In this episode, the Water Colors team discusses their top 5 favorite fish that are not safe to keep with coral. The average reef aquarium in 2026 has a variety of mixed corals. Many of the most interesting fish in the aquarium trade are unsafe to keep with corals. This means there’s a whole world of fun and unique species that get overlooked, simply because they’re not compatible with the average reef tank. Many of the species mentioned in this episode will eat corals, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a place in the hobby! What are your favorite non reef safe fish?

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Species mentioned in this episode:

• Scribbled boxfish, ostracion solarensis


• Yellow clown goby, gobiodon okinawae


• Red Sea cleaner wrasse, larabicus quadrilineatus


• Orange spotted rabbitfish, siganus guttatus


• Eibli angelfish, centropyge eibli


• Lemonpeel angelfish, centropyge flavissima


• Regal angelfish, pygoplites diacanthus


• Brownband butterflyfish, roa modesta


• Threadfin butterflyfish, chaetodon auriga


• Chocolate chip starfish, protoreaster nodosus


• Peppered butterflyfish, chaetodon guttatissimus


• Undulated triggerfish, balistapus undulatus


• Caribbean longnose butterflyfish, prognathodes aceleatus