Need help deciding on whether or not a fish is right for your tank? Post here and we'll help!

[Pbh-reef]

Does this hold true still if it is the only fish in the tank eating live-feeders?

Here is a useful thread about anglers, reading it makes me think that if I wanted one it would be in a species tank by itself. If I wanted to have an angler with tank mates I would first find success with one by itself before graduating to a more difficult set up.

Wartskin Angler Tankmates?

I have the opportunity to get a Wartskin Angler. Of course I don't want it to be the only fish I have in a 40g. What can I add with it?

www.reef2reef.com

 

[mattzang]

i was going to suggest asking lion king too

i will say, i think anglers need low flow? so.. sps and angler tank doesn't seem like the combo, but i could be wrong

 

[Jon Fishman]

They are ambush predators they sit and wait for their prey to come to them. In a tank of active fish this makes the anglers job more difficult. Also just about every fish, if a fish will fit in its mouth may eat that fish.

The Parrot is quite large, and I suspect the Boxfish would start much too large for it, and grow much quicker/larger as well......

If not a boxfish..... What other large, slow, fish could I add? Maybe a Porcupine Puffer? Not so much interested in one of those, but something along those lines


If my sump were more visible I would put an angler in there

 

[mta_morrow]

Bump. Nobody?!?

I love to be able to help you, but I have never kept those fish.

@eatbreakfast can you help please?

 

[mattzang]

does anyone know where eatbreakfast went? dude has been mia for a couple months now. we need him back!

 

[lion king]

Ok. I got my Quoyi Parrot, and I’m looking ahead to tankmates.


Parrot is very peaceful...... but needs docile tankmates.


I am thinking Boxfish, and an Angler (not sure of type of either of them yet)

All 3 docile, reef-safe, and Parrot/Boxy too big for Angler to eat, I should be good?

So with a parrot I will assume your tank is rather large. I do know some on anglers so I will give you some thoughts. I highly recommend keeping an angler on a live diet, depending on the species you would likely be feeding ghost shrimp and/or mollies. Feeding such a fish in a really large tank can be challenging as they have to catch their food, and they are an ambush predator not a pursuer by any means. So you would have to help by herding the prey. Converting an angler to a dead food diet in my observation, has not been nothing more than to create an ornament waiting for a stick, and they soon tire and stop eating after only a few months. Regardless of how docile their tankmates may be, they do have an esca which is their lure that mimics food. It's not life threatening if it gets eaten, but it is part of the charm of an angler. Boxfish usually come in pretty small and an angler will eat anything up to their own size. While if chosen wisely you can keep anglers with other fish, it just becomes a challenge to feed and sometimes just takes away the true allure. In a smaller tank where he can freely hunt is where the true fascination is, and with a larger tank I'm sure you won't be content with just a few fish.

 

[Jon Fishman]

So with a parrot I will assume your tank is rather large. I do know some on anglers so I will give you some thoughts. I highly recommend keeping an angler on a live diet, depending on the species you would likely be feeding ghost shrimp and/or mollies. Feeding such a fish in a really large tank can be challenging as they have to catch their food, and they are an ambush predator not a pursuer by any means. So you would have to help by herding the prey. Converting an angler to a dead food diet in my observation, has not been nothing more than to create an ornament waiting for a stick, and they soon tire and stop eating after only a few months. Regardless of how docile their tankmates may be, they do have an esca which is their lure that mimics food. It's not life threatening if it gets eaten, but it is part of the charm of an angler. Boxfish usually come in pretty small and an angler will eat anything up to their own size. While if chosen wisely you can keep anglers with other fish, it just becomes a challenge to feed and sometimes just takes away the true allure. In a smaller tank where he can freely hunt is where the true fascination is, and with a larger tank I'm sure you won't be content with just a few fish.

