Guide category
Saltwater Fish Guides
Hydro Habitats reference material about saltwater fish.
Saltwater Fish reference library
Fish
Azure Damselfish
A hardy, electric-blue and yellow damselfish that offers bright color in a compact body. It is among the more manageable Chrysiptera damsels, but it still establishes and defends territory and should not be treated as completely peaceful.
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Banggai Cardinalfish
A striking, slow-moving cardinalfish recognized by bold black bars, white spots, and long, elegant fins. It adapts readily to peaceful reef aquariums but has important same-species aggression and conservation considerations.
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Common Firefish
A slender, peaceful dartfish known for its striking red-orange tail, pale body, yellowish head, and tall pennant-like first dorsal fin. It spends much of the day hovering above a secure retreat.
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Lawnmower Blenny
A robust, expressive combtooth blenny famous for scraping algal film from rock. It is useful in mature aquariums but should be chosen as a pet with specialized feeding needs, not purchased as a guaranteed cure for nuisance algae.
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Ocellaris Clownfish
A small, hardy anemonefish and one of the most recognizable marine aquarium species. Captive-bred Ocellaris Clownfish are widely available, adapt readily to aquarium life, and usually accept prepared foods.
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Pajama Cardinalfish
A small, hardy, slow-moving cardinalfish with an unusual patchwork of colors and a calm disposition. It is active mainly at dusk and night but adapts well to daytime aquarium feeding.
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Royal Gramma
A small, hardy Caribbean basslet prized for its vivid purple-and-yellow coloration, peaceful community behavior, and excellent reef compatibility.
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Six-Line Wrasse
A vivid, active reef wrasse with six orange stripes over a blue-purple body. It is hardy, compact, and an energetic rockwork hunter, but its reputation as a simple pest-control fish often overlooks serious territorial aggression.
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Tailspot Blenny
A tiny, personable combtooth blenny that alternates between grazing rock surfaces, perching in the open, and peeking from crevices. Its modest size and generally peaceful nature make it well suited to smaller established reef aquariums.
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Yellow Watchman Goby
A hardy, burrow-dwelling marine goby known for standing guard at the entrance of a shared burrow. Its manageable size, reef compatibility, and fascinating partnership with pistol shrimp make it popular in home aquariums.
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