aggressive fish or reef fish.......

[reef tank 2.0]

I was set on turning my new tank in to a reef tank. The closer and closer I get to purchasing fish for the tank, the more I second guess what type of fish I will have in my tank. I am having a hard time deciding....

There are a lot of NON REEF fish out there that I really want. (puffers, anglers, butterfly, angels, etc)

On the flip side, I want corals, and some of the reef friendly fish.

Whatever I decide, I need to make sure that its the best decision for myself and for the tank.

Has anyone ever went one route or the other and regretted the decision after it was done? (reef vs aggressive fish and visa versa)

Can anyone share the pros and cons of each that I would need to consider?

 

[Tspors58]

Yes / No.
After the fresh fish route I converted my 80g to salt. Went coral route. Then went to 150g I went natural reef. I did miss the fact...no Puffers..etc....I then thinned out the natural reef basketball size birds nest. Left minimal coral
Well three weeks ago after 30 years of tanks I have a leak in the bottom corner. I bought a 210 waiting for the stand to convert. It better hurry. There will be a puffer this time. Do I regret it no. Long term hobby so start with the coral enjoy it. Change down the road. Easy to get rid of coral. Most LFS will take it in trade .

 

[CHizer]

I see a beautiful reef and I'm glad I went reef. When I see some of the great non-reef fish like a clown trigger or harlequin tusk it makes me wish I had an aggressive tank.

Both can be amazing so I guess it's personal preference.

 

[Giants13]

I was set on turning my new tank in to a reef tank. The closer and closer I get to purchasing fish for the tank, the more I second guess what type of fish I will have in my tank. I am having a hard time deciding....

There are a lot of NON REEF fish out there that I really want. (puffers, anglers, butterfly, angels, etc)

On the flip side, I want corals, and some of the reef friendly fish.

Whatever I decide, I need to make sure that its the best decision for myself and for the tank.

Has anyone ever went one route or the other and regretted the decision after it was done? (reef vs aggressive fish and visa versa)

Can anyone share the pros and cons of each that I would need to consider?

puffers and anglers are on another level then the butterfly and angels in my opinion because puffers and anglers will eat ur fish( I'm not sure if u would even be able to put a angel in with a angler). I can't remember when i have heard of a butterfly and angel eating another fish. Some people have had success house Butterflys and angels in there tanks without them eating there coral. I currently have a blenny that has a diet for sps and he has not touched my sps once. i keep him fat with other foods. My son wants a flame angel so we might go that route.

 

[shifty51008]

There are some butterflies and angelfish that do well with corals, just look in the reef fish forum and you will get lots of ideas.

You could always have 2 tanks, one for each

 

[kmbyrnes]

You could always have 2 tanks, one for each

That's the best solution!
Create your reef and enjoy it. The diversity of life and color will amaze you for a long time. At some point you may feel you want to have some of the Angels and Butterflies as well. Some are ref safe, but most are not. So you build a FOWLR and have the best of both worlds!

 

[rfurst]

I've always had reef tanks so had to give up some fish I wanted. There are butterfly's , and angelfish that are usually reef safe as well as tangs. Generally my disappointment with the fish limitations has had to do with not being able to have predators vs not being able to have one that nibble at coral. It is pretty easy to have similar beautiful reef safe fish but much harder to find something similar to most of the predators.