fishes for my 75

[jacksonpt]

I posted this in the aggressive forum, but thought there is probably more traffic over here.
I'm tearing down my 75g reef so I can redo it and turn it into an aggressive FOWLR. First stab at aggressive fish, so let me know what you think:
First off... equipment
75g tanks
175lbs Southdown sand
25-50lbs LS
Some LR (not sure how much yet)
Berlin Skimmer
a few powerheads for water movement
basic NO lighting (80w 10k, 40w actinic)
Stock:
Dwarf Zebra Lion (only one I'm sure of so far)
an eel (possibly Tessalata or Zebra, gotta learn more about them... or snowflake)
Huma Huma trigger
-or-
Betta Grouper
That's 2 fish and an eel. I was hoping for another fish (any suggestions? perhaps a porcupine puffer), but I'll see how it goes. What do you think?

 

[fishgod]

Jacksonpt, why so much sand? 175lbs Southdown sand + 25-50 lbs of ls in a 75g tank? This seems to over do it in an aggressive FO w/LR where the fish will most likely rearrange things to their liking, carry mouthfuls of sand to different parts of the tank, knock over powerheads, chew on heater cables and all types of other mischief, especially with triggers in the equation.

 

[jester]

That is a little too much sand I think. A good guidline for amount of sand is:
Number of gallons + 50% = lbs of sand.
This will give about a 4" sandbed.
THIS IS JUST A GUIDLINE!!!
Volitan Lion fish are very cool.

 

[fshhub]

let me start with eels, i have no real experience to contribute, but the tesselata i hear is more dificult to keeeep than some may say, for extensive periods, an d i do know htey can get almost 6 ft(and should have a200 gallon)
the zebra gets 5 ft and both should have well over 100 gallon tanks(both of which really do need much more lr, and a cave big enough for them), if i may reccommend the eel, i would lok at the snake spotted they only get about 30 inches and willl do fine evenin a 5o or smaler tank, which likes to build burrows in the sand
the lion is a good choice, beautiful fish and easier to keep
after that i like the marine betta, they are not very aggressive, but the lion probably will not bother it, since ti is much larger and the eel shouldn't either, due to its size(neither cna fit it in their mouths)
i'd stock with them and see how it goes, and if things go well and you really think that your system cna handle more(i don't think, but maybe it can) then maybe a maroon clown, but the puffer would probably be a fin nipper and wiht the betta and lion
as for the sand, i would definitely have the dsb, you need something for the nitrates and if you get an eel, some of hem need a deep bed to build their burrows in as well

 

[jacksonpt]

Baron... the reason I picked the fish I picked was because they are the ones I wish I could have in my reef. I've always wanted a lion and an eel, but neither would work well in my current reef.
FishGod, Jester... I ran into a calculator somewhere that calculated the amount of sand needed. I supplied the dimensions of my tank and the depth of the sand bed, and it gave me approx 200lbs sand for a 5" DSB.
fishub... thanks for the good info. SWF.com site says the zebra and tesselata only get to around 28"... that's why I was considering them. But 5-6' is definitely more than my tank can handle. I'm definitely going with a lion... just not sure between the black volitan or a dwarf zebra. Definitely going with an eel... just gotta figure out which one. I'm still considering the betta... haven't decided for sure, but I know I need 1, maybe 2 more fish to compliment the lion.
Thanks for the info everyone, much appreciated.

 

[von_rahvin]

i agree with the amount of adn you have, i have close to 350-400 in my 135 and this give me 3-4 inches of sand bed. I would not put a marine betta in a tank that you are thinking about making agressive. marine bettas are great fish but they are very shy.
zebra eels are great but only if you tank is bigger than like 150, oyu may be able to get a voltain but remember he will get bigger than everything else in the tank and when the fish in there get smaller than his mouth they will just go away. Snowflake eels are great little guys but they have the problem that they love to jump out of the tank.
for a prettty semi agressive, try a flying gunard, they are very pretty fish that "dig" with their front fins. they have huge wings and "fly" around the tank. Porc puffers are another great thing. thy have the most personality of any fish anywhere.
I would try to stay away from bassalets as they are not agressive fish and are considered by most to be reef safe. a reef safe fish is not a good idea in a agressive tank, well cept for tnags but they hold their own. If you throw a trigger in there the cute little basselets will live for a while but like with the bigger lion they wil just become food