suggestions needed for a 36 gallon tank

M

mckriesch

New member
I currently have a 36 gallon bowfront tank. I have about 30 pounds of live rock, red leg hermit crabs, various snails, a neon goby, and a scooter blenny. I previously had a dwarf lionfish but it died due to varying water parameters but I think that i have gotten everything under control over the previous few months since. I am looking to add a larger fish back into my tank soon but am not sure what I want.
I really like the idea of a dwarf zebra lionfish but I realize that my other fish would more than likely fall prey to it. I am looking for something that is interesting and different like the lionfish but am not sure what else to look for. Does anyone have a suggestion?
 
Most of the fish I would reccomend for a tank this size are species only fish so if you were to get one you would have to give the fish you have now away to a friend in the hobby or a responsible lfs which ever one is best for the fish. If you decide to do this then I would hands down get a anglerfish great predator, perfect for your size tank and they are super funny walking around on their fins like legs. I had a wartskin angler in a 30 gallon and out of all the fish I have had( tangs, a shark, rabbit fish, squirrel fish, and groupers) every guest I showed my tanks to immediately told me the angler was there favorite most of them didn't know you could own one, one man told me that he thought they were fantasy creatures. If you don't want an angler some other choices are scorpionfish, zebra and fuzzy dwarf lionfish and if you are planning to upgrade a fish I have always wanted but never actually had the flounder super cool and predatory. If it is just a showy fish you want then you should keep the fish you have now and get a flasher wrasse super pretty other than that a Pygmy angel would be a good choice maybe cherub or flame back. I am going to assume you are a responsible aquarist because you are posting on this site before buying fish but stay away from large angels, rabbit fish, tangs and other fish over 6 inches it is a pain to find new homes for them once they get big and in smaller tanks they tend to be very aggresive. One last question what are dimensions of the tank and is it eventually going to be a reef
 
First of all, thank you for the recommendations. I had never heard of anyone with an anglerfish. I am going to start looking up all your suggestions soon. The tank is 17x31x51. And no I do mot plan on turning it into a reef tank anytime soon. Also I agree, I want to get a fish that I can keep in my tank and not have to transfer it elsewhere.
 
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That is an 60 or 70 gallon not 36 that really widens your choices in that case I would get a onespot foxface or get rid of your clean up crew and get a snowflake moray, if you have money to spend then get a hawiian golden dwarf moray and keep what you have now
 
Sorry I was mistaken before. It is actually 30x16x20. The website I looked on previously for dimensions was wrong or I read it wrong or something went wrong haha.
 
I like the anglerfish that I have found on line but am I correct in that o would have to take everything out? Blenny, goby, hermit crabs?
 
Anglers and zebra lions do not move around much they are ambush predators
If I was to heavily stock a tank like yours it would have
1 zebra lion
1 colered angler
1 leaf scorpionfish
There is a video on youtube of somebody with an tank like yours will be but 90 gallons it is called 90 gallon ambush predator and macro algea tank it is beautiful and honestly all the fish in there would do just as we'll in a smaller tank, that's the beauty of ambush predators they don't need much space I hope you follow through with this build because it sounds awesome
 
I am going to do some more research on these fish but this sounds like a direction that I like as i prefer the predators and was under the initial impression that i could only have one in my tank. I will not be able to do anything for a couple months but how would I go about adding them? Would i add them all at the same time or separate? I would assume together so that claiming territory would not be an issue.
 
The problem with my list is the order of how you put them in so I would add angler and scorpion at the same size and the lion after, make sure the lionfish and scorpion are bigger than the anglerfish when you put them in the tank the preferable anglerfish for this tank is the wartskin angler but the colored works to if you want a prettier fish than the zebra lion a fu Manchu would work well to. Make sure they have a large pile of liverock as shelter.

The next thing you have to worry about is feeding, now you can get anglers and scorpions but f you get one that only eats live food getting it to eat frozen will be relatively easy if you follow the instructions I use. First try a shish kabob stick and attach a silverside to it so the silver side is just barely stuck on it, next wave the stick about 2 inches from its face see if you can catch its attention. Sighns of interest in a angler fish is that you will notice him flick his angler around like a little fishing pole as he does this make the fish on a stick move slightly towards him so that it looks like the silverside is interested make sure to slightly vibrate the stick so the fish looks alive. You will then notice him sizing up the prey hold the fish on a stick a bit above his head, he will then gulp And the silverside should fall off the stick because of the vaccume and into his mouth. The same should work for the scorpion fish ecxept he will start slowly moving toward the fish and twitching like a leaf in the water as he creeps toward his prey. The lionfish will not need special feeding, just toss the silverside above him and he will eat it. A good varied diet would consist of mainly silversides with some cocktail shrimp and for a treat some guppies or chromis/damsels. Be careful that you do not overfeed one or two silversides each every other day will be fine, no matter how fun it is to watch them eat don't feed to much they have been known to be fed so much food that they burst, I saw a 4 inch angler down a 6 inch yellow tang and explode at my lfs. Scorpion fish have a spine similair to tangs and foxfaces and if you touch them they may sting although the sting is not fatal it hurts; you are okay as long as you feed him from the stick.
 
I understand the weening process of converting the fish to frozen food as I had to do it with the first dwarf lionfish that I had but he took to it relatively easy and I understand that it may not be as easy with an angler. Right now, I am leaning towards just doing an angler and a lionfish but that is of course subject to change between now and when i get to actually add fish. I do like the wartskin but unfortunately it is a little more than I can afford right now for one fish as I am a college student.
 
I understand the reason I had my wartskin was because someone sold it to me in bad condition thinking it would dies for 20$ otherwise I normally do not buy fish over 40$ the next best would be the colored angler that you can get for 25$ and an even cheaper option is the sargassum fish.
 
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