Deuce: I haven't had any problems at all with the puffer. He was added second to last in the tank, and gets along with everyone. The only incidents i've had with him are when i added a VERY YOUNG and VERY SMALL sebae clown...i mean this guy was only about 2 CM's long....the puffer devoured it, I guess he thought it was a feeder fish for him. no big deal, cant blame him i suppose, there is a sebae in the tank now that is a little over an inch long and the puffer doesn't touch it. I also just added a maroon clown and the puffer doesn't touch it. The only other thing he has done is he eats a hermit crab from time to time...i mean he takes the shell and all and just crunches it to pieces. I dont mind this at all, if he wants a $2 hermit every now and then it dont bother me the least bit, it also is something they do in the wild to file down their teeth.
As for something big in a 300 gallon, wow you have endless possibilities, but it's always hard to choose a fish that is "semi-reef safe" for a reef. I think that whatever fish you get, as long as you keep them well fed they won't bother most things. For example, my puffer when i first got him, he ate a few hermit crabs...i only fed him once a day then..now i feed him krill and shrimp twice a day and i havent seen him eat a hermit crab since.
As for the angel, people say large angels are bad for reefs..again i say it depends on you, if you supplement their need/want in their diet for corals etc they wont touch them. I feed my angel krill, brine, and hikari(sp?) angel food. It contains things like sponge, spirunila(sp?) and many other things that angels need in their diet...and thus far(a month) my angel has not showed any interest in my corals. He is also fed twice a day.
The pink-tail trigger would be a pretty good fail safe. They are regarded as generally reef safe until they mature. Once they get up in size they tend to eat larger inverts you may have in the tank, but it would take a while for them to reach that size if bought as a juvenile.
But in a 300 gallon tank, i think i'd have to put something prettier then a pink tail trigger, you need a real show peice....my fish of choice would be a queen angel...hell i'd scrap a reef to have a 300 gallon with a queen angel in it. But there's pro's and con's to each fish....with the trigger you are looking at more aggression toward other tankmates...although in a 300 gallon it might not be as bad....trigger wont touch corals.....the angel would be less aggresive...but there is a chance it would nip at corals...
Whatever you choose, i'm sure it will look awesome in your tank, keep us posted on what you do decide!
