This May have been Done Before..................L@@K.....

[Paul Davies]

I am curious, from all of the great experience on here;

What Fish / Coral you have regretted buying and also, what piece of equipment you have regretted also.

Mine would be a neon goby, placed in the tank, watched for 5 mins, then never seen again !!!!!

Also bought 2 baby tomato clowns, started breeding, got really defensive, all other fish too scared to come out of the rocks, spent 5 hours trying to catch them !!!!!

Equipment wise, hang on sand filter, pipe split, water everywhere, wife shouting, children crying, ME = running!!!!!!


Please post your stories here, would be lovely to hear them.

[fishysteve]

I regret buying my old Tobacco bass. Impulse buy. I didn't know they ate ornamental shrimp. He was cool though.

Equipment - Seaclone, Coralife 225 and CPR Bak Pak skimmers. Compact fluorescent supplimental lighting. The bulbs have to be changed too often. T5s are way better.

[RumLad]

First time I bought a pair of peppermint shrimp. I paid way too much (won't even say how much on here for fear of being shamed for life). The tank was too new, I was too new, my wife was too willing.... Next morning, both dead. I couldn't believe I paid that much for dead shrimp I couldn't eat!
As for equipment, I have a very bare bones set-up (two + years old now) so have not made any "bad" equipment purchases.

[Zegg]

First fish purchase, Two Striped Damsels. Was never able to put another fish in the tank.

Giving away my 240g acrylic reef ready tank for FREE I really want that back lol

Never buying a RO unit... prolly the biggest mistake to this day. I would have saved tons of money over the years if I would just getmyself a RO/DI unit.

[fishysteve]

Kent Tech CB. I used to go through a gallon of both parts every month. I should have switched to Randy's two part 7 years ago.

[michellejy]

As far as livestock, I have a few regrets. I wish I'd listened to everyone who said that if I added a fire shrimp to my tank, I'd never see it again. I bought one that was front and center of the tank at the LFS, and thought people were exaggerating about how reclusive they are. He's been in my tank for 5 months now, and I've only started seeing him (briefly) in the past week. If it wasn't for the moltings, I would have thought he'd died long ago.

I bought a yellow watchman goby who has never been seen again since he was moved out of quarantine and into the main tank.

I have a flame angel who is truly beautiful, but I've seen him nipping at my corals and chasing my other fish. My tank was peaceful until I added him, and it bugs me that he stresses out the other fish, even if he never actually harms any of them.

I bought a lot of high end encrusting montipora because I had an idea of something I wanted to do in my tank. Now I wish I'd put something else in there.

I wish I didn't have a canopy because the 6 extra inches it adds to the top make it nearly impossible for me to work in the tank, even with tongs. (I actually didn't want a canopy in the first place, but it was a package deal with the stand, and I have cathedral ceilings which would make hanging lights very awkward.)

[Paul Davies]

oh , and another one from me, Pistol Shrimp !!!! digging everwhere, dust everwhere ect etc.....

keep em coming !!!! There great !!!

[DidYouSayReefer]

My first saltwater setup. I have been broke ever since!!

[Anemonebuff]

SKILTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anemonebuff]

Two pep shrimps that were devoured by my tomato clown within seconds. Carpet anemone that ate pseudochromis, damsels x 3, cleaner shrimp, hermit crabs, snails, and a sixline wrasse....at least $100 worth of live stock.

[YoungReefer06]

Buying live rock offline, 180lbs, and paying for the shipping. What was I thinking? I could of found decent rock at LFS.

[Emory Speight]

Pencil urchins. The two I had in my 90g. got pretty large and started chewing on the skeletons of coral. Every time I tried to get them out they would latch onto the rock and hold on. I had to wait until I caught them moving on the rock and quickly knock them onto the sand to get them out. My other regret was a panda goby. He was so tiny you almost needed a magnifying glass to see him.

[CHEMCHEF]

Aqua c ev 180 skimmer:

[91yota]

flame hawk, 6-line wrasse, red mushrooms, prism skimmer, petco MDF stand for a 40B, and whatever it was that had planaria and aiptasia on it

[Paul Davies]

some great regrets there guys, I also remember having a dragon wrasse (large), then bought 4 baby chromis, within 5 mins he had gobbled 2 of them !!!!!!!

[Bernie21]

PBT, got ich & wiped out my entire tank...

[Amoore311]

Coralife Super Skimmer

Blue Damsels

[blennymower]

I introduced a powder brown tang into my 75g tank that had a yellow tang...what ensued were wounds due to fighting, ich infested the both of them, shortly after returning the powder brown my yellow tang died =(

[zooxanth]

Powder Blue, nibbled all my corals, some to the death.

[smleee]

Sally Lightfoot Crab - it ripped apart our beautiful Rose Anemone right before my very eyes while he was looking for food. I was just yelling at the tank for him to stop but he didn't listen.

[Lofty]

My mother bought me a black sea Urchin (showed up one day with it) At the time I had a 90g... it got huge, stuck me several times and wouod shoot poop out like rockets and lots of it too.

I bought a Yellow watchman that I thought I was saving from petco... thought he died cause I hadn't seen him for 2 weeks, did a 30% water change and discovered his hiding spot behind a pump and since have removed that pump and he now hides on the bottom under a huge rock but at least he comes out to eat now.

Via Aqua, Seaclone, Power Compact Lighting....and gorgs would always disinigrate on me.

[Lofty]

Flame Angel... ate many corals. Reef safe with caution my a** Still one of my favorite fish though.

[Amoore311]

Flame Angel... ate many corals. Reef safe with caution my a**

That would be the definition of Reef Safe w/ Caution though lol. Some Centropyge will devour all your coral, others won't touch a bit of it.

[jhildebrand]

adding a purple tang in with my 7 year old yellow tang - hey, it's a 260g, they should get along right???

rabbitfish that thought my zoas were an all-you-can-eat buffet

$100 christmas island wrasse (4") with my 10 year old lion who normally didn't bother anybody. just like the movie - gone in 60 seconds...

[emilecilliers]

Blue damsels,they are agressive now as they are 5 inch and the female is pregnant,need to get rid of them as they are atarting to nip corals and I have my corals in my fudge now,got them free from my mate when he sold his tank.

prizm skimmer,