Best Centrepiece Saltwater Fish For EVERY Size Tank!
- Mar 12, 2022
- Anshika Mishra
- 675 0 0
Are you ready to discover the best centerpiece fish for your tank, no matter the size?
Under 100 Liters/ 25 Gallons
In the first category, we are restricted by space, so there are few options. But, you might be able to get away with some of the fish in the next category of the short to medium range.
However, the two best choices for a salt tank are:
Hell Freaky Fire Fish
They can be a little bit timid and spend time hiding in the rock world, but they are more likely to be out and about n a small tank where there are not many other tankmates. Furthermore, you would not find another fish with beautiful soft purple colors.
They are completely peaceful and easy to keep. The only downside is that they are pretty expensive, but there is no better center fish piece fish than this.
Fancy Clownfish
Some of the wider Clownfish varieties are wonderful fish, but you have to do something small and showier. There are endless numbers of color morphs that look gorgeous.
100 to 200Liters/ 25-50 Gallons
Flame Hawk
For a start, they are strikingly bright red which is not a common color in the hobby, and then they have a little bundt mask on their eyes that gives them mischievous looks. Couple with the fact that they don't have any swim bladder, so they have to rest on rocks and corals all day, they will spend much time watching you.
But, they do have a reputation for eating some small ornamental shrimp. So, beware!
Blennies
Blennies are an amazing character of fish who swim in and out of caves all day long and are guaranteed to keep you entertained. But Blennies can spend a lot of their time hiding away. However, Midas Blennies are a much more pleasant fish and will always be out and swimming with other fish trying to make friends.
Blennies are dead easy to keep and dirt cheap to buy.
Splendid Dottyback
This fish will remain small and have striking blue and yellowfins and a nice pattern on its body. However, if you have a more mature tank and you fancy a bit more of a challenge, Dragonet might be the way to go.
They have colors that you will not see anywhere else in the hobby, and they hurry around the tank all day with this really funny, unique swimming pattern.
However, they are very unlikely to eat frozen food, which is why you need an established tank with refugium where copepods can breed to keep these guys happy.
The Pipefish Candy
These fishes are members of the seahorse family and another tricky fish to keen on. They reportedly don't do well in a strong flow, but the flow most people have in a mixed reef is probably just fine for them.
They are considered experts only adn then have only adn they have tiny mouths, so they will only accept small portions of food. So hence, they are another fish that is best kept if you have a nice supply of live food coming from your refugium, but if you can meet their care needs, they are the most awesome looking and brightly colors of pipefish family.
200 to 400 Liters/ 50 to 100 Gallons
White Tail Coal Tang
There aren't many fish with bright white fins, and these guys stand out against the burgundy body with nice little spots and patterns.
They are also not as aggressive as other tanks so that they won't bother your other tankmates. Furthermore, being a Tang, they spend their entire day munching on algae.
Flame Angelfish
They are one of the more reef-safe Angelfish by reputation, but it is probably still a bit of a coin toss. But, it is another absolutely beautiful fish that will make a center fish for any tank and wins out over similar dwarf angelfish like the Multibar Angels and Lemopeel Angel.
Wrasses
There are many fantastic wrasses, and they dance around in the middle of the water all day long, showing off their fins which is quite a sight.
400 Liters/ 100 Gallons+
Copperbanded Butterflyfish
This is one of the gorgeous fish in the entire hobby. Nothing matches its copper stripes, and that laterally compressed body looks magnificent.
The downside of these guys is that they are very difficult to get eating and will take a lot of care from you in the first place, which means you have to chuck in endless amounts of food to get them started.
But, the good news is, if you don't fancy the challenge of a copper band, the Goldflake Angel is a much easier fish to and the most striking fish on this list.
There are plenty of yellow fish in the hobby, but none have beautiful colorings like this, and if you can put up with them pecking at your corals from time to time, you will spend hours every evening looking at this beautiful fish.
Emperor Angelfish
Like many fish, they have completely different coloring when young and old, both of which are beautiful.
They are an angelfish risk with corals, but you will see plenty of people keeping them successfully in SPS tanks. Once you have a big collection of corals, they are less likely to bother an individual colony to the point where they cause real problems.
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