species tank sizes

E

english

New member
just have been thinking now - if i was wanting to make a wall of species only tanks what size would i be looking at for each unit?

was wondering if 1 foot cubes would be ok? seems a bit small when i measure up though.. i would consider also running skimmerless for each unit and just carrying out 25% weekly water changes and allow the LR to do the rest of the work..

Undulated
Lion
Anglers

any thoughts on min sizes and idea?
 
All those fish getting more that a foot in length and to keep them in 1 foot cubes is just wrong.....how would u like to like to live a 2 by 2 foot closet your whole life....i dont think so:mad2:
 
Centralized system with a good skimmer(euro-Reef,asm,tunze) and each of those fish not even full grown would need at least 50-100G and that at juv sizes!...which would put you around a 3' by 3' cube and yes you would need LR and good flow for each tank/cube.
It would be better to do sm cubes if u wish with smaller fish like dwarf lion,maybe a dw. angel or something liek that,
but the fish you listed all grow very large very quick and are messy eaters thus u need good filitration and lg space
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11434281#post11434281 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by H^2 Salt
All those fish getting more that a foot in length and to keep them in 1 foot cubes is just wrong.....how would u like to like to live a 2 by 2 foot closet your whole life....i dont think so:mad2:
Click to expand...

Let's try not to intimidate/bash here, he is asking for help.

Small angelrs can have about a 20 gallon tank to themselves
Undulateds can have about a 75 gallon tank to themselves
Dwarf lions can have a 55 gallon.
 
All those fish getting more that a foot in length and to keep them in 1 foot cubes is just wrong.....how would u like to like to live a 2 by 2 foot closet your whole life....i dont think so
Click to expand...

I agree that a 1 x 1 foot cube is too small. but you don't necessarily have to get huge tanks. not all of those fish are over a foot long, just the undy. the size depends on species. are you willing to get smaller species anglers and lions?

an undulated trigger gets about 12". some people keep them in a 75 - I'd consider that a minimum. A 90 would be better, IMO.

there are several lionfish that stay smaller than volitans. consider fuzzy dwarf lionfish, zebra, antennata. I think you could go with a 55 for two. and some tankmates are fine with lions (not undulated or anglers though). volitans lions really do need large tanks. they get big and they are pretty active for lions, as well. you can keep lions with many other fish, so your tank wouldn't need to be species only.

the smaller and very popular wartskin anglers only get about 4". some other popular and available species can get up to 7 or 8". a 30 gallon tank is fine for most anglers. stay away from H commersoni, they are the really big ones. anglers can also be kept with some tankmates, but you have to choose carefully.

EDIT: hadn't read FishMel's last post before answering - basically, you can see I agree. make sure you know the species you are getting and its adult size.
 
I like the centralized sump/skimmer idea. there are also decent HOT skimmers for those sized tanks. I would not forego a good skimmer.
 
thanks guys..

happy to work with the smaller anglers and lionfish - have been looking at the wartskins and have asked my LFS here in Australia to keep an eye out on the lists for me.

the undulated. are they fast growing? i have one that is 2 inch at the moment..

i went down to my LFS yesterday too see what they had made up already in tanks.

i do really need to decided whether or not I go for the 6x2.5x2.5 for a whole community or seperate them.

i will although get a main tank made up for the undulated trigger and try to build some smaller tanks around it for asthetics.. just got to measure up the apartment and get back to the drawing board to do it right first time round.

now just need to see if i should pay my rent this week or put it into some new equipment.. i know which way i am going..

;)
 
i currently run a deltec mce 600 skimmer.. but would most likely work out a centralised sump also and upgrade my deltec..
 
If you are willing to go with a more peaceful trigger you could keep a trigger and lion together (and maybe even have a volitans - the big one).

Triggers that would work;

blue throat (and can be paired)
pink tail
possibly niger (they do get bigger than the others)

I still would keep an angler in a small species tank.

If you want a good free resource to learn about species, check out wetwebmedia.com. RC's online mag reefkeeping.com is very good, as is advanced aquarist (try searching).

The best information I have seen in a book on anglers is in Reef Fishes volume 1 by Scott Michael. It also has a good chapter on lionfish. I keep going back to this book for information, it is really worth the money.

If you feel as though you could use a good reference on the basics of FOWLR tanks, definitely get New Marine Aquarium by Mike Paletta. If I had had this book 30 years ago when I first got started in the hobby, it would have saved me 10 years of the learning curve (and would have reduced the number of fish I killed). In the US the book is less than $20 online. I imagine it would not be expensive in Australia. If you get only one book, get this one.
 
Just put an order through for that recommendation 'New Marine Aquarium'.. thanks for the heads up!

I have 14 days off from January 1st so I might start planning before the fallen angel starts weaving its magic in my tank.

I am going to plan a 6x2x2 footer with two sliding walls with circular holes drilled for flow - That will give me three species tanks which i can run through the one sump.

Thinking one for first for the anglers, the second for undulated and the third for a lion and flame hawk, etc..

The undulated is a little beauty and i am wanting to keep him even though he only pokes his head out for 5 seconds and then hides again..

I really need a credit card increase or a very well to do girl who'll love my hobby as much as me!

;)
 
Undy growth - Is USUALLY slower than most triggers... obviously water quaility, food, and stress levels will change the growth rate.

Speaking in my own experience again, I would avoid the small species tank... you might want to search on line about the difference between active swimmers and hiding fish. You might be thinking that the smaller tank will be okay because the fish is small. The size of the tank will directly impact the triggers habbits, temper, ect.

Again I would make my vote for you to make the large tank into a Undy only tank. It would really stink to loose the Undy because of the tank size, water quailty, ect. Get the big tank set up, lots of live rock, Undy only... if you want some entertainment, put a couple of blue cromis in the tank... they will last a long time, the trigger is not the best hunter when it comes to chasing a much faster fish. I think that is because of the location of the eyes.

Good Luck... dont worry about the flamers on the site, most of them have just seen or heard of too many fishes dying at the hands of the Undy. Some of us like to hug trees, and fish being killed due to a bad purchase or bad advice, just gets them going.
 
PS... not that it is the best setup ever. If you click on my gallery photos... ( the little camara next to my name in the post ) you can see my Undy only tank.

I have added a Aqua C Rimora into the refugium below my tank. Just makes the tank even more self sufficient.

I have a 40ish DIY sump on the tank.

You can also see that I took photos of my Undy and framed them above the tank... that is for all the people that say... man thats such a big tank with no fish... ; )

Lastly I compare owning one of these fish to owning a pitbull terrier. And to me the fishes personality matches mine. My Undy does some cool stuff too... I put empty hermit crab shells around the tank and within 24 hours the trigger will pile them all in one spot no matter where they were in the tank.
 
the grouper and flame hawk are great!

i have a flame hawk at the moment and he is just a rock star.

what are the groupers like personality wise?
 
Flames are great, I had on in my nano until he was too big.

Groupers are hungry hippos... usually whatever fits in thier mouth they will eat... even sometimes things that do not fit.

If you search on google.com you can find a grouper that tried to swallow a eel 3 times his size.
 
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