Aggressive or Non?

[hlcroghan]

Okay so I am purchasing a 150 gallon tank in about 6 months (taxes yeah!). I am having the common problem of figuring which direction to go. I know a lot about fresh water fish but almost nothing about salt. I have been looking up a lot of fish that I like but keep running into the problem of them being incompatible or too difficult to keep (mandarins.....so sad, cool fish). So I need a generalization here. Is it generally easier to keep aggressive or non?? I should say which is hardier? If it helps I know I am going with a fish only tank. I do not want a reef tank. Any assistance would be really helpful.

 

[hlcroghan]

I keep looking for someone to answer......is anyone out there?? lol

 

[reefwatcher]

Your the first person I've seen excited about taxes lol, but as far as your question goes it's really a personal prefference. If you want an aggressive tank your going to be dealing with lions, puffers, ect.. which requires more filtration because they are messy eaters. I personally like more of a community tank. With a 150 you have many options and as long as you keep doing research you will be able to keep everything in harmony. Such as keeping only one tang (if it's atleast a 6 ft tank). It's really up to you. You can always come up with a stock list and ppl on here are more than happy to help you go through it. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

[hlcroghan]

No I appreciate it a lot. You were the only one to reply.....lol. It was kind of like watching water boil.
Anyway, here are some fish that I really like.
Golden puffer
dogface puffer (maybe not together, don't know)
A colorful angelfish
Some of the wrasse family (amazing looking)
lionfish (fu man chu is my favorite so far)
and so on....
these are maily aggressive i know.
I like the purple and yellow tangs as well
I would like so interesting fish on the bottom but with the puffers he will probably eat them all I would think
Clown fish but not big enough right?
See? This is my dilemma.

 

[reefwatcher]

The Fu Man Chu's are one of the more aggressive lionfish towards same species fish, but if your keeping just one it's fine and that particular one is usually hard to ween towards frozen foods. Angels very greatly from size and requirments, but limit is usually one per tank also. Fyi, in my 125 I keep a fuzzy dwarf lion with a powder brown tang (white faced) for over a yr. with no problems, they mainly ignore one another. For small fish just make sure they can not fit into your lions mouth and you would be surprised how large they can open their mouths! I do keep 2 clowns and a few chromis in with him and he does fine, but he eats mysis and frozen squid to stay happy. The 2 puffers you listed are generally not aggressivem and are able to be kept with other members of the genus. There are many different kinds of wrasses as you know and that will mainly depend on what type you choose. I had a sixline wrasse who was beauitful, but loved to pick on anything he could get close to. The best info I can give you is to continue to research as you are, go slow, and to use a qt. There is nothing worse than getting your tank perfect and then accidentally introducing that one fish with ich, velvet, or whatever and crashing your precious investment and time.

 

[hlcroghan]

Okay, so fu Man Chu is aggressive. So you could keep a dwarf lionfish and clownfish together in 150 gallon?

 

[reefwatcher]

The fu Man Chu is usually aggressive towards other lions that look like it and shouldn't mess with your clowns if they can't fit in his mouth. The fuzzy dwarfs are usually easier to get eating frozen foods. It took me about a week to get him on frozen. I just soaked them in garlic. Now I just soak it in vita chem so he stays healthy.

 

[hlcroghan]

Well is there a problem with feeding live instead of frozen??

 

[reefwatcher]

Nope not at all. It's usually just a hassle for most people becuase they don't raise their own food and have to drive every couple days to get food. Many people feed freshwater feeders to them, but their not as nutritious and can lead to problems long term.

 

[hlcroghan]

interesting. i asked someone at the lfs that had a reef tank themselves but they said that freshwater can be better because they won't carry all the diseases that saltwater feeders would have??........frozen would be easier i agree but you can give them live treats once in a while right?

 

[reefwatcher]

That would be fine, the best thing for them is to offer a variety. Many people also use something like vita chem or selcon to help out.

 

[hlcroghan]

okay now can you keep a lunare wrasse with a lionfish. i dont know how big they get or their temperment.

 

[reefwatcher]

The lunar wrasse will get fairly large around 10 inches and tends to be fairly aggressive. It may not pick on your lion but may on others. You may want to find more of a medium sized wrasse

 

[hlcroghan]

What about a Harlequin tusk?

 

[reefwatcher]

Very beautiful fish. Also around 10 inches and are considered to be semi aggressive but can be peaceful. I have never kept one of these fish and have seen reports of them getting along with most fish. They tend to be more bold once they get larger if they do become aggressive.

 

[hlcroghan]

okay i know they are hard to keep but what about the powder blue tangs once the tank is established?

 

[hlcroghan]

btw, thanks for answering all of these questions for me. you are the only one who has taken the time. i am sure that this post will continue for some time as i have a lot of questions.

 

[reefwatcher]

They are fairly close to my powder brown. QT is almost a must. They are very prone to ich, but great fish once established. Mine usually minds himself and only messes with my pink spotted goby. They are very active swimmers. I'm happy to help

 

[hlcroghan]

okay so my bf has decided that we should have nonaggressive b/c he wants Nemo

........so which fish go well together? i know we will have a clown fish and i would like a mandarin once the tank is really well established, but what else looks good and is relatively cooperative for the other inhabitants?

 

[reefwatcher]

Well you don't have to throw your stock list away. You will need lots of live rock for the mandarian becuase they eat pods. You could still keep your tang eventually if its a 6 ft tank. But besides the fish you can also have a lot more invert variety without the puffers.