Please critique possible stocking list for FOWLR, 125 gallon...

[20 20]

Queen Angelfish
Flame Angelfish
Raccoon Butterflyfish
BlueGreen Reef Chromis (4)
Powder Blue Tang
Clown Triggerfish
Lawnmower Blenny
Harlequin Tusk
Foxface Lo

Would have a around 150 pounds LR, 30 gallon sump, appropriate skimmer, 15-20 gallon fuge/cheato.

Too many fish? Compatiblity? Any opinions would be greatly apprieciated.

 

[Swanwillow]

IMO: you have 5 big/huge fish on that list: I'd cut that number back to two, and get more medium/small sized fish.

the big ones I'm talking about: queen (may need a 200 gallon tank, I think?) butterfly, tang, trigger, and LO.

the triggerfish is going to be mean, and possibly eat everything else in the tank...and you'll NEVER beable to have corals.

if you scratched the queen, the trigger, replace them with smaller fish (wrasses, gobies, something) you can get more color, and your bioload will be more within normal parameters.

if ya REALLY want the queen and the trigger, I'd have only those two... seriously, they get HUGE and will pick on almost everything you put in the tank...

 

[20 20]

Yeah, after a bit more research, the queen's too big, so that one is off the list. The butterfly can go, too. Is the clown trigger really that mean? How about replacing the clown with a Huma Picasso, or a Blue Throat? No corals in this tank, btw, don't intend on them in the future, either.

 

[Swanwillow]

either of those two would be MUCH better!!! people consider clown triggers to be HORRORS!!!
http://www.reefcentral.com/search.php?s=&menu=11
and search for clown trigger compatibility

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

Clowns are mean yes...one at work will attempt to bit your finger through the glass
Ditching the Queen is good, too big
A Bluethroat and Powder Blue would be fine



Before I upgraded, my 125 had
1 Raccoon Butterfly- my favorite!!
1- Iridis Wrasse
1 Candy Hogfish
2 Argi Angels
2 Percula Clowns

I like lightly stocked tanks

 

[20 20]

OK, so, how's this updated list...

Flame Angelfish
BlueGreen Reef Chromis (4)
Powder Blue Tang
Triggerfish (Huma Picasso or Blue Throat)
Lawnmower Blenny
Harlequin Tusk
Foxface Lo

Room for any more, or is that at the limit?

 

[Swanwillow]

a thousand times better

got room for a few little fish, if ya like: gobies, things like that.

 

[Swanwillow]

or, leave it be, kept stocked like that, aince I keep forgeting that hyou have 4 chromis... which will school nicely in the tank, due to the bigger fish, BTW

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Looks ok. With the triggers though you won't be able to keep a clean up crew. They like snails and crabs.

What about a pink tale trigger? They have some nice color and are more ref safe.

Have you looked into swallow tail angels? You could get a pair of them maybe and ditch the tang. Powder bules are notorious as ich magnets. Or maybe go with another type of tang just being sure to watch out for their max size as adults.

 

[Swanwillow]

your no fun chevy- one of my favorite fish is the pb tang... next to the shoal tang. BUT thats another discussion...

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Just want to make sure he knows what he's getting into. I agree, they are a beautiful fish. Just need to take some precautions with them. Who knows, I may even try one one day.

A good friend of mine just had his die. It was coverd in ich. He was trying to help it but it just didn't make it. Was swimming and eating like a pig.

Shoal tangs are beautiful too. Just that they tend to get aggrisive as they get older. Same with the clown tang and clown trigger.

Me, I like going for the more unusual fish that you don't see very often. Not necessarily rare, just not often seen.

 

[20 20]

Thanks for the replies! Couple of further questions...

I'm not dead set on the powder blue, are other tangs as 'sensitive' to ich (or anything else)? Such as Naso, blue, yellow, or Achilles tangs?

So, no clean up crew at all with triggers? What do people with triggers do to keep the tank clean, other than frequent water changes with substrate vacuuming?

 

[Swanwillow]

a big scrub brush. I think that the blue throat or pink tail will be ok with many inverts, and only kill of SOME of the snails and hermits... its part of having a trigger.

