None of the pictures below are of our actual fish, truthfully they all look the same so there was no reason for me to try to get good pictures.
All are relatively reef safe, meaning we can have shrimp, crabs and corals without the fish eating them. We don't have corals yet because of the conditions they require such as lighting and supplements. They will come someday once we can get enough courage.
Our oldest guy is our Banggai Cardinalfish. I really wish I could remember when we bought him, but I think he may be coming up on two years now. He even survived falling down our filtration system and getting his fins beat up. A local fish store, Fish 4 U, has one of these fellas in a tank and he's quite large, I'm hoping our guys sticks around and gets just as big.
Soon after we bought 4 green chromis. They are a schooling fish which seems to be rare in the saltwater world. Most fish will pick on or kill their same breed or species when in captivity.
I'm not sure why, but three of the chromis alienated the fourth for months, they chased him away when he tried to school with them. I was going to separate him from the rest, but before I could he died. We haven't had a fish die since that poor fella and that was a while ago.
Around September last year we bought a firefish. I had wanted this little fish for a really long time since I saw him at a fish store when we researching for our tank. This little guy is adorable and so fun. He has claimed a little hole in a rock at the bottom of the tank as his home. When the lights go out he sinks back into his hole to sleep and he's back out again when the lights come on.
He doesn't move around the tank much, but he's a peaceful fella that I really adore. He vanished one day for about a month and I was so sad, turned out he just jumped into the filtration. After we found him, we put egg crate on top of the tank so fish will stop doing that!
In October of last year we bought a lemon peel angelfish. We went to a fish store in Orem and this little guy was swimming around as happy as a clam. He was very spur of the moment, not something I recommend in the saltwater hobby since some fish and coral have a tendency to not get along. It's a very delicate ecosystem! Out of all the fish we have, this one will be the one most likely to nip at corals. He's always swimming around the tank finding algae to graze on. I'm hoping he behaves himself when we add corals.
In May I bought a Bicolor blenny after weeks of searching for one. I researched this little guy to no end before buying. I wanted a colorful, peaceful fish that got somewhat big with some personality. Blennies don't have swimbladders so he can't stay swimming like other fish. He hops from rock to rock in the most adorable manner. He cleans out crannies in the rocks and then shoves his tiny body to hide and sleep. It took him a while to come out of his shell and hid a lot after we got him, but now he's out and about most of the day.
The last fish we put in were my birthday present. We knew we wanted clownfish and we like to be different, rare dogs, remember? So we couldn't get regular Nemos and had to get a designer breed. I stopped by the fish store close to my house to buy fish food and they had a pair of frost bite clownfish that I was eyeing. I waited for John to get back into town two weeks later and told him that if they were still there then it was a sign that we should buy them.
They were $300, I know what you're thinking, "For fish!?!?" it is pricey, but it's what you pay for rare fish. Of course I've been worried about them and don't want them to die because of the price tag, but they've been crazy eaters since they got put in. They are teeny tiny little things at only an inch long right now, but will soon grow to 4". We hope to put an anemone in for them eventually.
We also have two shrimp:
a cleaner shrimp
We also have an emerald crab that we only see every few weeks.
Along with the above we have a handful of various hermit crabs and snails. We have plans to get a few more fish, but probably not for a while. I just hope that these guys thrive and continue to be happy.