Black & white tank - good idea or silly?

[ACBlinky]

I've got a pair of saddleback clowns in my 65g that need a new home - they're becoming so territorial they're attacking everything from other fish to hermits to their own reflections. I've decided to make them a tank of their own rather than subject their current tankmates to their vicious little tempers. With three very similar SW tanks already up and running, I thought maybe this one could be a little different and came up with a B&W theme for this FO tank, just wanted some opinions.

Sand - probably white, but I've considered using 1mm natural black gravel (not epoxied) from the LFS

Background - black

Rocks - white tufa

Inhabitants - 2 B&W saddlebacks, some Hawaiian hermits and some zebra turbo snails

Is this silly? Any suggestions?

 

[Lpsfanatic338]

It actually sounds cool, you should do it

 

[REV]

Just remember, you will still have alot of color. It would be cool if you could get a host anemone that was black and/or white.

 

[MrsDorothy]

Hi Blinky. Sounds like it would actually look good. But, if you wanted to use black sand instead of gravel, you could get tahitian moon sand.

 

[omni2226]

The black sand i have seen at my local fish store is realy pretty and it would look awesome in a tank with bits of white here and there to set it off!! Pictures!! We want pics!

 

[CW from the OC]

Great idea! Of course once the corraline starts growing...

I'd throw a RBTA in there to give a single nice splash of red and to highlight the percs.

 

[MCary]

Get a black spiney sea urchin to eat the corraline

 

[agarza]

It sounds like a great idea would love to see pictures once you set it up

 

[ACBlinky]

Thank you all so much for the feedback!
It's going to have to be FO for now; we're putting the tank together on a budget, so we're planning to use a NO fluorescent fixture that's just been lying around. I do have a habit of upgrading, so once the tank has settled in for six months to a year maybe we can upgrade to MH and get a nem
I like the black urchin idea, I wouldn't have thought of that. I'm hoping with minimal lighting that the rocks won't end up purple (or green and hairy for that matter). It might sound funny, but I have three more 'natural' looking tanks and I wouldn't mind if this one was a little bare and artificial looking, like FO tanks from the past (without the UGF).
I will definitely post pictures if and when we get this tank up and running

 

[Airman]

An engineering goby is a black and white fish you can add. Also a sergeant major.

 

[ACBlinky]

I wouldn't add any other fish - the clowns are SO vicious, they really need their own tank. I'm going to start working on the project tomorrow but I doubt I'll have anything in place for at least a week; since a few of you want pictures, maybe I'll post a log as it progresses

 

[agarza]

A log would be excellent, thank you.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

I just found this thread. ACBlinky, I'm working on a Black and White tank right now. I have a few things in my mixed reef that will be switched over. But my wife's tank being completed comes before I can start working on mine.

Here is a link to my research/tank log. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=600226

 

[Paul B]

Another easy black and white company fish for clowns, a bangai cardinal

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Yup. That's exactly what I'm getting for my tank.

Except I'm getting a pair of breeding Bangaii Cardinalfish, and a pair of breeding Black and White Ocellaris

 

[mokamm]

I know you said no more livestock, but just wanted to throw this out.

One of our lfs had a whole tank of scooter blenny. I bought the smallest, brightest one in the tank. He is now triple the original size and still is nicely striped bright black and white (with just the tiny red dots on the fins). My tomato clowns chase all fish out of there territory except the scooter blenny who can cruise anywhere in the tank at will, and he is so fun to watch!

 

[dfcjr]

I just seen a tank some her in the nano forum that had salt and pepper sand.Never seen a tank like that and now i want one,it looks awesome!!Go for it

 

[fishes2889]

i say go for it. ive been wanting to do a certaint color theme for a long time and just ahvent figured out what to do. Good luck with this and keep us updated!!

 

[Marie-France]

Hey! I got the same idea some times ago But my boyfriend did not agree at all

Fish suggestions: a black tang (Zebrasoma rostratum) if your tank is big enough and you have enough money:lol: you must get a lamark angel; I have one and love it! Beautiful! some Dascyllus damsel; they are nasty, but so cute! particularily the 4 stripes

And I agree with the idea of the RBTA splash of color

 

[ACBlinky]

I did post a sort of diary thread in the FOWLR forum, but here's an update since you guys resurrected the thread

Everything happened rather quickly out of necessity - we had to get the clowns out of the 65g as quickly as possible, they had already killed the two gobies and were moving on to the south seas damsel. The dascyllis was terrorizing other fish in a tank at work (P/T LFS job), and my manager couldn't wait to get rid of him so I brought him home last Sunday. He's TINY compared to the female saddleback, but takes none of her crap, and he takes a little pressure off the male (the female is reasserting herself as boss and seems to feel the need to chase the other... constantly).

The tank now has 13lbs of well-cured LR (some of it has been in a tank at work for eons), 5lbs of Aragonite, 20lbs of Bahamas Oolite live sand, a black background and the following inhabitants:
2 Saddleback clowns
1 four-striped dascyllus damsel
1 Astraea that hitchhiked in on the LR
4 Nassarius snails
2 dove snails
8 Hawaiian hermits (all but one are teeny)
1 tiny pincushion urchin (don't worry, he'll get spot fed and can go into another tank if needed )

I decided not to go with tufa - all the rocks I found were quite yellowish; LR without coralline is actually whiter. Also decided against the zebra turbos - I tried adding two, but they were quite small and the largest hermit (~1") killed both of them within 24h and now sports a pretty shell .

Levels are good (NH3 & NO2 are both 0, NO3 is just under 5ppm, PO4 ~0.25). There's some algae on the glass, but nothing major. One of the advantages of having other tanks around is being able to steal pieces of LR and filter media - there was a very small NO2 spike (before any of the critters went in), but even after adding the clowns there has been no further sign of NH3 or NO2.

Here's a pic from a few days ago, before the clowns went in: