Neophyte here - please help

[overanalyzer]

OK I am currently cycling a 140 with a DSB and LR - ran into all kinds of money crunches of late - thus I am stuck with 120 watts of NO lights and can't get the MH I would need to do a reef. NP - I can slowly build up the tank. Tell my wife I might leave the Nano set-up a little longer and she gets all upset - because she wants me to keep my nano reef.
Then she asks me about a dog face puffer.....
My two 1/2 year old then starts chanting EE-uhl - EE-uhl.
So I have a series of questions - please be patient!!
1. Will a FOWLR with aggressives workout OK even without a clean-up crew??
2. Will a 140 with sump and fug and DSB and LR witha skimmer be enough filtration?
3. What do you think of my stocking list (Please remember I have done about 5 seconds of research):
* Dog Face Puffer
* Snow Flake Eel
* Huma Huma Trigger
* Maroon Clown
* Clown Trigger
* Harlequin Tusk Fish
* Some sort of Wrasse (You tell me??)
* Hippo Tang
* Koran Angel
Please let me know how close to realistic this list is - I am just starting now and the only things that are must have are the first four - dog face, SFE, HH Trigger and Maroon Clown .....
thanks in advance.....

 

[stacyt]

The tank will be fine without a cleanup crew. The only thing I have in my 240 FOWLR is 1 rather large hermit. He stirs the top of the sand, and keeps it clean. My tangs and foxface pick at the LR, and keep the hair algae down to a minimum. I do plenty of water changes to keep things to a minimum.
As far as your stocking list I only have a couple of recomendations. Leave out the clown trigger, and the angel. The clown can get pretty nasty, and in tight quarters can become a problem. The angels need good water quality, and it's hard with an aggressive tank. Not saying it can't be done, but it can be difficult.
As far as a wrasse I would recommend the lunare wrasse. I'd also add yellow tang as well. That would put you close, if not over, the max for the tank.
The filtration setup you mentioned should be more than adequate.
Good luck with the setup, and look forward to seeing the setup.

 

[overanalyzer]

Stacy - thanks for the reply - so you are suggestiong:
* Dog Face Puffer
* Snow Flake Eel
* Huma Huma Trigger
* Maroon Clown
* Harlequin Tusk Fish
* Some sort of Wrasse (You tell me??) - Lunare??
* Hippo Tang
* Yellow Tang? (plus the hippo??)
Thanks!

 

[stacyt]

I think with those fish you would really enjoy the setup. The huma, and the puffers have a lot of personality. The 2 tangs should get along as they are different body shapes, and colors. Of course that's not always the case, but they should do fine.
The tuff part will be figuring out what order to add the fish. I would start with the snowflake, and then the maroon. From there it will get tricky, as the rest of the fish have a tendancy to be a bit fiesty with new arrivals.

 

[overanalyzer]

I was thinking the two tangs should go in first since they are the most docile .... but they do tend to get territorial .... hmmm need to start researching ......

 

[snakes'n'fish]

Originally posted by overanalyzer
* Dog Face Puffer
* Snow Flake Eel
* Huma Huma Trigger
* Maroon Clown
* Harlequin Tusk Fish
* Some sort of Wrasse (You tell me??) - Lunare??
* Hippo Tang
* Yellow Tang? (plus the hippo??)

This is going to be a very nice tank !!!
Thought I'd throw my .02 in. Harlequin tusk fish are in the wrasse family, wrasse's are not ussualy kept together as they will show aggression toward each other. Since the Harlequin has such a different body style this may not be the case, but something to consider.
Another suggestion for adding fish could be :
SFE
Maroon clown(just a suggestion find a larger maroon just to be sure he is not on anyones menu)
Dog face
Harlequin Tusk Fish
yellow tang
lunare wrasse
Huma huma.
The trigger should be last as huma's get very defensive of there tanks and can be a real pain when introducing new fish to the tank.
HTH
Brian

 

[overanalyzer]

Hey thanks - so why does the SFE have to go in first??
Also - any good books on aggressive fish setups??

 

[craig_08]

Just a suggestion, but IME whenever I have tried tangs with my triggers and aggressive fish they have not done well. Probably a mix between not pristeen water conditions and being stressed from aggressive tankmates. It also seems like a few many fish. Also maroon clown may be too small. Now I am done with the warnings and on to suggestions. Lunar wrasse are awesome. They are always out in the open and have awesome coloration and are also very graceful swimmers. Huma Humas have great personality. They are always begging for food. I always wanted a harlequin but don't have a big enough tank. If you insist on the tangs I would perhaps reccomend a less aggressive trigger like a niger, blue throat, or pink tail.

