Selecting a healthy marine aquarium fish

When purchasing a fish they will show you their condition and general health by the colour and personality they display.

If they are of a strong colour, searching for food aggressively, carrying out territorial actions, avoiding hiding and even vigorously looking at you and acting in ways that suggest that it wishes you to go away, now this is the one you get!

Most fish can be nitrate poisoned before you purchase them, or internally stress poisoned. This means they have had continued adrenalin production and it damages organs beyond repair as does nitrate poisoning.

This simply means that they may eat ravenously, but still eventually starve to death as if drug caught.

Chaetodons and centropyge freely show you that they are sick. If a darkening around the gill area is noticeable, this is not the fish to purchase; it may have suffered too much already.