big tank, aggressive fish questions....

[fishonly350g]

Alright.... I have a 350g tank. Currently I have a xl porcupine puffer, juv emperor angel, small niger trigger and large huma trigger. I know with a big tank you can add a lot of fish but knowing how big they will be in 5 years, how many should you add. I've got four and I want really 11 fish but they all will grow to be huge.
I've planned for:
Male and Female Sunset/banana wrasse (lutescens)
Clown trigger
Yellow Belly Hippo Tang
Mappa Puffer
Blonde Naso Tang
Volitan Lion
and MAYBE a Clown Tang (would make 12) b/c I think they look cool.
I care more about the fish and would be "OK" with one wrasse, the clown trigger, the hippo, mappa and volitan (makes 9 instead of 11 or 12) and say forget the 2nd wrasse, Naso and Clown. My tank has a lot of swim room at the top (SEE MY PICS IN MY PROFILE), its 30" tall and 8 foot long, 2 foot wide and I purposefully did not stack my ornaments up high or get a lot of live rock (----'s ugly). I'm going to add artificial corals down low (did you know Nature's image went under) but anyway, i am going to add more color but keep all that stuff low.
Any advice would be appreciated on how to figure the max number of fish for a tank my size. I care more about having a healthy community tank then having a whole lot of fish if you know what I mean, just want them to grow comfortably and i'm trying to think ahead before I make my purchases.
Thanks!

 

[srfisher17]

Almost any trigger (and many puffers) will go after the Lion; its fins are irresistible chew toys and the lion is defenseless. Clown Triggers and Volitans are often mentioned together; but, IMO & IME, it is a very bad idea. If the Clown Trigger doesn't kill the Lion first, the other Triggers will probably shred him. (I know, there may be an exception now and then). Clown Triggers are one of the most vicious fish we keep and it is not unusual to have the CT kill any fish at random.

 

[fishonly350g]

Originally Posted by srfisher17
http:///forum/post/3242553
Almost any trigger (and many puffers) will go after the Lion; its fins are irresistible chew toys and the lion is defenseless. Clown Triggers and Volitans are often mentioned together; but, IMO & IME, it is a very bad idea. If the Clown Trigger doesn't kill the Lion first, the other Triggers will probably shred him. (I know, there may be an exception now and then). Clown Triggers are one of the most vicious fish we keep and it is not unusual to have the CT kill any fish at random.
the clown trigger is probably the only must have on the list, my wife and i were lucky enough to have a very mellow and cool clown trigger, large in size that even ate seaweed and we had him for over two years, he grew fast and was as big as my hand and unfortunately my friggin heater malfunctioned and overheated my tank. the only fish that survived was my huma trigger that is now over 6 years old. So i'm hoping we are lucky enough to find one mellow as the first one we had that wont kill the other fish. for the last three years our tank only had the huma and an undulated. the undulated was smaller than the huma when we got him, he outgrew the huma and started being aggressive towards the huma so we had to take him in. so essentially we are starting over.... i appreciate the warning about the ct, i think the main thing i have to be aware of is whether the ct at the LFS is "ALONE" in the tank or is it with other fish, if it's alone i would guess it's aggressive....

 

[fishonly350g]

Originally Posted by srfisher17
http:///forum/post/3242553
Almost any trigger (and many puffers) will go after the Lion; its fins are irresistible chew toys and the lion is defenseless. Clown Triggers and Volitans are often mentioned together; but, IMO & IME, it is a very bad idea. If the Clown Trigger doesn't kill the Lion first, the other Triggers will probably shred him. (I know, there may be an exception now and then). Clown Triggers are one of the most vicious fish we keep and it is not unusual to have the CT kill any fish at random.
I guess i'm wondering do you see any future problems with this many fish that will grow so large? what do you think???? I am going to take steps to do a refugium and a second sump with all live rock....

 

[noah's nemo]

Well i'm not going to be any help here,but i'd love to see a pic of your 6 yr. old humu.I have had one for about a year and its about 2 inches,yours must be huge

 

[fishonly350g]

Originally Posted by Noah's Nemo
http:///forum/post/3242625
Well i'm not going to be any help here,but i'd love to see a pic of your 6 yr. old humu.I have had one for about a year and its about 2 inches,yours must be huge

My picasso is pretty wide. He comes to the top of the tank and will eat shrimp that i hold at the top of the tank.... i see him everyday so he doesn't look so big to me....LOL i will admit when i go to the pet store and see the babies i just crack up and laugh at how tiny they are....thats when i realize how big mine is...