I've never had a tang: never had a big enough tank for one... the common ones are the yellow and blue, which I just don't like, but I think they are all known to be ich magnets. Naso may get too big for your tank. BlownChevy had a great idea with a pair of swallowtail angels. (which can also replace any other fish, two medium sized ones, or one big one)

but, other tangs to look at are kole, gold rim, tomini if ya have the cash, Desjardini, and lavender.. those are the smaller ones... the blue tang is bigger than these, I think...achilles and yellow are also ones to look at, the naso... gets pretty big, like the blue. it would work though.

but, all in all tangs are ich magnets. If they get stressed, they get ich. if they don't have the right foods, they get ich... it goes down and down from there.

on another tangent: I wish places that sell these fish would put the right size tank for them!!! my favorite site for pictures/purchasing WC fish has the kole tang or the lavender tang to be ok in a 30 gallon aquarium!!! MY GOD! I can't see putting a tang in anything under a 90, MAYBE the kole in a 75...

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

LOL.

yep some places put the size tank at what I would call small when you look at the adult size of the fish. Unless they are thinking you'll never kep him alive long enough to reach adult size.

There are a lot of different theroies on Ich and feeding habbits. I have my own and won't go into them here.

I will say this, I have a pair of Naso tangs, male and female. They are in a 7' long 400 g tank. To watch them swim around, it sometimes seems that even this tank is too small for them. The male is about 11" plus his streamers.

As for Ich, STRESS is a major contributor. In the last 7 yeasr of having my small reef, I've only had two cases of Ich. the last one recently. I don't QT but I do pick my fish carefuly. The clown was a gift from a friend. He had Ich when I got him. It was cleared up in less than aweek in my tank and I did nothing. No other fish got it.

Live aquaria and I beleive marine Depot tell a bit about the husbandry of the as wel as sutiable tank size. There are some tansg that don't get all that large. Try surfing their websites and se what you come up with.

As for the triggers, I have a pink tail in my 400 G tank. He's beautiful and has a great personaility. He dosne't bother any of the snails I have in the tank and can't get into the rocks for the shrimp. Not that I think he would eat them. He has been in capitivity for about 3 years now, along with the tangs, and has just recently be exposed to snails.

The previous owner had the tank as FOWLR with no inverts and so the fish have never seen them before. Or at least not for a long time. I have noticed that they have been conditioned to eat sinking pellets as thats all they've known, besides the occasional sheet of nori, for the last several years. I've put frozen food in the tank that will float and they totally ignore it. If I thaw it and then pour it in where it will sink, they devour it. Just some of my observations.

 

[20 20]

I kinda like the Kole tang, too. Naso's too big, you're right. And now yet ANOTHER 'further' question... Are butterfly's as hard, or harder, to keep than tangs? Those swallowtail angels are nice looking fish, just looked em' up. By a pair, do you mean mated pair, or is it OK to keep 2 males or 2 females?

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Depends on the fish but I think a mated pair would be nicer. I've read that you can keep two male Wantanabi's together if the tank is big enough. You just have to have one larger than the other and possibly a female with them. I'm looking for a female for my male right now. I hope it's soon as it looks like my male is reverting to a female. males are suppoed to be harder to get.

As for the butterflies, some are hardy and sme are hard to keep. But as with anything, there's always one that's different. If you practice good husbandry techniques, you should be able to keep just baout anything.

 

[20 20]

Well, good husbandry technique is the plan.

 

[Swanwillow]

ok, so off of my rant, but the same: don't look at thier tank sizes, but you can get most of the rarest fish in the hobby from the marine center. its a little spendy, but they can get the wantanabie and the swallowtail-they also offer pairs... but, they are EXTREMELY expensive compared to other sites... and thier waiting lists really do work. Got my flasher wrasses from them

which is another great fish, but not with your big fish.,.,

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Now that you mention the flasher wrasse,

What about a tank full of different wrasses? That would give you a LOT of color.

I also don't know why you couldn't have some wrasses with the big fish. I have 4 different varaites of wrasses in my big tank with the big fish. I also have a harem of royal gramas and a sun burst anthias. They just learn to stay out of the big guys way but are still out and about.

 

[Swanwillow]

not ALL wrasses: just flasher wrasses. I had a trio. they jumped THROUGH eggcrate to get away from the scary clownfish... I can't IMAGINE what they would do with big fish.