Hawaii Biotopes:

A Hawiian Biotope tank offers many choices to the aquarist. To make an aquarium a true "living picture of the Coral Reefs", we need to work harder to duplicate the whole environment of the fish. By doing this, we will see behaviors not normally seen in aquariums (such as two fish "helping" each other out, or interacting in a unique fashion) and have a more natural aquarium. Hawiian fish are colorful, plus, most are hand-caught and rather hardy. This is only a sample of the fish available from the region. Note: This does not wish to imply that all these fish are reef-safe, nor compatible with each other. The fish articles section at this site has more information on most of these fish.

Inverts:
It’s illegal to sell corals and live rock from the island, but Cotton Candy coral is known to the area, along with the most common, Cauliflower Pocillopora and Porites species. Some say the Coral Banded Shrimp is found here as well.

Wrasses:
The Saddle Wrasse reaches 6-10 inches and is from the Thallasoma genus A very pretty fish and one of the most common on the reefs; very active as well.
The 5 Line Wrasse, pictured
The Elegant Coris Venusta, which grows 7 inches and is unique looking.
The Common Bird-Nose Wrasse
Some say the Lunar Wrasse can be found here.
Hawiian Cleaner Wrasses, which are extremly diffucult to maintain.
The Ornate Christmas Wrasse, also very hard to keep.
The Excellant Yellow Coris / Goldenhead Wrasse

Damselfish:
The Peaceful Blue Chromis
The aggressive and larger Sergeant Major Damselfish
The Chocolate Dip Chromis
The Agile Chromis
The Marroon Clownfish can extend it's range that far
The Percula Clownfish can as well

Lionfish:
The nocturnal Hawiian Lionfish along with others.

Snappers:
The Nocturnal Blue Striped Snapper, whichs attains 25 cm in length.

Angelfish:
Banded / Bandit Angel, which is very hard to keep and does poorly.
The incredible Flame Angelfish
The very delicate Potteri Dwarf Angelfish

Tangs: There are 24 native to Hawaii
Yellow Tangs
Moorish Idols are common, and related to Tangs, but have a very high death rate in captivity.
The Schooling Convict Tangs
The Kole Tang / Yellow Eye Tang
The Chevron Tang
The Orange Shoulder Tang, which grows 14 inchs and needs a 135 gallon or larger tank.
The Achilles Tang, which is delicate and aggressive, one of the only known fish to hybridize in Hawaii
The standard Marine Hobby Naso Tang
And some less popular ones:
The Blue-Spine Naso Unicornis
The Blue Line Tang
Lavender Tang
White Band Tang
Ring-Tail Tang
Orange Eye Stripe Tang, pictured, and others

Hawkfish:
The very aggressive Arc Eye Hawk reaches 6 inches
The less common Black Side Hawk
The less common Stocky Hawkfish
The common Blood Red Hawkfish (Cirrhitops fasciatus)

Butterflyfish:
The rather hardy Threadfin
Milletseed Butterfly
The rather hardy Raccoon
The rather hardy Longnose
The Multiband
The impossible to keep Ornate Butterfly
The Moderatly hardy, but shy, Four Spot Butterflyfish, if you can get it to accept food.
The Tinker’s Butterfly

Triggerfish:
Some say the Clown Trigger is from the area
The Humu Humu Triggerfish
The Reef Triggerfish, that grows 25 cm and is from the Rhinecanthus genus; very pretty.

Squirrelfish, Frogfish, Lizardfish, Puffers, Soliderfish, and 5 species of Goatfish can also be found, among Trumpetfish and others.

Have fun creating your own piece of Hawaii! A Biotope tank in saltwater is extremly impressive. This information was gathered from a variety of sources, including diving records, underwater photography, aquarium publications, the Waikiki Aquarium information, and others.

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