Opinions on Fish choice

skeety · 11-22-2005, 07:33 AM

okay...so in case you didn't hear, we got another tank. The wife-to-be wanted a 75 gallon (her's just HAD to be bigger than mine. hahahaha).

It's going to be a FOWLR, and she has some fish she absolutely wants, and i'm hoping you guys can help us fill in the blanks:

ALready have (keeping in the 20gln until we know what all we're getting, and will add in an appropriate order):

Frog Fish
Yellow tang

MUST have:

Puffer
Dwarf or Russel's Lion

Thinking of filling in the gaps with:

Achilles or Orange Shoulder Tang (I know...pushing it with the achilles, but we'll be getting a 300-400 gln tank next year that he'll go in)
Some sort of Angel (Queen? Emperor? Suggestions?)
Longfin Heniochus

That's it! I'm SOOO proud of her. I thought she'd pick out like 50 fish. But she knows the less fish, the more success she'll have.

I'm aware that the fish we get NEED to be considerably larger than both the puffer and the frogfish. But do I need to worry about the size of just those two? (meaning...will a puffer eat a frog, or vice versa?)

any other tips, suggestions? etc?

Geoff · 11-22-2005, 09:40 AM

what kind of puffer are you thinking of getting? have you read how big they get. my wife wanted one also, untill i told her how big they get. they would not fit in a 75.

G~

skeety · 11-22-2005, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoff

what kind of puffer are you thinking of getting? have you read how big they get. my wife wanted one also, untill i told her how big they get. they would not fit in a 75.

G~

She really wants the porcupine puffer's. I know they can get big...

what size tank do you recommned? And how long do I have until they need that? (meanin...if we put him in the 75, how long until he outgrows it?)

Geoff · 11-22-2005, 11:33 AM

most get over 11". they tend to eat everything. this will be the problem. it tough to get something that it will not eat in the tank.

the do grow pretty slowly, so if you get a small one you have some time. that is if you do not get carried away and feed it a lot because it is fun.

G~

Spongebobsquarepants · 11-22-2005, 12:08 PM

Get a queen angel those soooo pretty of fish.Or get a Maculosus Angel I had one there are great fish !

Maculosus Angelfish

(Pomacanthus maculosus)

skeety · 11-22-2005, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoff

most get over 11". they tend to eat everything. this will be the problem. it tough to get something that it will not eat in the tank.

the do grow pretty slowly, so if you get a small one you have some time. that is if you do not get carried away and feed it a lot because it is fun.

G~

Yeah...but the other fish I listed get big too, right? I mean...big enough that he couldnt eat them.

And if I get them slightly bigger than the puffer...even if he grows faster, would we still be alright?

(I HAVE to make this puffer thing work! hahaha...help me out here).

but be honest too!

Superman · 11-22-2005, 12:25 PM

I wouldn't put any Tang in an aquarium smaller than 100 gallons, they are straight line swimmers, and most would agree that anything shorter than a 6 foot tank is a major compromise and will be stressful for the tangs. As for the puffer, the tank is a bit small for the bio load that a puffer puts on the tank, this is aside from the fact that the puffer will outgrow the tank over the course of about 2-3 years depending on how big the puffer is when you get him. I would not go with any of the large angels that you mentioned, but would instead go with some type of dwarf angel, flame angel, do a search on liveaquaria or something to get an idea of the sizes of angels. My recommendation is that you should go with smaller fish that would match the size tank that you have, instead of just a couple of larger fish that will be cramped and will also place a large bioload on your tank.

skeety · 11-22-2005, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superman

I wouldn't put any Tang in an aquarium smaller than 100 gallons, they are straight line swimmers, and most would agree that anything shorter than a 6 foot tank is a major compromise and will be stressful for the tangs. As for the puffer, the tank is a bit small for the bio load that a puffer puts on the tank, this is aside from the fact that the puffer will outgrow the tank over the course of about 2-3 years depending on how big the puffer is when you get him. I would not go with any of the large angels that you mentioned, but would instead go with some type of dwarf angel, flame angel, do a search on liveaquaria or something to get an idea of the sizes of angels. My recommendation is that you should go with smaller fish that would match the size tank that you have, instead of just a couple of larger fish that will be cramped and will also place a large bioload on your tank.

