Hawaiian fish biotope

D

Daniel62

New member
So I will be picking up my new 225 lee mar next weekend "72 x 30 x 24" and I have put together a fish list and I would like everyones opinion.

Potter's angelfish. I already have a great male and would like to add 2 females
Flame wrasse Jordain as a pair.
Hawaiian longfin anthias as a pair
Threadfin BF. this fish is in qt now
Longnose BF. This fish in qt now
Kleinii Bf I this fish in qt now
Spotted Boxfish
Fantail Filefish
Dwarf golden moray
Reticulated frogfish
Kole Tang
Milletseed Bf c. miliars
Bluestripe Bf c. frenblii
Racoon Bf c. lunula
scarface blenny
Tinker's BF
Longnose hawkfish
Pennat BFh. diphreutes
fire dartfish a pair

I want to be able to keep 1 species of porites and 1 species of pocillopora.

For invert I would like coral banded shrimp as well as a couple of striped cleaner shrimp. I would also like a red pencil urchin, and a brittle star or 2.

This system will be tied into my 150 gal anemone tank. It has only 2 small clowns. I will also be running about a 100 gallon sump.

So what do you think. who's a keeper and who may not play nice.

Thanks
 
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Hawaiian fish biotope

You should definitely add a Pinkface wrasse. Never seen a reef in Hawaii without one. They refer to it as a Christmas wrasse in Hawaii but it should not be confused with the wrasse in Halichoeres family. However it's an aggressive wrasse and I don't know how it will fit in with the flame wrasses
 
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CoralsAddiction said:
You should definitely add a Pinkface wrasse. Never seen a reef in Hawaii without one. They refer to it as a Christmas wrasse in Hawaii but it should not be confused with the wrasse in Halichoeres family. However it's an aggressive wrasse and I don't know how it will fit in with the flame wrasses
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I would strongly recommend against the pink face wrasse, Thalasomma quinquevittatum. This is an extremely aggressive fish that attacks the eyes of fish it doesnt like, and if other fish are small enough will bite them and smash the bodies against the rocks. This is not a good fish to be kept with other wrasses, or peaceful fish such as ventralis anthias and firefish!
 
eatbreakfast said:
I would strongly recommend against the pink face wrasse, Thalasomma quinquevittatum. This is an extremely aggressive fish that attacks the eyes of fish it doesnt like, and if other fish are small enough will bite them and smash the bodies against the rocks. This is not a good fish to be kept with other wrasses, or peaceful fish such as ventralis anthias and firefish!
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I strongly agree. In my opinion, not a desirable tank mate.
 
I would imagine the frog fish would try and eat the dart fish and the box fish will have trouble competing for food in a tank full of butterflies and other aggressive feeders
 
Skip the anthias. You'll pay a fortune for them, and they are very difficult to keep. Maybe bicolors, if you have to have some?

I would also personally skip the Heniochus. Unlike many of the Chaetodon species, Heniochus WILL get to their max size, and they are BIG fish.
 
Hawaiian fish biotope

snorvich said:
I strongly agree. In my opinion, not a desirable tank mate.
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Other than observing them in the ocean in Hawaii, I have no experience with this particular fish in captivity. Had no idea they were very aggressive.
 
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CoralsAddiction said:
Other than observing them in the ocean in Hawaii, I have no experience with this particular fish in captivity. Had no idea they were very aggressive.
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AFAIK, basically all Thalasomma Wrasses exhibit similar behavoirs, and so do not make good reef tankmates. Best left for aggressive tanks, or in the ocean IMO.

Also, with the C. jordani pair (Flame Wrasses), I would just get two juveniles/females. One or likely both will turn male in short order. That will save you a lot of $$, and you will have them longer as they do have a relatively short lifespan. Keep in mind if they do both turn male, they may or may not work it out and so you may only end up with one. Even if you did get a true pair, it is more than likely the female would turn male and so you would be in the same boat.
 
Ok I will trade the longfins for the bicolor and take the Heniochus off the list. Yes that was my plan for the C. jordani, two small juvi. Thanks guys, anyone else care to chime in.

What about a Moorish Idol, if I could find one that needs to be rehomed.
 
Daniel62 said:
Ok I will trade the longfins for the bicolor and take the Heniochus off the list. Yes that was my plan for the C. jordani, two small juvi. Thanks guys, anyone else care to chime in.

What about a Moorish Idol, if I could find one that needs to be rehomed.
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Finding one that needs to be rehomed is not likely and given that even those who are successful keeping MI only have managed to do so for 5 yrs, and there aren't a lot who can claim that. A fish best left out of home aquariums
 
A lot of those butterflyfish are coral nippers, so keeping Porites and Pocillopora spp. may be challenging. Also, I would just get a single firefish, as pairing them will likely end in failure (plus, I wouldn't consider them a typical Hawaiian fish, as they are rarely seen in Hawaiian waters).

Also, no yellow tang? Many consider that to be the quintessential Hawaiian reef fish.
 
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I have dove all the Hawaiian Islands and to truely keep to the Hawaiian theme you need 2 or 3 of these as they are very common there. These and moorish Idols compromize most of the life in Hawaii. :D



 
Well I was worried that the kole and the yellow would not get a long. Ok then no firefish. Alright Paul no Idol. The turtle however may just go on my list:).

Any other fish you can think of that I might be missing.
 
LelandF. said:
The Waikiki Aquarium has an awesome all Hawaiian fish only tank in the wall at their entrance.



Leland
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That reef is awesome! So is the rest of the aquarium. It has the biggest and most beautiful hawaiian flame wrasse I've sever seen. Here's a pic of a little fella I took. Not hawaiian but at the Waikiki aquarium.
a8uha4ah.jpg
 
There is a spotted moray eel in here, they are also very common in Hawaii.


Also hair algae, it too is all over the place there.



And volcanoe's, if you can fit a volcano in your tank it would appear very realistic.

 
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