Recent content by barbiganti

Get a fairy wrasse or two. Very beautiful in color, very out and about, and none of them over 5 inches in length.

Having one triggerfish in a 90 gallon is pushing it; let along five or six. If you want that many triggers, I'd recommend a 400 gallon or larger tank. To answer your question Scoot, yes, blue-throats are indeed reef safe, as are any of the triggers in the genera Xanthichthys and Melichthys.

Truth be told, I'd be more worried abut aggression amongst the Purples themslves. I don't think they'd get along well together. I don't think your Naso will be problematic at all either. I'd be more leery of the desjardini; they and the purple are pretty aggressive. What I'd do is QT your...

What other types of fish do you hope to put in your tank LJ? If you have fish that are more peaceful, such as most tangs and medium to large angels, more peaceful larger wrasses, and dottybacks, you want the Hawaiian Black beyond a shadow of a doubt because it is way more peaceful. If you want...

I was in a marine biology club in my junior high school in Colorado and one of the fish that got thrown in with one of the orders that our teacher advising us in the program put in was a Moorish Idol. We had a massive wipe out in one of our tanks after an initial success over 3 months, and the...

Ummmmm, if you want fish for a more aggressive FOWLR community, you need to get a larger tank. At least a 75 gallon if not larger. Your 55 is already overstocked just with the yellow tang, too.

As long as they look dissimilar and have different biologies, you can keep two butterflies together. For instance, you could keep one of the deep sea reef specialists, like a Mitratus or a Tinker's, with a Copper-banded or Long-nosed. Or you could keep a group of the same species togehter if...

Just an FYI if you're interested in hippo tangs...they like to be paired or kept in a harem of 3 if at all possible.

Some other options for you (when your tank is ready) are the deep sea reef specialists in the genus Chaetodon: mitratus, burgessi, declevis, and tinkeri. The Mitratus, Burgess's Declevis, and Tinker's Butterflyfishes are all planktivores that feed from the water column. There's a species in...

Good questions. Sounds like you're well on your way with the cycling and with what you want to put in the tank as well. The Coral Beauty, Clownfish, and Gobies are all good candidates for your reef tank, although you want to watch the Coral Beauty. Dwarf Angels can be a little nippy at times...

Sounds good to me. You want something that's aggressive enough to fend for itself and big enough not to fit in the lion's mouth, but at the same time, something that won't be TOO aggressive. The clownfish fits the bill.

I would not put a large angel in a reef tank unless I knew full well that my options were safe. As others have pointed out, their options for a reef tank are severely limited with any type of large angel. As far as lionfish go, they tend to be reef safe as long as there aren't any excessively...

Fairy and possum wrasses are also interesting options, and the fairies would give you a vibrant splash of color. Another intriguing idea is a golden moray eel. It only gets 8 inches long and it can be kept in soemthing as small as a 25 gallon nanoreef.

Star, Should be fine with what you've got, but you will definitely be pushing it a little bit with your bioload. Be certain to very carefully monitor your water parameters, especially nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia, on a daily basis. I DO think you could make it work with a mandarinfish, but...

Poop-Head, I think you mean Ghost Pipefish (yes, they are in the same family as regular pipefish and seahorses, which is the Syngnathidae). And yes, they are definitely VERY cool. They are all in the genus Solenostomus. They are also very fragile, but if kept either by themselves or with...