im going to do a aggressive with coral .... maybe a snow flake eel, lion fish, trigger, wrasse, and groupper. what do yall think?
im getting all of them small and will grow them out i plan to have a very large tank in the next few years... Â
Glad to see someone else going the agressive route! But I agree with reefmann I got all my agressive fish small and they have almost out grown my 100g already (LESS than a year). In that size tank I would also recomend not housing a trigger with a lion. It works for a while but then space becomes an issue before you would think it would and the trigger will slowly munch on the lions fins till there is nothing left and you lose your lionfish.  Not saying you can't have an agressive tank in a 75 just saying plan it out and pay attention to the fish agression at all times. Side note: Feeding a grouper is tricky. I've come close to losing a fish or two during feeding time. The grouper will need to eat first so I recomend feeding him on one side of the tank till he is full then feeding the other fish on the opposite side. Don't switch which sides you feed which fish either. : )
well i already have the nigge trigger so i guess if he becomes a problem ill filet him ;-)Â can you recommend some fish my tank is a focal point of my living room and want people to be like wow that is bad a$$ so i was going to do some ausie corals for color on rock and i want an eel plus "suggestions"
The triggers that have the upturned jaw, ( like niger triggers ) are usually less of an issue than say an undulated. That being said, still may be a prob when hes 12" long. Another thing you have to keep in mind, is with that many predators in one tank you will need VERY good filtration. Predators eat a lot and therefore poop a lot, so good filtration is a must.
Add an extra 3 to 4 inches to that Niger. His fin lobes get quite long. The one I saw in Fort Worth was a good 14 inches. Raffle grabber
You might check out some small predators( fuzzy dwarf lion, dottybacks, basslets, spotted hawkfish,etc.). And just because they're small doesn't mean they don't have attitude.
Re: Re: redoing my 72 bow I agree. Toby Puffers might work some of them have been known to co-habitat with corals. Some angels are brutes as well. Raffle grabber
thank you all great ideas for me so is a baby snow flake out of the question how fast do they grow? the fu man chu will work i like them any ways and maybe a small scorpion let me know chime in wloyon i know u know this stuff Â
Snowflakes should be ok in a 72, just make sure you have a tight fitting lid our he will end up on the carpet.
Re: Re: redoing my 72 bow There is actually smaller weld that can be kept in atleast 20 gallon tank. The fumanchu is going to be your absolute smallest lion. Most other scorpionfish are highly toxic and need to be worked with to get onto prepared food. Well when I think scorpionfish I think of stonefish in particular. You also have frog fish. Raffle grabber
Re: Re: redoing my 72 bow Prepared food? LOL.. I was under the impression that you kept a 10 gallon full of guppies as food for aggressive tanks... LOL
I had read somewhere that its better for them in the long run. But if all they will eat is live then your stuck with live. Raffle grabber
A snowflake or any of the other pebble tooth eels will be a good eel for your tank. I got mine when he was smaller than a pencil. In a year he was 14 inchs long and girth wise had doubled. When he was two years old he was 23 inches long and about as round as a roll of pennies. They are major escape artist, if a pencil can fit through the hole an eel can as well most of the time so a lid is a must. At a yea old he fit through a hole in my filter the exact size as a #2 pencil. Since your filters are HOB you will also need to cut that piece of plastic that goes on the back of the glass as perfect as you can (cutting circles to stick tubes through instead of just squares) or use the screen cover method Calvin and Norman demoed at the meeting. All the scorps and frogs will be a good fit, I love my sea goblin. For lions a full grown volitan will be a tight fit in the tank but it takes a while before it will out grow the tank if you get a 3 inch one or so. (however at the national aquarium in D.C. they have 2 full grown volitans in a 55 tub tank, but they didn't look to happy) . All the dendrochirus and Pterois lions will work and will never out grow your tank however they are usually a little trickier to get on prepared food, so it's a bit of a personal preference. I do love my Dwarf zebra, and radiata, but my volitans are my babies! : ) Other fish to think about would be a small tang to replace the CUC that you can't have or a foxface, a large angler (my sargassum is amazing), any if the larger dwarf angels (depending on coral in the tank of course) and maybe one of the larger clowns (avoid pairs, and anems if you dont want to deal with a lot of aggression) I have a single large maroon, when he had an anem he was very territorial/aggressive. I decided to remove it and and he is perfect. As far as wrasses go you will have to watch out since most are slender bodied which is ideal for predator food. I would recommend the larger wrasses like the dragon wrasse, harlequin tusk, or a banana wrasse (just make sure you get it larger than your other fish and that it is growing faster than your predators are. Getting all the