90 gallon bowfront fish stock ideas

[MrsSchlatter]

Hi all,

My husband and I have a 29gal biocube we are reefing with. We bought a used 90 gallon tank and are currently tearing it down. If we had it my way it would be a seahorse tank, but he's leaning more towards predator tank. Which I'm totally cool with, but we have 5 children ages 7 and under who are really curious and I'm pretty concerned for their little fingers if they'd happen to place them in the tank, or if they'd bother a fish/invert that could release a toxin if they'd make it mad with running by tank or tapping it. We have tank rules like don't touch in or on the tank and be careful around it. But let's be real they are kids and dont always mind. So stocking thoughts on what should go in here? Thanks!

 

[MrsSchlatter]

I also should add that the tank has no sump. Its filter system is 2 eheim canister filters, and I have a multi media reactor that hangs on the tank. I don't know if that's necessary to know for a predator tank or not haha. Weve been using our biocube since 2014 with some friendly fish and corals. But this tank has a horrible long bulb light that sits on top of the 4 pieces of glass on top of the tank. I dont trust that. And I'd like to take the whole glass pieces off, but I've heard eels like to escape. So we would probably have to keep using the glass lid pieces, although there is like a 2 inch gap along the back where the filter heads tubing run. So there will always be that little escape space. I'd show pictures but the tank had cyano and bryopsis and we didnt know till we brought it home. Anyhow our LFS told us to dump bleach into the tank and run it. Its ran that way for a month haha. Wasnt too quick to break it down. Now I'm draining the tank will wipe the sides, ditch the old sand, and then replace salt water, run prime, add the new sand, then begin to cycle the tank again. So we have quite a bit of time to decide what we want. Just wanted some opinions.

 

[Goodair]

Urchins tend to be safer from getting eaten but if they are on the glass, the children might get temped to touch it and it might end up painful. Trochus snails are probally the hardest snails to eat since they can flip themselves back so those might be your main CUC. You can still use soft corals outside or paly/zoas. It will help with nutrient control and add some movement to the tank. You dont have to invest into high end lights for em too. Being a predator tank, there will be alot of poop, so some soft corals and macro algaes will be a good natural filter to help with the bioload.
As for the actual stocking, some predator fish cant be safely housed with others, and probally want to avoid the venomous fish, so no fish from the scorp family. A snowflake eel is a pebble tooth, cheap and fairly easy to care for. You wont see it so could do some research to see what can be housed in the same tank that is more of a swimmer like a wrasse.

 

[Goodair]

I also should add that the tank has no sump. Its filter system is 2 eheim canister filters, and I have a multi media reactor that hangs on the tank. I don't know if that's necessary to know for a predator tank or not haha. Weve been using our biocube since 2014 with some friendly fish and corals. But this tank has a horrible long bulb light that sits on top of the 4 pieces of glass on top of the tank. I dont trust that. And I'd like to take the whole glass pieces off, but I've heard eels like to escape. So we would probably have to keep using the glass lid pieces, although there is like a 2 inch gap along the back where the filter heads tubing run. So there will always be that little escape space. I'd show pictures but the tank had cyano and bryopsis and we didnt know till we brought it home. Anyhow our LFS told us to dump bleach into the tank and run it. Its ran that way for a month haha. Wasnt too quick to break it down. Now I'm draining the tank will wipe the sides, ditch the old sand, and then replace salt water, run prime, add the new sand, then begin to cycle the tank again. So we have quite a bit of time to decide what we want. Just wanted some opinions.

Scrap the glass and you can make a mesh lid. You can find kits online, or you can get a screen kit with a plastic mesh from a reptile store, but honestly there shouldnt be too much of a savings from getting the pieces seperatly. Just make sure there are no openings.

Since you are taking your time, I strongly recomend a sump since there are so many benefits to it, and having a hidden and safe area to grow macro algae will do wonders for nutrient control.

 

[MrsSchlatter]

I really like angler fish, but they would be way too small to be housed with anything else. And we may just get a small 5-10 gallon tank for our kitchen counter to get one of those haha. Idk I'm just concerned with the predator tank. Life can get busy and I can't always be doing the water changes as frequent as I'd like. The biocube isn't hard. It evaporates enough I'm adding fresh all week to help with those levels, plus we are getting more corals in it to help. The predator tank idea I shy away from because of the extra tank maintenance. I'd just prefer either seahorses (I know their high maintenance too) or just some nice colorful fish. I dont know. Haha. Too many options. I would like the option of being able to place my rosebud anemone and clowns in it from my cube because the anemone is getting really large. And that couldn't happen in a predator tank.

 

[MrsSchlatter]

Scrap the glass and you can make a mesh lid. You can find kits online, or you can get a screen kit with a plastic mesh from a reptile store, but honestly there shouldnt be too much of a savings from getting the pieces seperatly. Just make sure there are no openings.

Since you are taking your time, I strongly recomend a sump since there are so many benefits to it, and having a hidden and safe area to grow macro algae will do wonders for nutrient control.

I wouldn't know where to start. That's why I bought our cube in 2014. Theres so many options and ways to do it I can't make up my mind as to what to get, what all I want added, and keep it in the budget haha.

 

[Hooberminch]

If possible I would try and use a sump, but if you needed to you could use a HOB skimmer for nutrient export. I would be careful about hangin stuff on a bow front, I know with the 72s the seems can split after 10 years and I think weight on back would be worse?
For stocking, I would do a dwarf lionfish, snowflake eel, 2 maroon clowns, a tomini tang, a flame hawk fish, Valentini / Toby puffer

 

[MrsSchlatter]

If possible I would try and use a sump, but if you needed to you could use a HOB skimmer for nutrient export. I would be careful about hangin stuff on a bow front, I know with the 72s the seems can split after 10 years and I think weight on back would be worse?
For stocking, I would do a dwarf lionfish, snowflake eel, 2 maroon clowns, a tomini tang, a flame hawk fish, Valentini / Toby puffer

You feel those would be safe with children around? I'd love all that, I'm just the hesitant worried mom haha.

 

[Hooberminch]

I wouldn’t be worried about the eel, they are small an skittish but they have pebble teeth aka not fanged. The only worry would be the dwarf lion fish but stings from those are rare and usually happen when moving rockwork and grabbing them instead. The others are fine

Could also add a dwarf angel

 

[MrsSchlatter]

I wouldn’t be worried about the eel, they are small an skittish but they have pebble teeth aka not fanged. The only worry would be the dwarf lion fish but stings from those are rare and usually happen when moving rockwork and grabbing them instead. The others are fine

Could also add a dwarf angel

Thanks!

 

[Goodair]

A predator tank isnt really as work intensive as some other fish tanks, you prob just need to do water changes a little more often and stronger filtration which would be a good skimmer, bunch of chaeto and changing socks.
I agree with Hoober as to avoid a hang on.

 

[lion king]

Some good beginning thoughts, you do have time, I'll add some thoughts. If you are concerned that the kids may stick their hands in; then you;ll definitely need to avoid venomous things like lions, scorps, and others that work well in predator tanks like a foxface. An eel will need every single crevice covered, I mean every fraction of a millimeter, may not be a kid friendly guest either; they can bite and escape easily. Check out dwarf angels and small tangs.

A seahorse tank works better being tall, seahorses will thrive in the vertical scape but doesn't seem to do as well in a horizontal tank.

I have a predator tank with a hob and have run a few successfully in the past. I ran a Seachem Tidal 110 and an algae reactor on a 90g with good success. Drilled and plumbed with a sump is best, but there are are other options that will work. I don't prefer canisters but they can work, but I would try and incorporate macro algae in the mix somehow.