Thanks. Yeah, it’s an 8’ tank, but I am hoping to keep 3 fish. Parrot plus 2 more. I like the weird, slow movers, hence the box and angler. I guess I am open to other suggestions though. If I put enough live feeder fish in the tank, an Angler would “eventually” hunt/eat? I have no intention of trying to make it eat frozen/dead etc

 

[lion king]

Thanks. Yeah, it’s an 8’ tank, but I am hoping to keep 3 fish. Parrot plus 2 more. I like the weird, slow movers, hence the box and angler. I guess I am open to other suggestions though. If I put enough live feeder fish in the tank, an Angler would “eventually” hunt/eat? I have no intention of trying to make it eat frozen/dead etc

What about a volitan lion. Knowing a bit how you are a little weird like me, you could get a painted or even commersons angler(they get huge), acclimate a few mollies at a time and watch the angler hunt; plot, scout, position, fish, then

eat. If you were to do the latter with an angler, you could not do the volitan. Really though, the volitan is much more entertaining fish, you could feed him a dead only or a combo diet if you were interested in the hunt. Here's my black volitan, he's about 13".

 

[Jon Fishman]

What about a volitan lion. Knowing a bit how you are a little weird like me, you could get a painted or even commersons angler(they get huge), acclimate a few mollies at a time and watch the angler hunt; plot, scout, position, fish, then

eat. If you were to do the latter with an angler, you could not do the volitan. Really though, the volitan is much more entertaining fish, you could feed him a dead only or a combo diet if you were interested in the hunt. Here's my black volitan, he's about 13".

I had one, about 8” or so. It came with my tank. I gave him to the LFS a couple of days after I got him, so I didn’t get a chance to really see it do much. It didn’t eat anything I gave it in the time I had it though

 

[daftwazzock]

Is a red sea reefer 350 large enough for a harlequin tuskfish? Main tank is 73 gallons

 

[burningbaal]

ok, not exactly new to the hobby, my first tank was about 7 years ago. but I was out for a few years because we moved and I forgot how good this was. I'm getting back into the 29g, but planning a 180g for next year; I've never had a tank that big...that's why I'm posting here.

The debate is many-layered. I know my nano fish will move up, but that's not much for a 180
I'll list three groups of fish I'm thinking about
Fish I would love to have, but expect I need to add late either due to stability or aggression:

• Mandarin dragonet pair (keeping them fed)
• Achilles tang (scary cause they're needy and spendy, but it's my dream fish, and aggression...right?

Fish I am counting on:

• Yellow tang (more than one?)
• hippo tang
• humu trigger
• bristletooth tang or two (kole? twospot?)
• One or both powder tangs (scary cause they're fragile, but they're awesome)
• copperband (keeping it fed...I'll only buy it if I can buy the food I see it eating in the store)
• in my nano: bangaii, chromis, firefish (std), ocellaris, royal gramma, maybe a wrasse

Fish I'm thinking about

• sailfin tang, almost put this in the 'counting on' group, but if dropping this gets me something else, I'll drop this. Preference would be desjardini, but that's not critical
• false moorish idol - Who doesn't love a moorish idol, but I'm too nervous to be a fish killer, it seems the false would be a good plan
• Anthias - I never gave these any thought before, but obviously the idea of having a set of 5ish of these would be AMAZING, maybe even two sets (different species) What should I know about them?
• Probably a lawnmower to clean up what the tangs miss?
• Niger trigger?
• spotbreast angel?
• wrasses? probably mostly utility, but the flasher/fairy were always a favorite in my 90g. I might just throw in a few for fun?

Others:
I'm expecting I'll have at least one cleaner shrimp. Could be peppermints and/or coral-banded shrimp. As much as the harlequin is awesome, I want an orange linkia star, so that won't happen.
The usual CUC for a shallow sandbed, some nass, some cerith, lots of trochus and hermits.
Corals: Probably LPS dominant, definitely stony-dominant

• a few favorite softies (cabbage and green toadstool, probably gorgonian)
• At least one clam (I know, not a coral...)
• LPS galore, euphyllia, acan, favia, duncan, brain, lobo, plate, we'll see
• SPS, some acro, monticap, monti digitata, pavona, poc

No anemones, they're cool, but not cool enough to risk all the corals (and small fish).

Oh, and I am planning a 150g refugium with at least 400w of fuge-purposed LEDs, so I'm not worried about having to feed a lot. If anything, I expect I'll have to use a lot of nori for the tangs

So, the question: Am I crazy to be thinking about all of these? How far over the 180's capacity am I thinking about?
And if I'm overstocked here, what would you suggest?

