Centerpiece Fish..........

shrimpdady

Member
I am going to start adding corals to my tank soon, but I am trying to decide on a "centerpiece" fish.
I was reading that a blue throat trigger (depending on the fishes personality) would be okay in a reef tank.
Has anyone tried this fish in a reef?
Does anyone have any other suggestions on a "centerpiece" fish? I am not interested in angels at all.
Thanks in advance for your opinions and suggestions.
By the way, this is my current setup.........
1-Oscellaris Clownfish
1-Black Saddle Clown
1-Firefish
1-Lawnmower Blenny
2-Scooter Dragonets: 1 male, 1 female(they eat mysis and copepods)
1-Peppermint Shrimp
1-Cleaner Shrimp
1-Coral Banded Shrimp
1-Porcelain Crab
1-Emerald Crab
1-Brittle Starfish
1-Sea Hare
1-Bubble Tip Anemone
25-Blue Legged Hermits
Filtration
45 Lbs.-Live Rock
25 Lbs.-Base Rock
40 Lbs.-Live Sand
10 Lbs.-Aragonite
Cascade 700 Canister Filter
Prizm Skimmer (works great by the way)
Lighting
Coralife 260 Watt PCs (10,000k and actinic 03)
Coralife 58 Watt T-5s (10,000K and actinic 03)
 

coachklm

Active Member
what size tank is this??????????????55?
your not serious about the trigger in the 55 with community fish are you?
 

shrimpdady

Member
The scooters are going back to the fish store this weekend.
Even though they eat frozen mysis, they aren't looking good.
 

coachklm

Active Member
your 55 wont hold much more but a dwarf angel or .........let me look up some in my books for you .....HO
 

shrimpdady

Member
The blue throat is a smaller trigger & this is why I am asking.
If it's too big please suggest something else (anything but angels & reef compatible).
 

coachklm

Active Member
cardinals
--try and find some yellow assesors --gorgeous fish
basslets
grammas
dottybacks(not the jaguar)
if you can find it the spledid dottyback
swissguard basslet
...
 

fedukeford

Active Member
the most reef safe butterflies are copperband, or longnose, which both need a minimum of a 75 gallon tank
 

coachklm

Active Member
Originally Posted by G-dude
Try a baby yello tang or a ribbon eel. just make sure your fish are bigger than its mouth
dont do a baby anything that gets bigger then your tank....many do it but fail to upgrade tanks and the fish dies which cause more fish to die and its a big death cycle.
yellow tangs need a 75 AL plus there not easy to deal with ich outbreaks.
 

shrimpdady

Member
Originally Posted by coachKLM
caribean longnose butterfly
japanese butterfly
i suppose you could do a wrasse

Do you have scientific names for these butterflies?
I can't find anything using the names you gave me.
 

coachklm

Active Member
the caribean is a "moderate risk"
the Tahiti Butterfly fish
reef butterflyfish

[hr]

"chaetodon sedentarius"
 

lion_crazz

Active Member
The blue throat is a smaller trigger, but I would not say they are small. They get to be about 10" and are constant swimmers. I would not keep them with what you have in that tank, but that is my opinion.
G-dude, both a baby yellow tang and a ribbon eel are not good suggestions at all. The baby yellow would be okay if ShrimpDaddy had a big upgrade in mind (125 gallon), but the ribbon eel is a terrible idea. They do very poorly in captivity and really should not be collected from the ocean.
I have a couple, proper "show" fish for you to consider for your 55 gallon tank. Naturally, they are going to cost a little bit more than your average fish because they are "show fish". If you shop aroud though, you can surely find a good price for them. Here goes:
-Scott's Velvet wrasse (amazing colors - the most pricey, around $60)
-blue flasher fairy wrasse (another with stunning colors, a little less at $50)
-a trio of Solon's fairy wrasses (a male and 2 females)
-a trio of carpenter wrasses (again, male and 2 females)
-red head solon fairy wrasse
-trio of Bartlett's Anthis (male and 2 females)
 

shrimpdady

Member
Thanks so much everyone.
I am going to go with one of the butterflies.
I'm not sure which one until I research them all.
Once again, thanks.
 

shrimpdady

Member
Just in case anyone cares I ended up getting a coral beauty.

I know I said no angels, but the almighty my wife wanted one and I had told her that she gets to pick the last fish.

Thanks anyway for all the suggestions.
 
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