idea for a final show fish for my 150 sps reef?

[adambirk]

hello,

well like the title says i am looking for any ideas on a final addition to my 150sps dominant reef. i am looking to stay under 400.00 so this should leave me open to quite a few ideas.

i currently have a 5 inch regal tang, 3 inch lepard wrasse, 2 inch flame angel, trio of spawinig occi clowns, 4 inch male blue jaw trigger, 3 inch copperbanded butterfly, and red manderian.

i have mostly sps but i do have some very nice lps and zoos that i really care for as well. this is were my problem lies because i really want my final and show fish to be a large angel. was looking at an adult emeror angel from either the cristmas islands or new caldonia. but obviously there is a risk here and if the fish doesnt work out i will have no were around me to take a 400 to 500 dollar fish.

so i am looking to here from other reefers as to what they have for a show fish in there reefs. and preferably something on the rarer side. i am partial to some sort of large angel. something that just captures the attention of anyone that would walk in my house.

thanks and hope to hear some good suggestions!


-adam

 

[minhvu]

How bout a red sea regal or a goldflake angel? Little on the risky side with lps but beautiful fish

 

[DJPB]

any large angel may be a bit crammed in anything smaller than a 240, but if you can find small specimens, the following are spectacular show fish.

blueface angel

majestic angel

+1 on the red sea angel

 

[Jhockey]

Emperor would outgrow the 150g. Maybe a scribbled, personifer/meredithi, red sea regal or perhaps a nice pair of genicanthus angels if you really want to be safe.

 

[tcmfish]

First I would pair your flame, and your mandarin. The spawning behavior they exhibit alone will be worth it.

As for eye catchers for a 150. I'd say you are limited by size with big angels.

A majestic will capture peoples attention, but it isn't very rare.

Goldflake's are cool, but can be troublesome.

Flagfins are sweet, and not many people own one, also you don't have much yellow fish!

Rock beauty's are cool, and not many people own those, but find a healthy one.

Genicanthus are awesome, I'd even go for Lamark's angels, not many people own them. I'd get two and let one turn male.

An asfur angel will work probably, because for some reason they don't seem to get as big as they do in the wild.

Any of the Chaetodontoplus should be okay.

What about a mitratus, declevis, or tinkeri butterfly to go with one of the smaller large angels?

 

[adambirk]

actually the flame is going as soon as i can catch him. tricky little bugger to catch in a 150 full of sps.

as for pairing the manderian i had a pair. the male i have now has been with me for 4 years now and his mate unfortunatly met her untimely end with a blue carpet nem that i had but after eating my manderian and orangespot goby i had to part with it. anyway i had them paired up for a little over 3 years and they would do there little matting ritual nightly and even had them spawn. i just havnt had the heart to put another female back in there. i guess it is a sentamental thing.

yeah i was thinking the 150 might be a little on the small side for an emperor and i dont want to get one when smaller just to have to get rid of it when it outgrows my tank. it is amazing how attached we can get to our fish and even corals for that matter.

i thought about a red sea regal angel.

was also considering a australian tusk. very nice looking fish and some of the australians i have seen have that wow factor i was looking for.

any other ideas?

i almost got a gold flake but did alot of research and heard alot of horror stories. so it kinda put me off. besides it is a very nice fish but i have seen one in person and it wasnt the kind of fish that made you want to stand there and stare at it. i have lots of very nice corals sps, lps and even zoos that when people come over and see my setup are just amazed at them and that is what i am looking for in a fish.

hence why i love the large angels so much. and there are really not many other fish that have colors like that.

keep the ideas coming. thanks

-adam

 

[adambirk]

you know it never dawned on my about the majestic. i have always been told that they are not reef safe at all? i know they are not very rare but you dont often see a nice adult species either and they do have very nice coloring. well not were i live anyway. actually come to think of it the only time i have ever seen one in person was at the trop. in detroit. they have one in one of there huge tanks and it would spit water at you. very cool fish. i would deffinently be interested in one of these but am curious about there "reef compatability"....

is there many people out there keeping them in reef tanks?

-adam

 

[aquaph8]

I'm a big fan of all the genicanthis angels.

 

[ghstrider]

heres what id get...

http://www.nyaquatic.com/servlet/the-486/Chrysurus-Angel--dsh--XL/Detail

 

[Stanley-Reefer]

pair of bellus angels

 

[Reefnub]

I'd get a Majestic, they appear to be one of the more safer Large Angels. Majestics usually take longer to grow anyways. I had a 4 inch one in my mixed reef 120g but it was too shy, didn't eat and then perished during the first week. Looking for another one that is actually eating at the lfs now.

 

[adambirk]

bellus are very nice but they are actually quite popular up here and once again for me they dont have that wow factor. i am really considering a majestic but would love to hear more from some reefers with lps and zoos that have kept one.

also i am still quite drawn to the aussi harliquin tusk. i have always wanted one and maybe this is going to be the time.

would still love to hear some more ideas though if there is anyone else who wants to chime in.

was also looking at some fish that were way out of my price range but man what i would do to have a jocular angel. was brousing through john copps's threads and pics and seen he had a pair!!!!!!!!!!!! now those are some awsome fish.

-adam

 

[agreeive?fish]

angels to be admired include

scribbled
flag fin
rock beauty
regal
false personifer
queen(brazilizan)
asfur

i cant speak to the reef safeness of them, and i do know that after the asfur hits 4-5" range their growth rate slows way way down thats the only one i have long term experience with FOWLR

 

[frankpayne32]

actually the flame is going as soon as i can catch him. tricky little bugger to catch in a 150 full of sps.

as for pairing the manderian i had a pair. the male i have now has been with me for 4 years now and his mate unfortunatly met her untimely end with a blue carpet nem that i had but after eating my manderian and orangespot goby i had to part with it. anyway i had them paired up for a little over 3 years and they would do there little matting ritual nightly and even had them spawn. i just havnt had the heart to put another female back in there. i guess it is a sentamental thing.

yeah i was thinking the 150 might be a little on the small side for an emperor and i dont want to get one when smaller just to have to get rid of it when it outgrows my tank. it is amazing how attached we can get to our fish and even corals for that matter.

i thought about a red sea regal angel.

was also considering a australian tusk. very nice looking fish and some of the australians i have seen have that wow factor i was looking for.

any other ideas?

i almost got a gold flake but did alot of research and heard alot of horror stories. so it kinda put me off. besides it is a very nice fish but i have seen one in person and it wasnt the kind of fish that made you want to stand there and stare at it. i have lots of very nice corals sps, lps and even zoos that when people come over and see my setup are just amazed at them and that is what i am looking for in a fish.

hence why i love the large angels so much. and there are really not many other fish that have colors like that.

keep the ideas coming. thanks

-adam

I absolutely loved my harlequin tusk. Definitely had the wow factor plus personality to boot. Unfortunately, after about four months he started to become very aggressive to the other fish. I recently removed him after he killed a couple. He was a model citizen with coral though.