established systems. They are only recommended to the hobbyist prepared to provide for their needs.
Common Tropical Marine Dragonets
Eels – Most make poor aquarium specimens, but a few are hardy and remain fairly small.
Rare White Tesselata Moray Eel (not a small eel!)
Filefishes – These shy fishes can be great aquarium choices with their striking appearance and fascinating behavior.
Seagrass Filefis (Acreichthys tomentosus)
Tilefishes are Good Aquarium Fishes - FIve Common Species
Goatfishes – These are attractive, hardy and interesting fishes that provide useful tank maintenance skills and are active and interesting.
Goatfish for the Saltwater Tank
Gobies – With over 2,000 species described, it’s hard to generalize except to say that most are personable and interesting, especially those living in symbiotic relationships with invertebrates.
Groupers and Hamlets – The smaller of these basses generally make good, hardy, long-lived aquarium specimens, and the hamlets are remarkable looking.
Tropical Marine Aquarium Basses
Grunts & Sweetlips – Sweetlips have pouty lips and grunts grunt. Both generally make poor aquarium fishes, but, with the right care, they can do well.
Grunts, Porkfish and Sweetlips
Hawkfishes – These are excellent fishes for marine aquaria—colorful, interesting and hardy. Hawkfishes are one of the best captive species in the hobby.
Two of the Best Tropical Marine Aquarium Hawkfishes
Jawfishes – Named for their oversized mouths, these elongate, big-eyed fishes can easily become the centerpiece of an aquarium.
Lionfishes – These hearty fishes’ venomous spines are usually outweighed by their exotic looks.
The Amazing Aquarium Lionfishes
Parrotfishes – These beautiful herbivorous fishes should, almost without exception, be left in the wild.
Protecting Herbivorous Fishes Like the Queen Parrotfish
Boycotting the Trade in Parrotfishes
Pseudochromis & Dottybacks – These mostly small fishes are absolutely striking and notoriously aggressive.
Best Dottybacks for the Marine Aquarium
Pufferfishes – These “pets” are endearing, long-lived and remarkably expressive, although they do require specialized feeding.
Pufferfishes from the Genus Arothron (aka "Fat Puffers")
Rabbitfishes – These hardy herbivores are fantastic algae-eating machines.
The Best Algae-Eating Rabbitfishes
Saltwater Aquarium Rabbitfishes
Surgeonfishes and Tangs - With everything from aquarium staples to rare collector fish, these fishes are interesting algae-grazers that are rightfully beloved by most aquarists.
Keeping a Powder Blue Tang in a Marine Aquarium
Naso_Tangs_for_the_Tropical_Saltwater_Aquarium
Triggerfishes – These are some of the most intelligent, hearty and attractive fishes available to the marine aquarist.
Triggerfishes for the Reef Tank
Triggerfishes for the Fish Only Aquarium
Wrasses – An interesting, large and diverse group of fishes with many hardy, interesting and colorful species.
Naoko's Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus naokoae)
Blueface Angelfish
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