Bioload's not that important, as this isn't a reef. I mean...it IS important in that life will still be in there...but it's not critical to be at the levels I need to be for a reef.

As for the number of fish, we're talking maybe 5 or 6 fish.

I don't think that's unreasonable for a 75 gallon tank that will have very open aquascaping (but provide hiding places).

The problem is...maybe you should be suggesting I get a bigger tank (ahhahaha)...as the puffer fish IS the main choice and is not up for debate (unfortunately).

as for the tang debate...I've found just as many sites that say minimum 70glns as I've found that say 100gln.

I know I'm pushing it...but we seriously plan on getting a VERY large tank in the next two years, that the Tang will be going in.

as for the dwarf angels...too small. will get eaten by the puffer OR by the frog fish. Are their angels in the middle? That don't get SUPER large, but aren't small either?

Geoff · 11-22-2005, 12:46 PM

ahhh, now this gets a little tricky. put on your logic cap. ready?!

you are correct that you can theoretically add more fish in a FOWLR than a reef tank. what happens when you have lots of fish in a tank?

DOC's. how much do you plan on spending on a skimmer? it had better big massive.

what do you plan on putting on the bottom?

BB, good, that way you do not have to worry about detritus in the SB. this will be a big problem with that bio-load. any detritus that falls will quickly produce phosphates. which leads to what great scurge of the aquarium?

algae, good job. (sorry, can you tell i am bored).

so what are you going to use to control this algae?

snails? survey says, X. several problems here. unless you are able to keep the nitrates low the snails will not survive. another problem is puffers have been known to much on snails. if you can find a fish that eats HA let the rest of world know.

so theoretically you can have more fish in a FOWLR, but in practice youwill have a FOWHA.

not much fun to look at.

G~

skeety · 11-22-2005, 12:53 PM

HAHAHAHA

even with 5 or 6 fish? That's the part that I'm boggled with.

Okay...so what about the Yellow Tang and Frogfish we have...and a puffer.

Just those guys.

We can't even get ONE more fish than that?

man...I screwed up! hahaha

should have gotten a bigger tank! (sigh)

FOWHA!! HAHAHAH...I like that!

Geoff · 11-22-2005, 01:03 PM

you should be fine with those three fish. at least untill you have the 300-400 up and running.

i do not have my species index with me, so i can not figure out which is the smallest puffer for you.

in the beginning you could have another fish, but would not recommend it. my wifes tank, which was a predator reef. consisted of 1 Antennata lionfish, 1 panther grouper, and one zebra moray. no comment on the panter. it was only 2" and she had to have it, i was going to figure that one out later, when it grew to big. luckily we were shipped off to Ireland, so i was able to give it back to the LFS.

your real problem is the choice of the puffer. they eat everything. so you are limited by the cleanup crew that will survive in there.

G~

skeety · 11-22-2005, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoff

your real problem is the choice of the puffer. they eat everything. so you are limited by the cleanup crew that will survive in there.
G~

hmmm. True.

Limited to WHAT?

as for other puffers...I know she's not a fan of the dog-faces...but does like the box-fish (which aren't puffer's, per-say).

Maybe I could talk her into a box fish. or is this worse?

Geoff · 11-22-2005, 03:59 PM

that may be worse. you need to stay away from puffers with horn teeth. these tend to eat anything, including those with shells. i hate not having my books, so i am winging this off the top of my head.

i can not remember which have which teeth).

Tom, do you know?

limited by either nitrates or by the fact that the puffer will eat them.

G~

Cosine · 11-22-2005, 04:58 PM

there are some burrfish that stay smaller than the typical pork diodon holacanthus... I think that's the spelling
I think the porc grows about 16'' anyways the burrfish are more like 10'' as far as I know

Also I know it's a different look but lots of tobies to choose from... cathiganstar or whatever it is spelled... I think I'm close enough that it can be figured out

aussiereefer82 · 11-22-2005, 06:36 PM

Valentine Puffer (Canthigaster valentini) stays fairly small, is also much nicer than some of the others. Check out this link for more info on it and other puffers, as well as every other fish in the sea.