Fish and Live Rock

[Viv]

Do you need to have live rock in the tank? I mean if you placed all your LR in your sump and had fish and coral only in the main display-well, would it work? Do the fish need the rock? I've read about having places "caves" where the fish can hide, is this true? Or, is it only certain fish that need someplace to hide, ie large fish, as I would imagine small fish could hide amongst the corals.

[tellycoleman]

where would u put your corals? i guess u can stick them to the glass. well i think know matter what fish combination u put in your tank their will always be a dominate struggle even if just temporary. u want a place where the least dominate fish can hide. otherwise he might be assaulted. (you cant call 911)

[Leonardo's Reef]

I know it can be done. I have only one flat rock in my tank and I know it would also work if you glue the corals to the bottom, or use an even smaller flat piece of rock.

If you only keep small fish they have enough room between the corals to hide/sleep. The only concern is that you rely almost completely on mechanical filtration. If the skimmer etc. fails it could cause problems. Some LR in the sump would prevent that though

My tangs, blennie etc. have plenty enough space to hide and sleep in an aquarium with only two rocks

Leonardo

[Viv]

Yup, that's what I was thinking. LR in the sump-fish and coral in the main display...sort of reverse the process...if the electricity went out, would there be a big problem in the main display? Not prolonged, but a day or two-would corals fail without the LR filtering for a short period of time...

[hng]

If the corals are big enough to provide hiding places for the fish, then you should be OK. But if it's basically an empty tank, then I think the fish will eventually stress out. Fish also tend to like to cruise around and pick off copepods and such off the live rock during the day (or at least my fish do).

[Loverotties]

Some corals need shade,And some need more than others so I guess your thinking glueing the coral on the back glass?You'll need twice the light.On the sump for the rock and on the tank for the coral.But different but yes it could be done.

[Viv]

You would need light on the rock in the sump?
I have some big fish, Niger Trigger, Sohol Tang, Desjardin Tang (those are the biggest). Just wondered if they would be ok without LR caves to hide and move around. At night they seem to go to caves....for protection?

[hng]

I don't think you need light for the rocks in the sumo unless they had some corals on them. As for the fish, I'm just not sure how they would respond (over time) with a bare landscape. In the wild, they have a natural instinct to wedge themselves in rockwork or caves to "sleep".

[Chris2500dk]

I'd also look kinda silly IMO. Going with just enough live rock that you like the aquascape and putting the rest in the sump would make sense though.

Unless you're growing macro algae in the sump you don't need light there.

[King-Kong]

Originally Posted by hng

I don't think you need light for the rocks in the sumo unless they had some corals on them. As for the fish, I'm just not sure how they would respond (over time) with a bare landscape. In the wild, they have a natural instinct to wedge themselves in rockwork or caves to "sleep".

Thats the issue i see with it.

My Tang actually enjoys swimming through the rock work, and my anthias and wrasses use it to sleep. I wouldnt want to get rid of it all so that they could hide, and also, at times, not always see each other, so aggression could be reduced.