I currently have a 2 pur clowns with a RBTA, a 4" Salfin tang, Blue Eye Cardinals, Lawn Mower Blenny, Sand Sifting Goby, Green Chromis & 6 line Wrasse. I would like some larger more aggressive fish, I.E. Puffer, Grouper, Scorpion/Lion & Trigger.
What do I need to get ride of? & what can I keep?
What fish do you love the most? List those as keepers, and we can help you build a stock list around them.
I don't really know a lot about fish only tanks. Would it be better to get ride of some of my LR, I have about 150lbs total. Should I get ride of my Fuge?
No, keep your LR and fuge, you will need them to handle the elevated bioload of a predator/aggressive tank with more fish.
What about Flow? What fish would you guys recommend for a Agressive tank my size?
Totally depends on the fish you choose. What flow do you have now?
Nigeria Trigger, but might go with a Humu. Is there a smaller puffer that would work better. I would rather not get a fish I will need to re-home in the future. Looking at:
- Niger or Humu Trigger
- Smaller Puffer
- Small Angel
- My current Salfin Tang
- large wrass?
This would be my choice for your tank (6' long, correct?)
-Dogface puffer - they are the mellowest "true" puffers, don't get over about a foot, and IME grow slowly. Consider a Solomon Islands black or dalmation dogface - very cool color morphs, but pricier. I would not get the niger or humu humu trigger - niger will definitely outgrow the tank over time (but could work for a few years if you are willing to rehome - humu humu IME will become aggressive.
-your Sailfin tang - it may eventually outgrow the tank, but it would take a while. Keep it as the only tang
-Australian harlequin tuskfish - an awesome wrasse, not a bully, very colorful, shouldn't outgrow the tank if you don't overstock.
-Lionfish, with caution - generally lionfish are not recommended with puffers. If you have your heart set on one, get a dwarf lion (fuzzy dwarf is a good starter lion, grows slowly, lots of personaility). Add it first. Have a plan B in case puffer bothers it. I have kept dogface puffers and several species of lionfish together and never had a problem, but if someone else tells you their dogface puffer harassed their lionfish, listen to them! (I've also kept several species of tobies - dwarf sharpnose puffers - with lions without problems - but I may have just been lucky.)
You could keep a dwarf angel or two - coral beauty and flame angels are both nice, and pretty hardy, don't contribute too much to bioload. Your tank may be big enough for one of each, but read up on mixing angels, and how to do it successfully, first.
Will the puffer or the trigger kill my blue eye cardinals or green chromis?
I don't think a dogface puffer would bother them, but a trigger or lionfish likely would eat them.
You could probably keep any fish too big to fit in a lionfish's or tuskfish's mouth. But do limit your fish to no more than 4 or 5 "big" fish (adult size 7-12 inches) and a handful of smaller fish. You should be able to handle water quality, but don't skimp. FO tanks need good water quality too. Some hobbyists assume because fish can tolerate more polluted conditions than corals, that it's okay to keep them in nasty water. Your fish will do better and your tank will look nicer if you keep up with water changes. You can tolerate some nitrates - however, IME I have noticed some fish seem to be sensitive to high nitrates, including puffers. This is just my own observation. You will find some people that say fish can handle very high nitrates, over 100 ppm, with no problems.
A good site for fish species research is wetwebmedia.com. Also, their sizes are accurate, which is often not the case with vendors, even the most reputable ones.
With my now only tank, a 4 foot 90, I feel very limited. I used to have 7 or 8 marine tanks at a time...
