need help deciding livestock

[zippopunk1]

i have a 100 gallon reef tank that im having trouble finding fish to add due to the fact that most the fish in there are aggressive. livestock includes marine betta, 2 inch damsel, rabbit fish, marroon clown, and a v tailed grouper. any suggestions on other fish i might be able to add. I was thinking of any one of these lion fish, angler, engeneer goby if i could find a large one, somesort of large angle fish, or a trigger i have heard some of them are not that bad to house with coral. my other suggestion someone gave me was just to take the grouper out and that would ive me more options. the guys pretty cool though and id like to keep him would i be able to add other types of grouper

 

[drhook2100]

a fox face would be cool

 

[zippopunk1]

i have one of those arent those the same as rabbitfish any other ideas

 

[demonsp]

Your confused and uneducated. But its ok as this is why your here. Your listing a few reef fish and many FO fish. You also said it will be a reef tank. If it will be a reef tank then you want coral and this will be the basis of your tank. Then you want to chose fish that help control its contitions. Like omnivores to control algea and gobys for SB cleaning and a few for eye candy. But the more fish you have the harder to keep water quality in check. You want less aggresive stock like chalk bass and bi color blennys and many others.Just add the least aggresive to the most for easier accumulating.

 

[zippopunk1]

the thing is all i really have as far as coral is zoas, mushrooms, a colt, plate coral, not really hard coral to take care of. i was just hoping that i could do a reef that had aggressive fish since not many people have. i know it can be done because i have spoken to people who have done it

 

[demonsp]

Aggresive fish are dirty and eat CUC. Makeing water quality control much harder and coral need quality water conditions. With coral you need to use fish for water quality and algea control. Get reef type fish to control SB condition and omnivores for algea control and MB a few for eye candy. And the less the better for easier water conditions.

 

[JimKelly12203]

When i build my 90G, i intend to have the following fish contained within it. Please note, i don't really have much experience, but i have thought this out over the course of 2+ years and i've definitely done the research.

Once acclimated, i'll add 2 false percs (hard to argue with these fish... IMO if you don't have 2 of them, you're been in this hobby long enough to be bored with them. i'm nowhere near that).

In another month or so, i'll likely add 3-5 green chromis. Whether i add 3 or 5 depends on how the system is holidng up. I woudl consider adding 3 cardinals at this point instead, but they're pretty expensive relative to the price of some chromis so...

Next i'll probably add a yellow watchman goby. They're cool. Why not?

After taht i'm probably going to introduce my first tang into the picture. The system shoudl have enough action at this point to make a tang feel at home. I'm leaning towards a hippo (which i would prefer) but i'm trying to find the hartiests, prettiest, most 90G compatible tang to add at this point. I want to be as responsible as possible with the tang i chose as my centerpiece. I know a 90G is considered borderline for a hippo, but i know a few people that have had long term (8 yrs +) success with hippos in a 90. More research needed to say the least although i think i've read it all at this point.

after the tang addition, i'm going to add a dragonette of some sort when (and only when) massive copepod levels seem to have developed.

The final fish i'll add will be a six line wrasse.

At that point i'll acess my system. If it's holding up well, i will consider adding two more small fish. But i'll likely stop there.

Pepper in coral additions throughout as well as cleaner crew maintinence and the addition of a few cleaner shrimp (added prior to the tang), some emerald crabs and a detritus consuming starfish and that's what i'm going to have.

It's really a standard stocking package. Nothing special. Nothing exotic. But i think it's a responsible plan. It may be a tad towards the heavy fish loading end, but (again) i'm not going to add a damn thing if my parameters seem to indicate that it would be a bad idea.

 

[demonsp]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11953971#post11953971 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JimKelly12203
When i build my 90G, i intend to have the following fish contained within it. Please note, i don't really have much experience, but i have thought this out over the course of 2+ years and i've definitely done the research.

The hippo is border line but i would add him last .He will make it much harder for any new fish to accumulate. Always add least aggresive to most last. I would wait atleast 8 months for any dragon fish and you will need a fuge for pod population.
Will have have any coral? Might as well with this list.
Then its best to add slowly. Wait for cycle then add a few CUC and wait a week or 2 then add more CUC and a fish or coral then wait and add more CUC and a fish or coral and ect..

 

[JimKelly12203]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11954041#post11954041 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by demonsp

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11953971#post11953971 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JimKelly12203
When i build my 90G, i intend to have the following fish contained within it. Please note, i don't really have much experience, but i have thought this out over the course of 2+ years and i've definitely done the research.

The hippo is border line but i would add him last .He will make it much harder for any new fish to accumulate. Always add least aggresive to most last. I would wait atleast 8 months for any dragon fish and you will need a fuge for pod population.
Will have have any coral? Might as well with this list.
Then its best to add slowly. Wait for cycle then add a few CUC and wait a week or 2 then add more CUC and a fish or coral then wait and add more CUC and a fish or coral and ect..

This is easily a 1.5 to 2 year stocking plan.

