sixline (and other fish) questions

[salt creepette]

i am trying to stock my mother in law's 30g tank. it has live rock, dragons tongue and chaeto algae, and some xenia. the tank is 2yrs old. dont shoot me, I didnt do it, but it also has a small hippo tang (which she said she'd give to me when it got too big after I fussed at her for getting it for her tank). I am wanting to add another fish or two. I was thinking along the lines of a flame angel and a sixline. I had heard that sixlines can be aggressive, and I wanted to get other people's experiences with them. I'm also open to recommendations of other fish I might consider. specifically on my list has been:

twinspot hogfish (podianus bimaculatus)
group of talbot's damsels
blackback butterflyfish (chaetodon melannotus)
yellowtail fang blenny
red sea mimic blenny (ecsenius gravieri)
yellow longnose butterflyfish (maybe too big for a 30g?)

anyone who has experience with any of the above, I'd love to hear it.

I want to avoid clownfish, chromis and royal grammas (since we've already had these at some point in our fishkeeping career)

[biodegraded]

Back in the paleolithic when I kept a reef aquarium, the second worst mistake I made was adding a six-line wrasse. Add a goby or blenny for a small, docile option.

[Cosine]

my 4line killed a clown but is terrified of my royal gramma... so take that for what it's worth
the clown was in a weakened condition though...

I have to say I really like the fish though, super active and nice colours (looks like a 6line but is green with orange and blue lines) the eyes are cool too his are orange

[salt creepette]

biodegraded, what did you keep the sixline with? do you think he would harass the tang? could a flame angel hold his own?

[scoop]

My 6 line is pretty aggressive. I tried to add more fish but he kept after them until they died or I took them out. However, I put in a Dragon goby, alos called a brown barred Goby, and they fought for a day and now seem to be fine. (It's been 4 months since I added the Goby.) The hippo might be OK since it is already in the tank, but probably not a Flame Angel, in my experience.

[tims]

Originally Posted by salt creepette

twinspot hogfish (podianus bimaculatus)going to be too big
group of talbot's damsels okay
blackback butterflyfish (chaetodon melannotus)IMO tank too small
yellowtail fang blenny okay
red sea mimic blenny (ecsenius gravieri)okay
yellow longnose butterflyfish (maybe too big for a 30g?)yup going to be to big

i would stay with small stuff since the hppo is in there. might want to watch him too.

[salt creepette]

hey tims.

the twinspot hogfish (bodianus bimaculatus) supposedly gets 3.9 inches max, recommended minimum tank size is 20 gallons. I wish someone who has one would read this thread so I can pick their brains, although from the description they sound ok for this setup (not too wussy, not to mean...I'm looking in Marine Fishes: 500 Essential to Know Species).



scoop, what was your experience with the flame angel?

has anyone heard of any improvement in the hardiness of flame angels these days? supposedly there has been success keeping them in the past but lately theyve not been surviving very well (per book mentioned above, and The Conscientious Marine Aquarist).

[tims]

Erin, with the Hippo in their, the i would be concerned with the Bio load. what size ( hippo) woudl he be before he comes out?

[salt creepette]

hes about three inches now. he was two last year when we bought him; probably let her keep him for another few months, was what I was thinking.

[biodegraded]

It was a 120g tank. I had a 5" sailfin tang and a full size flame angel. I also had a spawning pair of Amphiprion melanopus (what ever they're calling those these days) that would attack ME when I put my hand in the tank. The 6-line had them all in terror. It also nipped my Tridacna and "open brain" T. geoffroi (spelling approx) so they were closed down all the time.

I had to take the entire tank apart and drain it 80% before I finally could catch the little bugger and send it back to the shop. Too bad, as it was sure a cool fish in the looks dept.

[Cosine]

that is a crazy wrasse!
how big was he?

[Beaches]

I haven't had any issues with my 6-line, but he was the "last" add to my tank. My tank is 90g, but my hippo is "very" aggressive and a bully--especially at feeding time.

[scoop]

I had a Flame Angel, but the 6 line bullied it, so I took it back. I actually traded it in for a 2 spot hogfish, which was beautiful. The 6 line bullied it for 2 days until it jumped out and died. My 6 line is less than 2 in , pretty small, but aggressive towards other fish. It doesn't bother any of my corals or my cleaners, shrimp, crabs, snails, ect. just other fish. The hogfish didn't bother the corals either, but it also didn't have much time, the 6 line never left it alone. After it was gone I read that they are 'jumpers', so i guess you need to have your tank well covered.

[salt creepette]

scoop, did you introduce your sixline before the flame angel and hogfish?

biodegraded, what order did you introduce the wrasse?

i am hoping that if a sixline is the last fish i add, the other will have a chance to settle in first. we shall see what happens...another thing is, the tank has an open top, so I will cut some eggcrate to fit and keep the wrasse from jumping out in case it gets startled.

[rchull69]

I had two 6 line wrasses in my 180 gallon tank and never had a problem. They were the last two fish introduced to the tank also. My Blue Tang was always the bully in the tank. I still have one 6 line and he keeps my bristleworms at bay all by himself with no other help. I have a lot of soft corals and he hasn't touched one of them in the 8 months I've had him. I think the size of the tank comes into play at some point due to most fish being territorial. My 2 cents.

Bob