Couple Of Questions for Aggressive Set Ups

salty james

salty james

Member
I down graded my reef from a 55 to a 29, and have started a 55 aggressive. The Picasso, Niger & Dog Face are all babies with the Picasso being about 2-3 inches. The Tom. Clown is the biggest about 4". They all seem to be getting along just fine. There are some hitch-hikers that came with the rock that I have left in there: Mantis Shrimp & a couple of emerald crabs. My questions are:
What inverts can you keep alive with triggers / Puffers ?
What size tank should I upgrade to with my existing stocking level ?
How big should I expect my fish to grow from now until December '02 ?
What types of decoration are best for Triggers / puffers ?
What is the best diet for these fish ?
I feed the fish 2-3 times daily, and they are still hungry. The Picasso & puffer eat right out of my hand. Little worried about getting bitten!
Please help! thanks SJ
 
scott270

scott270

Active Member
your puffer will get quite big and i would upgrade to at least a 100 gallon for your 2 triggers and that puffer. I would say that you can not put any inverts with that combo they will be come lunch. You can feed them krill silversides shrimp squid, my clown would eat formula one and prime reef
 
salty james

salty james

Member
Thanks for the info.
What about the decorations or growth ?
I currently feed them flake in the AM, and prime reef in the evening with shrimp in between.
Any help with answering my other Qs ?
 
scott270

scott270

Active Member
not sure for the growth rate but as far as deco goes, you could go with some lr which would help with filtration in an aggressive tank and it also looks nice or you can just go with some fake coral it just depends on if you want a fowlr or a fo, i think that the triggers are not ok in a reef
 
scott270

scott270

Active Member
also i would consider taking out your cc and replacing it with a dsb this will also help filtration and keep nitrates down
 
cwfish

cwfish

Member
Be careful not to overfeed your fish. Feeding a puffer 3 times a day seems like a lot to me. They will eat much more than they should and it's not very healthy. Also forget about an anemone in a tank with triggers. Some have done it but I think its more luck than anything. Just my 2 cents.
 
kris

kris

Member
I would say upgrade to 90or 100 as well, your fish will grow considerably, but I think most of that growing will be done AFTER they are introduced to the bigger tank. Some may disagree but I do think they grow to match their enviroment to some extent,, but to keep a 20inch fish in a 30g as a juvi and expect it never to grow more than 5 inches isn't right either,. I don't know that that was very clear but I hope you know what I'm getting at.
I also think three times a day is a little overboard--even if they do still seem hungry.
You have messy fish and between that and overfeeding you will have huge water quality issues. I would cut back to once or twice per day and I generally prefer the frozen stuff--there's lots of variety to match your fish.
As far as deco-well I don't think what is as important as how--some triggers will knock over everything--so whether it be lr or dead coral make sure they're stable.
Good Luck
 
ciguatera

ciguatera

Member
I agree with Scott about using Live rock and a Deep sand bed, and use both in all of my tanks. I've had good success with just LR, LS, and a protien skimmer with no mechanical filtration at all on my reef tank. Kris is right about triggers knocking over tank decorations, when you pile up your rock or whatever you use, don't build it like a house of cards or it will fall like one (possibly damaging aquarium, fish ect...)
As far as fish growing in relation to the size of their habitat, from what i've seen when fish that grow to large sizes are cramped in small quarters, they will begin to show signs of malformation. I've seen it mostly with oscars and other large freshwater fish at the LFS where i used to work. people would try to sell us these oscars and other fish who outgrew their 10 gallon or so aquariums. I've seen anywhere from malformed fins, twisted spines, to grossly deformed bodies. Most of these fish were unable to swim properly anymore. I'm not saying that being placed in an aquarium that was too small was the only reason the fish may have grown to be this way, vitamin defficiencies or any number of other factors may have contributed. But all of the fish coming in this way had being cramped in small aquaria in common. This has been my experience with fish growing to match the size of their habitat...
 
salty james

salty james

Member
Well took my bastrd Tom clown out last night. Stressed the hell out of the dog face. Never seen him more that fast....
What other fish would be a good addition ?
I am going to trade the Tom Clown in for something else, but need help in figuring it out.
 
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