I've recently noticed...

[LadAShark]

... just how inactive the predatory fish discussion board is. Considering many fish kept in the home are carnivorous, why is it that we don't see many threads here?

 

[Duke4Life]

I wonder if they go to other sites, when I first started I was looking heavily on MonsterFishKeepers.

 

[lion king]

Triggers are what brought me into the hobby, 30 years ago. I see the dominance of clowns and reef tanks on ever board I visit. 2 of my lfs both share with me that reef customers dominate their client base. Many of these customers are starting to experiment with angels and triggers, even clown triggers. They also say the vast majority of their customers have tanks under 100g, which would make long term difficult. The ambush predators that can be kept in smaller tanks aren't active enough and bit more difficult to keep for most.

 

[rayn]

Preds aren't for everyone and a lot of time mixing a pred in with smaller fish or a reef can be problematic at best. Preds are where I have been for a while and where I am still at. They have the wild variety of weird fish and critters that aren't normally seen. There are also the many preds that are species only. Some species only tank larger tanks then some are willing to devote to a species.

Pred keepers seem to be a rare breed in fish keeping.

 

[Mfreddy]

I love them. Especially at feeding time!

 

[Duke4Life]

My first go around was predators but wanted more fish options this go around. My next big tank will be a predator setup as the eels I want probably don't mix with small fish well.

 

[revhtree]

Help keep the posting active and I will target predatory tank owners on FB and email!

 

[LadAShark]

I wonder if they go to other sites, when I first started I was looking heavily on MonsterFishKeepers.

Thing is I've hanged around all of the sites: monsterfishkeepers, saltwaterfish.com, reef central, shark ray central and a few ofhers. Literally all of them are inactive.

 

[LadAShark]

My first go around was predators but wanted more fish options this go around. My next big tank will be a predator setup as the eels I want probably don't mix with small fish well.

Depends on the eels. If they are blunt mouthed eels you might be able to get them used to eating nothing but mussels/shellfish.

 

[LadAShark]

Preds aren't for everyone and a lot of time mixing a pred in with smaller fish or a reef can be problematic at best. Preds are where I have been for a while and where I am still at. They have the wild variety of weird fish and critters that aren't normally seen. There are also the many preds that are species only. Some species only tank larger tanks then some are willing to devote to a species.

Pred keepers seem to be a rare breed in fish keeping.

You'd think people would like predators much more than they do. I guess I'm the weird one, not the other way around.

 

[LadAShark]

Help keep the posting active and I will target predatory tank owners on FB and email!

Thanks! That would help a lot. It becomes really awkward when I find myself having replied to pretty much all of the threads here.

 

[Mfreddy]

Ok folks, who would you expect to lead the tank? I list them in order of size:

Snowflake eel, 18"
Niger trigger 6"
Emporer Angel 5"
Dalmatian puffer 4.5"
Clown trigger 4"
Purple tang 3.5"

 

[Lionfish Lair]

A lot of threads about predatory fish are started in the general fish discussion section.

 

[pugcrush]

I'd be interested to see a poll to see how many hobbyists keep predator tanks. I'd guess 20 - 25%. It seems the only time I see predatory fish are at public aquariums or restaurants. If anybody has the luxury of housing multiple tanks, that's when they keep the non reef safe fish. I eventually would like to setup a macro tank with a frogfish.

I actually put up a video today of some lionfish, so here's your fix for today

 

[LadAShark]

Ok folks, who would you expect to lead the tank? I list them in order of size:

Snowflake eel, 18"
Niger trigger 6"
Emporer Angel 5"
Dalmatian puffer 4.5"
Clown trigger 4"
Purple tang 3.5"

Clown trigger probably. Emperor angel would probably duke it out with him before dying of stress due to not being the dominant fish in the tank.

 

[Jenz]

I am planning towards a predator tank to put together Nov so have been lapping up the threads in Predatory Fish and have made a number of adjustments to my stocking plans from information provided.
I will continue stalking this forum, and so if no new threads, even if you guys simply upload pics of your predatory tanks with info I would be in heaven....yes, I enjoy even the simple pleasures that this website has to bring ie the visual stimulation :-)

 

[Duke4Life]

Depends on the eels. If they are blunt mouthed eels you might be able to get them used to eating nothing but mussels/shellfish.

Totally agree with you. I'm hoping 2 be able 2 get my hands on a few other Echidna genus eels not commonly seen. I'm currently still working on stocking my tank I have now but researching and planning on these as I'm in a holding pattern at the moment (might be moving ).

 

[Mfreddy]

Clown trigger probably. Emperor angel would probably duke it out with him before dying of stress due to not being the dominant fish in the tank.

So far it's been the Emperor. He's chased everyone in the tank including the clown trigger. He seems like a jealous fish. When I approach the tank he hangs out in front of me and if anyone else wants some face time, he usually chases them off.

 

[BoneXriffic]

This isnt to say that a predatory tank is of a lesser caliber. However the regular novice will quickly exit the hobby when they fail. And fail with a FOWLR. The people who succed to move on I think start with fish, predatory often just as is the nature of the buisness. And move onto reefs.

Your newb saltwater person will be intimidated by keeping coral alive [and for good reason] and will stick to fish for a while, but the vast majority of us whom succeed in our first tanks often move on to reefs. Exploring unknown territory if you will.

Or at least this was my experience. My first tank was a violent one. Most deaths were fight related.

I kept in my hundred gal pred tank(not all at once)

Snowflake eel
Zebra eel
Dragon eel

Stars and stripes puffer
Dogface puffer
Golden puffer (not the blue one)
Porcupine puffer
Niger trigger
Unicorn tang
Powder blue grouper
A few bassalets
And a few assorted queens

 

[lion king]

Ok folks, who would you expect to lead the tank? I list them in order of size:

Snowflake eel, 18"
Niger trigger 6"
Emporer Angel 5"
Dalmatian puffer 4.5"
Clown trigger 4"
Purple tang 3.5"

The Emporer Angel, I've seen tanks with Clown and Blueline triggers that the Emporer is the king. People forget about the Blueline, Clown triggers don't even mess with them, it's a mutual respect.

I started with triggers, lions, and puffers. Went into reefs, enjoyed the challenge but frankly doesn't do it for me, after about 4 years went back to my roots; and enjoy it 10 fold. I turned my 90g reef into a dwarf lion tank with an antennata, fuzzy, fu, and a zebra. I'm raising 2 baby triggers, clown and blueline. I just set up a wartskin angler tank. My 210 fowlr has a pinktail and pair of bluejaws, yellow belly dogface, tusk, majestic angel, and an orange shoulder tang. I don't even look at the corals when i go into the stores anymore.