The plan is to build a dream tank, so there'll be no expense spared to get lighting and flow right. I'm planning to have a max of about 60X display turnover from 4 sources, but tuned down (DC pumps) as well as 4-6 blackbox lights @ 165w LED each. I'm building out the plan here if you're curious.
I'm expecting a 150g stock tank as the sump (probably 50% full most of the time) and a 150g stock tank as the elevated fuge and source for a 50 gallon surge. All total, I'm expecting about 300g of water and about 200lbs of rock. Again, I'm planning on the 150g fuge to carry the bulk of the chemical filtration with the macro and enormous amount of available purple light, and for it to feed the carnivores (especially the dragonets).

All that is to say that I'm not worried about the chemistry in the tank (it'll also have auto water changes available), and I'm happy to use autofeeders to keep the anthias fed during the day. The main concern, **I think**, is just a space issue, what fits in the physical space?

 

[Jon Fishman]

ok, not exactly new to the hobby, my first tank was about 7 years ago. but I was out for a few years because we moved and I forgot how good this was. I'm getting back into the 29g, but planning a 180g for next year; I've never had a tank that big...that's why I'm posting here.

The debate is many-layered. I know my nano fish will move up, but that's not much for a 180
I'll list three groups of fish I'm thinking about
Fish I would love to have, but expect I need to add late either due to stability or aggression:

• Mandarin dragonet pair (keeping them fed)
• Achilles tang (scary cause they're needy and spendy, but it's my dream fish, and aggression...right?

Fish I am counting on:

• Yellow tang (more than one?)
• hippo tang
• humu trigger
• bristletooth tang or two (kole? twospot?)
• One or both powder tangs (scary cause they're fragile, but they're awesome)
• copperband (keeping it fed...I'll only buy it if I can buy the food I see it eating in the store)
• in my nano: bangaii, chromis, firefish (std), ocellaris, royal gramma, maybe a wrasse

Fish I'm thinking about

• sailfin tang, almost put this in the 'counting on' group, but if dropping this gets me something else, I'll drop this. Preference would be desjardini, but that's not critical
• false moorish idol - Who doesn't love a moorish idol, but I'm too nervous to be a fish killer, it seems the false would be a good plan
• Anthias - I never gave these any thought before, but obviously the idea of having a set of 5ish of these would be AMAZING, maybe even two sets (different species) What should I know about them?
• Probably a lawnmower to clean up what the tangs miss?
• Niger trigger?
• spotbreast angel?
• wrasses? probably mostly utility, but the flasher/fairy were always a favorite in my 90g. I might just throw in a few for fun?

Others:
I'm expecting I'll have at least one cleaner shrimp. Could be peppermints and/or coral-banded shrimp. As much as the harlequin is awesome, I want an orange linkia star, so that won't happen.
The usual CUC for a shallow sandbed, some nass, some cerith, lots of trochus and hermits.
Corals: Probably LPS dominant, definitely stony-dominant

• a few favorite softies (cabbage and green toadstool, probably gorgonian)
• At least one clam (I know, not a coral...)
• LPS galore, euphyllia, acan, favia, duncan, brain, lobo, plate, we'll see
• SPS, some acro, monticap, monti digitata, pavona, poc

No anemones, they're cool, but not cool enough to risk all the corals (and small fish).

Oh, and I am planning a 150g refugium with at least 400w of fuge-purposed LEDs, so I'm not worried about having to feed a lot. If anything, I expect I'll have to use a lot of nori for the tangs

So, the question: Am I crazy to be thinking about all of these? How far over the 180's capacity am I thinking about?
And if I'm overstocked here, what would you suggest?

The plan is to build a dream tank, so there'll be no expense spared to get lighting and flow right. I'm planning to have a max of about 60X display turnover from 4 sources, but tuned down (DC pumps) as well as 4-6 blackbox lights @ 165w LED each. I'm building out the plan here if you're curious.
I'm expecting a 150g stock tank as the sump (probably 50% full most of the time) and a 150g stock tank as the elevated fuge and source for a 50 gallon surge. All total, I'm expecting about 300g of water and about 200lbs of rock. Again, I'm planning on the 150g fuge to carry the bulk of the chemical filtration with the macro and enormous amount of available purple light, and for it to feed the carnivores (especially the dragonets).

