220 aggressive/island

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boatdrinks

Guest
Just wanted to get some opinions/advice on setting up my 220 aggressive tank.
As far as the fish for this set up, I would like to have a volitans lion, and possibly one of the less agressive triggers, (niger, pair of blue throats?) I am concerned about the trigger picking at the lion, and am still trying to figure out if this is a good idea. I do have other aquariums so if there is a problem, I can always relocate one of them.
I would like to set this up in an open top aquarium with a few small "islands" (LR above the surface of the water) which will be an anchoring point for my mangrove trees. I plan on keeping them in containers which will be hidden by the LR so the root system doesn't get out of control and damage the tank. They are currently suspended in my 44 pentagon on rigid aquarium tubing so that I can develop a strong prop root system before switching them to the 220. As for lighting, I will use 2 175 MH pendants. As for other equipment, I'll probably use 2 AquaC remora skimmers, powerheads, and some sort of a homemade sump/refugium.
Soo... I have a couple of questions... I'm moving down to Fort Lauderdale in January (going to wait to get settled in before I set this up). and noticed that a few of the bait shops down there sell live fiddler crabs. Does anyone see any reason that I wouldn't be able to include some of these in the set up? The main idea is to suppliment the fishes diet, and help the trigger to wear down it's teeth. They will have a place to get out of the water, which I thought would be a cool addition to the tank.
My other queston is whether keeping a trigger in a tank with an open top would be a good idea. Do you think that keeping the water level down 3-4 inches, and maybe adding a "lip" to the inside of the aquarium would help? I'm just researching/planning right now, so I havn't made any concrete decisions yet.
thanks for any advice/suggestions!
 
mitzel

mitzel

Active Member
What about building a conpy out of wood and then making a nicely trimmed glass windows on the front to be able to see the islands? Don't make them so big as to show the lighting but enough to see your little crab islands . posibly some egg create across the back to keep them from escaping.
 
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boatdrinks

Guest
Definately an idea! I'll have to look into that for sure... maybe do the whole front in glass... great idea!
 
mitzel

mitzel

Active Member
I had first thought acrylic because of the weight but then said glass because the cleaning part, a scratch in the acrylic would ruin the whole idea .
 
aw2

aw2

Active Member
Sounds like a hell of an idea! I love the island, with the mangroves growing out of it part. I'm getting ready to set up an acrylic 60gal. cube and might have to steal your idea. LOL
I've kept various Triggers with my 15" Volitan Lion, with no problems...however, they were mostly juveniles...I've kept Queen Triggers, Clown Triggers, and Hawaiian Black Durgeon Triggers, as juveniles. I've also kept an 8" Male Blue Throat, for a while, with no signs of aggressive what-so-ever. IMHO, I think Blue Throats are a great species to be kept with Lions.
In my experiance, with those various types of Triggers, they're not big jumpers. Those were all kept in my 200gal. tank with an always open top and have never seen them even look like they wanted to jump for it. If this is going to be a brand new tank, I'd look into having something built with Euro bracing...that'd be the lip you were talking about.
The Fiddler Crabs wouldnt be a bad idea, either...and they're cheap. When I had my other Triggers (as well as an 8" Red Coris Wrasse), I'd buy 10 - 12 Emerald Mithrax at a time and dump them in.
 
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boatdrinks

Guest
I got the idea for the islands from Anthony Calfo's book of coral propagation. Sounded too cool to pass up. That would be really sharp looking in a cube tank for sure! AW2, If you decided to do that with yours we'll have to compare pics! :joy: Are you going FO or reef?
I've had my mangrove trees (found them as propagules in FLL) for about 8 months now, and they do take a while to grow. Just now getting to the point where I have some of my root system above the water, and I'd say 4-6 leaves on each one. Also started some star polyps on one of the lower roots just to see what will happen.
I plan on ordering the tank new, drilled at each end, and I'm definately going to use your suggestion for adding Euro bracing.
I probably won't be able to get started with the actual set up for 6 months or so. I was in Fort Lauderdale for hurricane Wilma, (and for much of the power outage afterwards), and decided that my next purchase needs to be some sort of small generator. Have to protect my current investments before I make any new ones.
Yeah, I was thinking how much easier and lighter acrilyc would be too, but you are right about the scratching. If i do decide to make a canopy, I'll have to use glass. (I'm no carpenter by any means, so I'll probably hold off on trying to build anything until I've exhausted my other options.
 
aw2

aw2

Active Member
I'm doing a predator reef, in my 60gal, with a small grouping of Hawaiian Leaf Fish.
Mangroves really dont help with denitrification, like macro algeas do, but I love the look of the mangroves. I currently have 10 of them, growing like weeds, in the 60gal. sump/fuge of my 200gal. predator tank.
I was also in Florida, for Hurricane Wilma...lol...I was in Melbourne, aprox. an hour southeast of Orlando.
For a tank the size of what you're thinking, you're WAY better off going acrylic. Yeah, you can scratch it if you're not careful, but...just be careful. lol It'll give you SO many more options like drilling for closed loops, easier and lighter to move, etc. My 200gal. pred. tank is glass and weighs as much as small car. My 300gal. predator tank is acrylic and is still heavy but MUCH lighter.
 
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boatdrinks

Guest
I think I'm going to hold out for a pair of blue throat triggers. They had a pair at an LFS near where I live, and they were truly impressive together. As far as fish go, I think the triggers and the lion will be the only fish I will wind up putting in there, so it will be worth the wait to hold off until I can find an actual pair, even though the tank might look a bit empty for a while.
 
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boatdrinks

Guest
Originally Posted by AW2
I'm doing a predator reef, in my 60gal, with a small grouping of Hawaiian Leaf Fish.
That will be a really impressive tank! I'm a huge fan of species/biotope aquariums. We'll definately have to see pics!
 
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