Fish that do well in 3s (Trios)

NexDog

NexDog

Snail Killer
Premium Member
Some point this year I'd like to try a trio of small/medium sized fish. Could I get some input on fish that do well in trios based on my current (and projected) stocking list below? Something other than Anthia and Cardinals and reef safe. Maybe Centropyge, Wrasse or Butterflies.

1 Blue Line Angel
1 Emperor Angels
1 Coral Beauty
1 Flame Angel

1 Powder Blue Tang
1 Yellow Tang

2 Rabbitfish

1 Copperband Butterfly
1 Heniochus

1 Niger Trigger
1 Blue Jaw Trigger

1 Bird Wrase
2 Lyretail Anthias
1 Female Clarkii
1 Male Clarkii
5-6 Bangaii Cardinals

7 Royal Grammas (projected)
2 Regal Angels (projected)

The trio would be last fish I add. Yea, I know it's a lot of fish but I don't have loads of monster tangs/Angels. 35 is very doable in my 340 and water volume, big skimmer, VSV dosing etc. No just the trio recommendations perty prease. :)
 
personally i liked my trio of lyretails....outside of that pyramid angels i've seen pair/trio/quad nicely in BIG tanks
 
Yah, I have 2 left of my original five. I probably will add a couple extra Lyretails at some point but really want to try a trio of something else, maybe a little unorthodox. Trio of Flameback Pigmys maybe?
 
That would be cool.

I've got a Trio of paracentropyge multifasciata in QT right now. They are just stunning!

Multicolor's are easy to come by right now and would be awesome in a trio...

I've got a trio of Rhomboid Wrasses in the works as well.

Hmmm...

A healthy eating Trio of Venustus would be incredible if you could find them over there, Or of course (but expensive) would be a trio of Interruptus!!!
 
It's funny, after teh huge influx of Multi-Bars last year, there are virtually none available here in Japan right now. I check Natural, B-Box, Vessel, - Blue Harbour has one listed at 15,000 yen which is double what they were last year. Maybe they'll drop again.

What other colourful wrasse do well in 3s? Trio of Rhomboids would be sweet. Trio of Mysteries more so. :) Trio of Tamarins too (but pretty hard).

How about trio of Pearlscale Butterflys? I hear they have a pretty good reef-safe reputation is memory serves me. I've never seen Pyramid Butterflies here unfortunately.
 
DD often has pairs/trios of a couple of different ORA fang blenny species up. They are pretty active swimmers, usually out and about.
 
NexDog said:
Yah, but I have one already. Would like to do something different. :)
Click to expand...

Does that mean you wouldn't consider a trio of Blueline angels since you already have one? Given their smaller max size and cost is much lower in your region I think that would be a good idea to consider. A trio of Bandits would be nice too. Just a thought.
 
I've had my BlueLine for maybe 4 years and it's the boss of the tank. It gave the Emperor a run for its money when I introduced it. I think adding another 2 BlueLines would apocalyptic.

The Coral Beauty and Flame Angel live in a state of feisty truce. They often hang out together but there is a lot of unagressive chasing. I really don't want to upset that balance as they are great to watch. Trio of Henis would be cool. I used to have a pair but one jumped before I had the covers on.

I only have one Wrasse and I rarely see it (the Bird Wrasse) so I'd like to add a trio of more comminity like colourful wrasses. Would any of these work?

Melanurus Wrasse (Neon Wrasse)
Four Line Wrasse (Twelve Line Wrasse)
Mystery Wrasse
Clown Fairy Wrasse (Red Head Wrasse)
Exquisite Wrasse Wrasse

I did Pyramids Butterflies on offer at Vessel here in Japan but don't know how many they have.
 
Pairing angels isn't that hard and especially in your size tank I doubt you would have the problems you are expecting. Just because some fish are mean or aggressive to similar fish doesn't mean they will act that way to the same species. It is best to add a smaller angel than the one you have in hopes that it will be female, the smaller the better. Also if you have a little cage you can keep it in for a week or so where the dominant fish can see it but not attack it that usually eases any aggression after being released.
 
Yes, I definitely intend on doing the release cage thing with new arrivals now. The Emp got pretty beat up when he first went in and that's teh first time I've seen such aggro in my tank.

But having said that, how about the other trio ideas? :)
 
NexDog said:
Yes, I definitely intend on doing the release cage thing with new arrivals now. The Emp got pretty beat up when he first went in and that's teh first time I've seen such aggro in my tank.

But having said that, how about the other trio ideas? :)
Click to expand...

I like the Exquisite Wrasse trio Idea. Velvet Wrasse trio would look nice too.

I would also like to add to your list a Bodianus masudai and probably a lot cheaper where you are.
here's a pic from BlueZooAquatics
bodianus_masudai.jpg


Here's my Bodianus sepiacaudus trio
DSC_4833.jpg


I still think the BL trio idea will work for you and here's a pic of the trio before the big boy developed the bulge and passed.
IMG_8519.jpg


Here's my experience Coral Beauty and Flameangel--I've 3 FAs for about 2 years before adding a male Coral Beauty. It took the CB about a month to settled in then he started chasing the 2 female FAs around when they come into direct path but runs from the male FA. For the past 2 months or so I've only observed minor chasing and didn't see any actual nipping. However, the CB does nip on the Venustus' fin even though the Venustus is bigger. I find my CB to be on the aggressive side but given the size of your tank I think it should be fine but would definitely recommend a container for a week to acclimate the new additions.
 
If you don't mind me saying, I think anthias should always be kept in a group of 3-5 as a minimum, so your lyretails may not be at their best as a pair. My tip of the day though would be to try a trio or even a quartet of Leopard Wrasse, as long as you only have one male it should be fine. Also depending on how much live rock you had, you could try a trio of Dragonface Pipefish.

:D
 
ourmanflint - The Lyretails were originally a group of 5. Over the years 3 jumped. I now know better and have net covers. I probably will boost their numbers to 5 again this year. Trio of Leopard Wrasses would be cool yet I have yet to see one offered by on line vendor (in 4 years).

flameangel88 - always loved your BL trio. Funny how the BlueLine Angel has gained inpopularity. When I got mine 4 years ago it hardly got a passing mention on RC. I also picked up for an insanely cheap price (like $80 or something).

The Candy Cane Hog you mentioned (Bodianus sepiacaudus). Is this the same fish:

b57eaafb42a0009fbeab3e7465a22e12.jpg
. It's marked up as ペパーミントラス or Peppermint Wrasse. If it's the samefish I'd definitely consider it. However if I was doing a Wrasse trio I think Mystery Wrasse would be first choice, Neon Wrasse or Peppermint second but if a Mystery trio won't work trio of Peppermints would add some nice red colour.
 
Thanks. Yes, Peppermint, Candy Cane and a few other common names are the same. I personally prefer the Bodianus masudai from Japan but doesn't seem like they are available here in the US.

I like Mystery Wrasse but everything I read they're aggressive and I like wrasse and hogfish so that's not an option for me.
 
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