All that is to say that I'm not worried about the chemistry in the tank (it'll also have auto water changes available), and I'm happy to use autofeeders to keep the anthias fed during the day. The main concern, **I think**, is just a space issue, what fits in the physical space?

Wow. The multple (if you’re talking 4+ ) tangs even in a 180 may be tricky. Multiple of same species (especially 2x Powder) could be tough too.

If you want to do multiple I would shoot for 1 ancathura or whatever they are called, 1 zebramosa etc

 

[burningbaal]

Wow. The multple (if you’re talking 4+ ) tangs even in a 180 may be tricky. Multiple of same species (especially 2x Powder) could be tough too.

If you want to do multiple I would shoot for 1 ancathura or whatever they are called, 1 zebramosa etc

a point of clarification: I was thinking of each of the two powder tangs (brown and blue), not two of the same species.
I suppose I'm being too aggressive with the tang idea. Perhaps I'd plan for a cteno, a zebra and an acanthurus. Maybe the sailfin and powder brown with a twospot? I can always add the achilles later if there seems to be room for it, or I suffer a loss of one of the others.
So, perhaps a revised idea:

• humu trigger (or other Rhinecanthus sp.)
• bristletooth tang or two (kole? twospot?)
• brown powder tang (scary cause they're fragile, but they're awesome)
• Zebrasoma sp., probably a yellow because I can get it captive bred, but we'll see
• copperband (keeping it fed...I'll only buy it if I can buy the food I see it eating in the store)
• Anthias - I never gave these any thought before, but obviously the idea of having a set of 5ish of these would be AMAZING, maybe even two sets (different species) What should I know about them?
• in my nano: bangaii, chromis, firefish (std), ocellaris, royal gramma, maybe a wrasse

Fish I'm thinking about

• false moorish idol - Who doesn't love a moorish idol, but I'm too nervous to be a fish killer, it seems the false would be a good plan
• Probably a lawnmower or other blenny to clean up what the tangs miss?
• Niger trigger?
• spotbreast angel?
• wrasses? The flasher/fairy were always a favorite in my 90g. I might just throw in a few for fun?

 

[Jon Fishman]

Powder Brown and Blue are both Ancathurus or whatever. That is what you should avoid

 

[burningbaal]

Powder Brown and Blue are both Ancathurus or whatever. That is what you should avoid

ah, same genus is what you were getting at. The achilles is also an acanthurus. Understood

 

[Jon Fishman]

ah, same genus is what you were getting at. The achilles is also an acanthurus. Understood

Yeah, sorry I’m not a Meteorologist “genus” yes.....

I would do a Purple, a yellow and a powder. I think they are all different, and none are “huge”

 

[burningbaal]

purple and yellow are both Zebrasoma...that's why I was shifting to a bristletooth (thinking kole, maybe tomini), a Zebrasoma (sailfin, maybe), and powder brown.

Any thoughts on the rest of the list? I'm trying to learn about anthias, false idol, and triggers.

 

[Jon Fishman]

I haven’t looked into any of those, although I may explore Anthias for my tank at some point

 

[Ernie C]

hi all, i've always wanted a hippo tang. In the past, many many years ago, I tried one or two that died. I will say that back then i didn't have the best stability. 20 years later have way better success rates with most live stock. I wonder if I can add a hippo tang now. My fear is that i think they are super fragile in the smaller sizes. I have a red sea reefer 350, so 70 gallon display mixed reef. The only bullies in my tank that might not like new additions are a salfin and coral beauty. although the salfin keeps the coral beauty in check. The last fish i added was a fairy wrasse and to my surprise, the only one to chase it around for the first few days was my starry night blenny.

 

[mta_morrow]

hi all, i've always wanted a hippo tang. In the past, many many years ago, I tried one or two that died. I will say that back then i didn't have the best stability. 20 years later have way better success rates with most live stock. I wonder if I can add a hippo tang now. My fear is that i think they are super fragile in the smaller sizes. I have a red sea reefer 350, so 70 gallon display mixed reef. The only bullies in my tank that might not like new additions are a salfin and coral beauty. although the salfin keeps the coral beauty in check. The last fish i added was a fairy wrasse and to my surprise, the only one to chase it around for the first few days was my starry night blenny.

The only possible tang for your size tank may be a tomini tang as it is the smallest. Even at that, I would not recommend any tang for your tank.