fish you want for the tank small and introducing them close to the same time is the ideal situation for predators. The fish I've had for ever and watched grow up are the best of friends including a maroon clown that should have been eating a long time ago. Yet he sleeps with my black volitan at night. I introduced a harlequin tusk which was twice the size of the maroon and all hell went loose after a while. I've found my 5 inch long harlequin tusk in my 7 inch volitans mouth more than once now, yet my maroon is only 3.5 inches. I've lost a 9 inch sleeper goby that I tried to introduce into my tank thinking he was much longer than my lion and I would be ok, but my lion swam around with half the fish hanging out of his mouth for 3 days slowly eating him. <cite></cite>My 5 inch juvenile imperor angel got chased around by my grouper and sailfin tang till I moved him into the refugium, then had to divide the tank and let them take their anger out on him with out being able to touch him. Rock work is also a big deal with predators. Lions sleep upside down on ledges and in caves so the more you have the better. I've found the way I have my rock scape is great for the lions while still giving my tang plenty of swimming room and my grouper plenty of perching room and hiding holes. I should have a pic or two in my tank build thread on here. Basically its five pillars in a zig zag patter all connected with bridges. and lots of rocks sticking out randomly for small over hangs. Nutrition wise guppies are crap! If you have to feed live I would go with ghost shrimp, the are more nutritious and cheaper. Long term though this will never be good for the fish health wise. Keeping in mind that you are dealing with predators who have a natural instinct to hunt. Occasionally you get a fish that losses interest in frozen food and quites eating all together. So a chromis or damsel once a month or so gives them a nice little hunt, keeping them interested in food, and is honestly a little fun to watch : ) If you use a damsel make sure its not very healthy, or it might be to quick for your predators, so they eventually give up and you end up with a damsel in your tank picking on the fins of your lion. (I either get a half dead one that didn't do well in shipping to the store, or cut its fins off, and yes I know I'm a horrible person for this) The best way to get a small predator onto prepared food is to feed the live food with tongs/feeding stick. After they get used to how you feed (get excited when they see the tongs/feeding stick even if there is no food on it) try placing both a frozen krill and a live ghost shrimp on there. This part takes a little while for the fish to get used to. Once he/she is eating the frozen food with the live food then you can start trying just the frozen. My first lion wouldn't eat anything but live for over a year. I tried everything I could think of till I started messing with the method above. Ive been using it/tweaking it since then and have had great success with all my predators at home and at the store including a few ribbon eels which are "supposedly" really difficult to get on to prepared food. Filters are very important on a predator tank especially if your going to do a predator reef for this reason here. I feed twice a week, filling a deli cup to the brim each time with fresh fish I get from Kroger, krill, silversides, lance fish, clam strips, mysis shrimp, and baby krill. My roommate who has a standard mixed reef would feed for a month with the food I feed in one feeding. My ammonia goes from 0 to .25 the day after I feed. So I do a 10 gallon water change the day after I feed every time. I've found a canister filter for the "larger" chunks of left over food and a good skimmer for water quality works great I haven't had to clean the glass of my tank in 3 months. MOST IMPORTANTLY Always keep in mind that there is a difference between Predator fish and Aggressive fish. Predators eat when they are hungry and if it fits in there mouth or they think it will fit. Aggressive fish are just mean and can kill just because a tank mate looked at them wrong. From what I have seen this aggression can be some what controlled by larger tank sizes making me think most aggressive fish are really just super territorial and if a tank mate gets in their swimming room they need to die. Sorry if I got a bit long winded, I tried to think of all the questions I've had to figure out through trial and error over the years. Hope this gives you some ideas on how to achieve the predator tank you want If something I said didn't make since or some one disagrees with something please let me know, I've been dealing with predator fish for 2.5 years now but I still learn something new everyday.
well i just bought a small fox face to get me started the people at the fish tank kinda stered me away from pure predator if i want coral...being its just HARD. so im thinking a small snowflake, maybe a fu manchu and a few dwarf angels and a larger wrasse. what do you think?
Re: Re: redoing my 72 bow I'd do fu manchu. They are awesome. Here's a good eel for you http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/It ... did=138247 Raffle grabber
Tanks looking good man, love all the planning your doing going into a predator tank!! Let me know if you run into trouble on with feeding your future predators. Â I can swing by and help.
