Originally posted by moorishIdol
I have a large naso tang, large yellow tang, large hippo blue tang, med pecular clown, imperator angelfish in the 125 gallon I own. I have never had a problem. They feed together and chase eachother around but dont harm eachother. I would say its perfectly fine. I have a queen on order. I would just make sure the fish are all about the same size.
The replies were based on this. No assumptions need to be made. Filtration and other gadgets are irrelevant in this case.
But I found your post in another thread (my emphasis):
I have a all glass 125 gallon with the predrilled and the bulit in dual overflows( i would never go without these again) and I had that thing running with no fish for 1 month. I added 50 lbs of live rock every 3 months so I now have 110 lbs. I have 100 lbs of live sand. I have a protein skimmer and a UV and I still only add 1 fish a month. I have had my tank running for 6 months and my fish look awsome. I was exactly like you where I couldnt wait to set up the tank with all the fish so people could be impressed but I waited and now its impressive to them and to me. ITS WORTH THE WAIT!
I agree things are worth the wait. Here it says the 125 has been up 6 months. A lot of fish for a 6 month old tank. Is "impressive" all it needs to be? So many people used to come into our store any buy fish "for the big party." They were turned away, but I know they went and bought the guests somewhere else.
I know you weren't getting a blonde naso , but you said it was perfectly fine for MARINERULES to do so. A lot of research would tell you that two Naso tangs in a 125g would not be good. 1 naso in a 125 is not good. But that is another issue.
It is nice they are small now, but not forever.
And your oldest fish, the hippo, yellow and clownfish are the least of the worries here. I think you might be able to get away with those without too much trouble (different body shape, etc), though they will need the 220 as well, to be really impressive. An adult hippo really is.
But the others are more problematic, especially as adults:
1 naso = 20"
1 yellow tang = 8"
1 hippo tang = 12"
1 clown = 3"
1 imperator angel = 16"
1 queen angel on the way = 18"
I would get that 220 up and running. There is no "in case you need the room." You need the room. Now.
Can I ask what references you found that said all of these fish would be fine in a 125? And a 125 with a 100+ pounds of LR is no 125. So really, it is all these fish in about 100g. The research I have done would indicate that is not a good mix in this size tank, if ever.
Besides. Fish can't read, and I can't read the minds of fish.
You can do all the research you want, but all those fish know is that they don't like each other, and there is no more room. The only alternative is to make it by killing each other.
And I suspect they will, eventually. Juvenile fish are often very tolerant....a safety in number issue. Many school. This is probably why they are tolerant now. However, adult fish grow more confident, aggressive, and territorial. Tangs and large angels are notorious for this. Beautiful and downright nasty. It won't be an impressive thing then.
I hope you reconsider your stocking, though I would be happy to see references you found in your research. As always, I am open to productive exchanges.
And as I said, this has nothing to do with filtration. I will assume you have enough to handle that, and I am not expert on it anyway. I'll leave that to the others if there are any questions.
I am interested in biology- behavior, etc. which we have far less control over than we would like, but it is also far more interesting, at least to me.
