helpstock my 80 gallon

[ckprax]

. The tank is 48 x 16 x 25 with a 29 gal sump with a 10 gal refugium, and diy skimmer. There is only around 60 lbs of LR and 80 lbs of LS but I do a 10% wc every weekend without fail. The tank has been running for the past 5 months and the only inhabitants are a yellowtail chromis and a huge hermit crab.

My goal for this tank is to have a small school of chromis a pair of maroon clowns and one or two larger fish. I am not set on aggressive but i am open to them.

For the larger fish, I would really like a puffer and/or a trigger.

I know the crab could become a meal but it's huge and if it does get picked on i will either put it in my sump or return it (it was free).

For the puffer I would love to get a dog faced puffer but maybe there is a better choice, like porcupine.

I would also like a huma huma trigger but this may be pushing the bioload and again there may be a better choice i have over looked.

Any advice would be great, or suggestion on what you would do. Thanks

 

[ckprax]

anybody?

 

[Deacon]

I'll toss in my 2 cents....

Porcupines can get unbelievably huge and an 80 gal. is a bit small. Maybe you could just get a dog face and call it good (no other big fish).

Or, humu humus are cool and we have one in our 125 gal. You could do that instead of a puffer. Our humu will eat raw shrimp out of your hand. The kids get a big kick out of it.

 

[ckprax]

Thanks Deacon!
I knew that porcupines get really large but liveaquaria recommends a 70 gal and 100 gal for dog face.

Personally I think I would rather get the puffer over the trigger, I would like them both but I don't know when I would upgrade next and I don't want to overstock now with hopes of a bigger tank later.

Again thanks for the reply

 

[AquaKnight]

Look into the Spiny Box Puffer/Spiny Burrfish (same fish). They get about half the size of of porcupine, but have very similar personalities.

 

[ckprax]

AquaKnight,
Thanks for the input, I really like the spiny box puffer but it is supposed to be more difficult to keep and I am still pretty new to keeping fish. I think at this point I am going to go with the dog faced puffer after I get funds for the smaller fish.

 

[ckprax]

well I just had a change in heart, I went to the LFS and they had two spiny box puffers! They are totally awesome. My question is are they that hard to keep or is it a matter of getting them to eat because I watched them being fed? Is there something else that makes them difficult of is it weening them onto frozen that is the challenge?

 

[AquaKnight]

Really? That's the first I've heard of them being hard to keep. What did they feed them at the store? Live?

 

[ckprax]

AquaKnight- They fed them frozen krill and silversides however only one of them would eat, the other looked interested but didn't eat any. I'm going to go again tomorrow and see if the other one eats cuz it is brighter and has more personality. My only source for them as being difficult to care for is liveaquaria so i'm going to do some more reading tonight.

 

[AquaKnight]

Ah! I'm almost positive they list them as difficult because of their beak/teeth, you'll have to feed "hard" foods, shrimp with the shell on, clams still in the shell, etc to wear the beaks down. Though this is a consideration with any puffer.