I felt that the hippo addition time was appropriate for a few reasons.

1) they certainly won't like being the sole member of a tank.
2) they are peacful
3) the dragonette is going to be an addition that comes close to last.
4) the six line is goign to be my last additon because i have heard they tend to be aggressive.

Would you still add the hippo last? From what i've read they are not aggressive. I was mainly concerned with the wrasse as far as aggressive behavior was concerned (hence it is my planned "final" addition).

Definitely will add corals throughout. But not to an insane degree and water parameter checks over time will be monitored prior to the addition of anything.

As for the fuge, well no doubt! i couldn't even start a system w/o one after all the cool tanks i've seen that include them.

I have a question about fuges though. DO pods really make the trip through the sump return pump and into the DT alive? Seems unlikely to me. Do their larvae survive the trip?

Regardless, i plan on having sections in the LR that are unaccessable to fish, but that would help pods to find a refuge within the DT to flourish.

 

[demonsp]

Well i mentioned least to most aggresive. I never had an hippo tang but my purple tang was the most aggresive in my tank so i assummed a hippo would also.
Not all pods can be seen by the naked eye like eggs and larve.So they do pass but things like fine filters on the way can stop or reduce there numbers.

 

[JimKelly12203]

Yeah the hippo is a big wimp (again, all based on research). Purple, that's a bully as tangs go. blues are truly a community fish, unless you put it w/ other blues in a smallish tank.

good to know about pods. I have really always wondered about this. I mean, they're bugs afterall and for anyone that's tried to manually kill a flea from his/her dog's back, the bastages are really hard to take out!

Methinks sea fleas would be equally hearty. I suppose time will tell. NO matter, i don't intend to buy a dragonette that hasn't first demonstrated a desire for frozen foods at the fish store.

Still, i'd love for the little guy to eat the filet mignon as opposed to the salisbury steak.

 

[demonsp]

This I.D. site has lots of POD info.

http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/hitchhikers.html

 

[JimKelly12203]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11954169#post11954169 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by demonsp
This I.D. site has lots of POD info.

http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/hitchhikers.html

Sweet thanks man!

 

[zippopunk1]

so what you guys are telling me is that i should get rid of most my fish and start over with less aggressive ones. the only 2 fish i would not get rid of is my marine betta and my rabbit fish, can you guys suggest good fish that not many people have that would go along in that tank.

 

[zippopunk1]

anyone want to help me out with new tankmates for my betta and rabbitfish

 

[JimKelly12203]

can't suggest many non-conventional species. But yeah, you're going to have some problems. Blue damsels tend to be recommended in LFS (local fish store) logic. But they're a problem.

Yeah, they're hearty and they can survive/facilitate the nitrite/nitrate/amonia cycle. Problem is they get big and they're mean!

They seriously limmit the types of fish you can add.

A pair of false percs (tank bred prefered) or 3-5 green chromis will be equally effective in terms of being able to survive the initial cycle and be friendly to future fish additions.

Beyond that, it seems wise to simply let your live rock "cycle" the tank. No need to provide a fish for this use IMO.

If you want a predator tank that's one thing. But a reef tank is a different animal.

It's a matter of preference. I totally prefer a community tank with inhabitants that are freindly. Some people prefer predators but know that predatory fish will limmit your options. That's why they're predators.

IMO, there are tons of friendly fish/corals/inverts that will be just as pretty as the more predatory species.

Don't get me wrong... If i was rich i'd have a 2000 gallon tank with a shark, lion and a mess of triggers livign in it. But unfortunately i didn't start microsoft. As such, i'm more than happy to start a friendly reef aquarium where all the fish/corals/inverts are both beautiful and friendly to one another.

In short, predator tanks need to lend themselves to one set type of predatory fish. Reef tanks can house a larger number of equally beautiful (IMO) species with the added bonus that you're building a self sustaining ecosystem as opposed to a high maintenance tank.

A solid reef tank can almost sustain itself. A solid aggressive tank will always require that you add prey and that you don't mix incompatible predators within it. I tend to think of predator tanks as something a james bond villain would want to keep. but to be fair, they're really cool even if high maintenance.

Again, if I was totally loaded, i'd have both community and predatory tanks scattered throughout my mansion.

 

[zippopunk1]

thanks for the help i think im going to send most of my fish to the lfs keep the betta and the rabbit fish,and just get smaller fish that are easier to keep in a reef. i dont think i will get much of a cycle im moslty using water from my old tank adding a few more live rocks and letting the tank run for a day or 2 before adding the livestock from my old tank. anyone know about any eels that i can keep in a reef tank or are all eels out 2.

 

[JimKelly12203]

Don't know much about eels.

Most are not reef friendly. But there are some that are i'm sure.

The thing i know most about eels is that they are escape artists.

When you do find yourself a reef friendly eel (and i'm sure there are some out there) make sure you have a non-metalic barrier to keep the thing from jumping out!

 

[zippopunk1]

thanks for the help