 

[kjr_trig]

Clown Trigger is a very difficult "must have" fish. You will hear person after person say "i've had mine for 6 months/ 1 year/ 2 years and he is no problem in my aggressive set up"....Still waiting to hear "I've had mine 5 years and he is 14 inches long and he is no problem in my aggressive set up", but I doubt I ever will.....Sooner or later these fish will turn into menaces, they really belong in single specimen tanks.
Like SrFisher said, Lions and aggressive fish don't make good tankmates. SrFisher would know he has been keeping them for 30 years or so. Clown Tang has a horrible survival rate in captivity, and can be horribly aggressive, but if you can get one established would be fine in your tank, the Clown tangs close relative the Sohal has a much better survival rate and similar beauty and bad attitude.
Love the rest of your list

Particularly the Sunset Wrasses, I have a beautiful one myself.
Hope you have a great skimmer, and please reconsider the Clown Trig and Lionfish.

 

[aquaknight]

Not to get into an argument on schematics, but just hopefully you didn't pay for a "350gal." 96"(W) x 24"(D) x 30" (T) is 299 gallons. If you consider that's probably the outside of tank measurements, and take away an inch from each to account for the thickness of glass, 95x23x29, that's 275 gallons.
As said twice before, while Lionfish are predatory fish, they are by no means aggressive fish, and have no business being mixed in with aggressive triggers and puffers.
For the other fish, the puffers. If you actually did stock your tank completely, these two puffers, an XL Porky and a decent sized Mappa, are probably going to take in as much food as all the fish combined, and put as much bioload on your tank as all the other fish combine, even the triggers. If you nixed the Lion, Mappa, Clown tang, and one of the Sunsets, the list would be pretty decent, a pretty aggressive setup and there's no guarantees all the fish will work out, esp. the Clown trigger like KJR mentions. You're also going to have to feed the tank heavily. I would recommend a serious skimmer. Like those 6 foot ones you see at the LFS serious.

 

[fishonly350g]

Originally Posted by AquaKnight
http:///forum/post/3242712
Not to get into an argument on schematics, but just hopefully you didn't pay for a "350gal." 96"(W) x 24"(D) x 30" (T) is 299 gallons. If you consider that's probably the outside of tank measurements, and take away an inch from each to account for the thickness of glass, 95x23x29, that's 275 gallons.
As said twice before, while Lionfish are predatory fish, they are by no means aggressive fish, and have no business being mixed in with aggressive triggers and puffers.
For the other fish, the puffers. If you actually did stock your tank completely, these two puffers, an XL Porky and a decent sized Mappa, are probably going to take in as much food as all the fish combined, and put as much bioload on your tank as all the other fish combine, even the triggers. If you nixed the Lion, Mappa, Clown tang, and one of the Sunsets, the list would be pretty decent, a pretty aggressive setup and there's no guarantees all the fish will work out, esp. the Clown trigger like KJR mentions. You're also going to have to feed the tank heavily. I would recommend a serious skimmer. Like those 6 foot ones you see at the LFS serious.
Thanks for the breakdown, i don't know if stores sell tanks based off of outside or inside measurements, i have 100 gallon sump(horse trough) with a 6 foot biotower....lol..... but i am suprised to hear the remarks about clown triggers, i never realized they can be such a menace, i 've never had a mean one..... at our store tonight i did notice a small size clown trigger by himself and the gal at the shop said he was a stinker, even at his size so i guess there is some truth to it. I will have to do some "screening" i guess and be selective for which clown i buy eh..... all good comments! thanks...

 

[brightblood]

i work at a pet store here were i live i have for almost 6 years now but i have learned a lot about these guys and all the posters are right every trigger we get in gose in a tank with other triggers ONLY!!. hince the ONLY!! part about 2 months ago a new worker she wasent verry smart on them put them in a tank with a lion and a spotted grouper and mind you these were large size triggers they shiped in that way. well they shreded a the lions fins to peaces. to the point of know return. he was a about 9" long at the time a multi color vol p. well hes R.I.P now and god was the owner MAD

 

[fishonly350g]

Originally Posted by brightblood
http:///forum/post/3242938
i work at a pet store here were i live i have for almost 6 years now but i have learned a lot about these guys and all the posters are right every trigger we get in gose in a tank with other triggers ONLY!!. hince the ONLY!! part about 2 months ago a new worker she wasent verry smart on them put them in a tank with a lion and a spotted grouper and mind you these were large size triggers they shiped in that way. well they shreded a the lions fins to peaces. to the point of know return. he was a about 9" long at the time a multi color vol p. well hes R.I.P now and god was the owner MAD

Yeah, i didnt figure, i guess triggers dont like cleaner wrasse either, i lucked up on a beautiful hawaiian cleaner wrasse that was about 1/2 inch wide, i guess fully grown figuring, it would be cool and he'd just get along and my friggin huma after 4 days just say "nuh uh" and went after him....i'm pissed, there goes 35........ and now his dumb ass has ick