325 Gallon Tank..What fish

C

chantweaver

New member
I have been offered an opportunity to put together a 325 gallon tank. This tank is 95" x 22" x 36" made out of 1 inch acrylic. It has a 1000 gallon commercial skimmer unit, fluidized sand bed and sump rated for 4000 gallons and 160 watt aqua violet light filter. Only has T5 lighting on it. The owner of this beauty has asked me to stock the tank with what he calls sophisticated fish. Interpreted to me as money don't matter I just want my guest to go WOW. So I am coming to you all to ask what fish you would you like to see in a tank like this. I do not want sharks, his wife has asked for a certain fish she saw in a magazine. It turned out to be a school of anthias so it needs be a community tank. Their son wants Look Down Jacks (urrgh I dislike those).

Any advice?
 
I was thinking Lookdowns too, they school if there a few of them. I always wanted a tank with some Pilot fish but have never done it yet. When I had my 240 going, I had :

Adult French angel
Pinktail trigger
Big Eye Squirrel fish
Lunar wrasse
Lg Yellow tang

My stock was probably not "sophisticated" enough for some but it was enough for me. They all got along well and had no special dietary needs other than what was available in frozen cubes. 2 of the fish were really large so I didn't need any more than that.

The more I think about it, 3 Lookdowns, a good sized BlueFaced angel, lg Volitan and maybe a trigger as mentioned above would be my ideal FO. I try to shy away from tangs as I don't like to deal with their green diet.

Post some pics when you get it going.
 
Loookdowns may be too big for your tank. They swim like mad and need a lot of swimming room. As far as the lion, most triggers will nip at the fins as well as puffers doing the same. You could get one of plankton eating triggers, like a X-hatch, sargassum, etc and they will most likely leave the lion alone. Thanks, Tim
 
smaller reef safe wrasses .....

BUT they have it backwards..should be a 4000g tank and a 325g sump..if you are going to spend the bucks on 4,000g of water it would be great if that was the display
 
When a customer makes a request like that it worries me that they don't have the patience to wait for the tank to mature and slowly adapt an increasing fish load. With a tank that size there is so much you could do while keeping it comfortable for the more community minded tankmates (anthias). Clownfish29's idea of a typically more calm trigger (BlueThroat, Crosshatch, maybe PinkTail, though some can get nasty) is a good one. Maybe one large Angel, possibly Majestic since they don't get super large and are calmer in general. One large wrasse, take your pick! :) (Red coris, Lunar, Banana, Canary, etc...but probably not Green Bird since they may start viewing smaller mates as food). A small school of 7 or so tangs would be nice in a tank that size....if money is no option then how about a school of Red Sea Purple Tangs? Or cheaper Yellow tangs (just goes to show it doesn't have to be expensive to be effective). If they are going to insist on going the expensive route (which is usually not a good motivation, IMO), then a really hardy angel (but sometimes known to own the tank) would be a Clarion Angel. Not my cup of tea, but you definitely don't see many of these around with the price tag they carry. If the tank is covered and you don't go too aggressive (my suggestion since they want to have Anthias) then another unusual fish may be the blue dotted jawfish which are full of character (or just the normal yellow headed jawfish). Once again, these assumptions are all on the basis that you want more of a community tank than a knock 'em sock 'em predator tank. If you want to take a little chance (???) I know we had a good sized Picasso Trigger in our university's 300 gallon tank which never bothered anyone (since there was enough space and food). Of course they have the reputation of normally becoming a feeding bullying machine. Hope this gives you some ideas!
 
A few things....The sump is rated for 4000 gallons, not a 4000 gallon sump. I know hat fish can go together and all. Not looking for full stock list I am looking for something different from you all. I want to know what fish would be your dream fish for a tank this big. As for Triggersamuck's worry...I am not this customer has kept several tnaks in their home and know it takes time.

So if everyone can just list one fish they would love to see that would be great. I have a stock list in my mind for the basic community fish but am looking for the wow fish. I have a Pesonifer Angel that is being QT at the moment.
 
If the owner has had tanks already, then 'sophisticated' might mean a collection of showy but uncommon species. Something that you would have to know something about in order to appreciate.

For instance, if you had a lionfish, it couldn't be a volitans, but a radiata or antennata instead. Instead of a foxface, a Siganus doliatus or magnificus.
 
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Sophisticated fish for this 325g tank:

Golden puffer
Pair of crosshatch triggers
5 female flame wrasse and 2 male flame wrasse
Pair of red sea Regal angels
Three joculator angels (could also make it golden angels)
Pair of tinkers butterflys (could make a pair of Wrought irons)
Achilles tang
School (6) bicolor anthias
Hawaiian dragon moray
 
I can think of 4 or 5 fish that would be as sophisticated as anyone could ask for:

Semilarvatus butterflies
Asfur angels
Conspicillatus angels
Scribbled angels
Gem tangs or Black tangs
 
I just want my guest to go WOW
Click to expand...

Unless these guests are from the local reef club they aren't going to be impressed with expensive or rare fish..........the bang for the buck would be wasted.

I'd focus on a fish with unique personalities, pairs, & a large shoal................think lots of movement & activity.

Anthias would be first on my list............I'd focus on one large fish or pair of angels or butterflies.

Everything else would be smaller to make the large pair stand out...........the list is endless.

Unique personality type fish.........gobies, blennies, hawkfish, ect.

Chromis, & a half dozen or so fairy/flasher wrasses would look great darting around with that large shoal of anthias.

Add a centropyge pair or harem to the list & you'd have one unique setup.
 
Well, I think my fish are pretty high class....I have three large angels in my 200 gallon. I have a Scribbled angel, Majestic angel, and a Regal angel along with a Potter's angel, Semilavatus butterfly, royal gramma, percula clown (who kills other clowns), and I plan to add a blenny and another fairy wrasse as the other one jumped out. My fish are all getting along fairly well. Forgot to mention my little neon gobey that nobody bothers as he gives cleaning to all the big fish. I had a beautiful Lyretail male antheas once but he beat up on the wrasses and other small fish so I had to take him back. Your options are large. If my tank were as big as yours I might add a couple of tangs to the mix. Best to do lots of research and go slowly. Add the least aggressive and smallest fish first if you can. Ask on this board before you add a certain type of fish and you will get lots of good advice. Lesley
 
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Well fish with finnage seem sophisticated to me.DONT SHOW THEM BATFISH!!!Sailfin tangs have beautiful fins, well anything with the word"sailfin" really.DON'T SHOW THEM MOORISH IDOLS!!!Replace them with henochius b-flys if anything, they school. The streamers on nasos are also stunning. Everyone loves yellow tangs, get a school.A personal experience of mine;While I was snorkeling in the Caribbean 2 years ago I saw a huge school of Atlantic blue tangs pass the reef, their royal blue color and neon highlights are something I will never forget, their a bit rarer and pricier then yellows but a school of those would make their guests remember that tank .Anyway back to reality,Most tangs have beautiful finnage.Maroon clowns have a very sophisticated deep red color,like red whine, gold stripes are a plus.The"exquisite"wrasse bares that name for a reason.Auriga b-flys as well, but please avoid copperbands, we all know their issues."Magnificent"foxfaces bare their name for a reason as well. Many wrasses, a male fairy wrasse with a harem of females are nice as well.


And best yet, all my suggestions would have no problems with a school of anthias, purple queens have a nice royal purple color.
 
a small school of blue and yellow fusiliers. they sell them at bluezooaquatics.com. i searched for images of them in the wild, and they are sweet.
 
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