Sometimes i think collectors just get their hands on anything from the wild and hope some aquarium shop will take them. I' have seen the strangest fish being imported that i know will probably never sell. Fish like the flying gurnard and the crocodile fish.
Unfortunately they also bring in some very common fish that do extremely poorly in our aquariums. The three listed are the scooter blenny, the mandarin goby and members of the filefish family.
Scooter Blenny
While somewhat drab looking with their overall white and brown markings on their bodies, they are still brought in with great regularity. The problem with the scooter blenny is the fact that it has a very narrow dietary range in the wild.
They eat any small crustaceans they can get their hands on like copepods and munnid isopods and any other small life forms in the sand substrate and around the rock. Attempts to get them on prepared fish food often fail. Only those with large established aquariums manage to keep them with successfully.
Filefish
All filefish look very similar to one another. They have a highly compressed body like that of the surgeonfish and they possess a distinctive dorsal fin that when erect, looks like a spike.
The problem with these fishes also has to do with their diet. They feed only on one thing. Coral polyps. Which means keeping them alive would mean deep pockets to spend on live corals as food. They will destroy a SPS coral colony with gusto and as such, they are not reef safe.
Mandarin Goby
The difficulties in caring for the mandarin goby are very similar to its cousin, the scooter blenny. They are both imported in huge numbers and the both eventually die in huge numbers as well. However, it should be noted that with persistent effort, you can get them to feed on frozen foods most of the time. There is no guarantee for success and some specimens for one reason or another simply do not feed, even on copepods.
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