5 Of The Most Beautiful Marine Fish To Keep

Marine fish come in the most wonderful combination of colours, shapes, and sizes, and it’s not difficult to see why marine aquariums are so popular.

If you’re considering investing in a marine aquarium, or perhaps you’ve been playing Aquarium Designer and are ready to make the leap from virtual to real, then we have a look at five of the most beautiful fish for your tank.

1. Blue spot Jawfish (Opistognathus rosenblatti)

The gorgeous Jawfish is native to the Gulf of California. Mostly yellow and orange, the colours gradually get darker down the length of the Jawfish, and their blue spots are often fluorescent. They create a burrow in the sand, burying themselves with their heads exposed, opening their mouths to warn other fish while waiting for food.

They can be fun fish to observe with their comical mouth warning (which is common of jawfish) and their excessive need to have a tidy burrow, often moving things around and re-arranging the surrounding sand.

2. Copperband Butterfly (Chelmon rostratus)

Found across Indonesia and Australia, the beautiful Copperband Butterflyfish has a long narrow nose and orange vertical stripes with a large black circle on the dorsal.

They can reach eight inches in size and are typically peaceful fish. They enjoy grazing on the rocks, using their pointed nose to reach into tiny holes and hard to reach areas.

3. Carpenter’s Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus carpenteri)

Carpenter’s Flasher is one of the most popular of the Wrasse species. They are generally reef safe and do not bother inverts.

The stunning fish is deep orange, with a white belly, and have purple and blue lines across their bodies. The males of this species have a high dorsal and are more vibrant in colour, they will display to the females by ‘flaring’ their fins.

4. Clown Triggerfish (Balistoides conspicillum)

The Clown Triggerfish or Big Spotted Triggerfish has beautiful large white spots against a dark grey/black body, making them uniquely distinctive. This fish can reach a size of 50cm and is suited to a predator tank only; they have very sharp teeth and will predate small fish and inverts.

The Clown Triggerfish, as with all, Triggerfish, has a dorsal sponge that can be erected to prevent it from being pulled out of its refuge by predators or to scare off the competition. They are quite intelligent and will develop comical personalities when in a home marine aquarium.

5. Mandarin Dragonet (Synchiropus splendidus)

The Mandarinfish belongs to the Dragonet family and is native to the Pacific Ocean region. Here vividly coloured fish, blue, green, orange and red, make them a popular choice for aquarium owners. Their colours make it rare to find two the same, as they all differ in colour pattern, making them unique.

The Mandarinfish have stripes that cover the body, with a mostly blue/green face. They typically cling to rock faces with their pectorals while hunting tiny inverts for food. They can be difficult to get feeding, and they do far better if a natural food source is available on the rock they hunt, meaning they need a well-established aquarium.

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