 

[stacyt]

I've not had a problem keeping my tangs in with my aggressive fish. The yellow, and the whitecheek where in the tank before I added my huma. I added the hippo to the tank last, and I have not had any problems yet. My tank has been setup since last November, with the yellow, and whitecheek being the 1st couple of fish. I added the hippo last about a couple of months ago. Most of the fish are still rather small, under 3". I do however keep my water params in check. I do a 12 gallon water change every week, skim heavily, and have a ton of LR.
The reason I would add the SFE 1st is so you can get him used to feeding. It's much easier to teach the eel to feed when there is no compitition for food.
Also as snakes said I would get the maroon a bit on the bigger side. I had a maroon in my setup for several months, but as my porc puffer put on some size, he decided to try to make a snack out of the maroon. He didn't succeed, but the maroon died several days later from the wounds.

 

[jumpfrog]

Some have had success putting a large wrasse and a harlequin in the tank at the same time. Seems to minimize aggression if they both arrive together. I think that will be an awesome tank.
Good Luck!

 

[overanalyzer]

Cool - thanks all. Went to the LFS in the area for a walk through and the wife really fell in love with a Green Corisse Wrasse and the Clown Trigger over the Huma Huma .....
The Green Corisse looked like an electric lime - any input on that?? also - Clown more or less aggressive than a Huma Huma??? Still not sold on the clown but hey .... if she is showing this much interest .....
OK off to cleaning up my water spill from this morning ....

 

[stacyt]

The clown's are more aggressive than the huma. The problem with the clowns is they can get pretty nasty as they get older. They also get very big, and would probably need a bigger tank in the long run.
Not sure about the wrasse. Maybe possible that it is a lunare wrasse. Here's a pic of mine. Did it look anything like this?

 

[overanalyzer]

no it was electric lime green with a little white near its belly and under its eye. The thing was AWESOME - the most vibrant green I've seen.

 

[stacyt]

Try a search for halichoeres chioropterus. A freind of mine has one, and they are sometimes referred to as green coris. The colors on my freinds aren't really all that brilliant though.

 

[overanalyzer]

Yeah I am well aware of hte hippo's issues - I have had the hippo on my planning list for almost 2 years now .... was getting the hippo prior to swithcing this from a reef to an aggressive set-up.
Did not think a Lion would do well with a dog-faced puffer .... anyone?? I like hte fu-man chu dwarf puffers and the long finned dwarfs .....

 

[overanalyzer]

Originally posted by StacyT
Try a search for halichoeres chioropterus. A freind of mine has one, and they are sometimes referred to as green coris. The colors on my freinds aren't really all that brilliant though.
Halichoeres chloropterus isthe latin name of what I was looking at - curious if hte colors stay the same or ifthey fade as they get older ....

 

[stacyt]

My freinds wrasse is still small, so I don't know if the colors will fade.
I don't think mixing lions with puffers, or triggers is a good idea. It can be done, but sometimes the triggers, or puffers will nip at the fins of lionfish.

 

[krunk]

I would get a BLue jaw trigger, instead of the huma.

 

[krunk]

Also that looks like quite a bit of fish for a 140. but thats MO.
that is HUGE bioload for just lr, dsb, and skimmer.

 

[overanalyzer]

Originally posted by KrUnK
Also that looks like quite a bit of fish for a 140. but thats MO.
that is HUGE bioload for just lr, dsb, and skimmer.
I thought fowlr's were like 2 " of fish per gallon?
* Dog Face Puffer 18"
* Snow Flake Eel
* Maroon Clown 5"
* Harlequin Tusk Fish 12"
* Green Coris Wrasse 8"
* Hippo Tang 12"
* Yellow Tang? 8"
Without the eel that is 65" with a 140 that is 5" under what I thought the bio-load should be ..... am I thinking wrong??
Also - PLEASE NOTE - I removed the trigger entirely from the equation.
With a trigger I am thinking more along the lines of a niger trigger but that would be @ the expense of another fish - like leaving hte maroon clown out of hte equation. I also might leave the maroon out of the list above .....
I have been building this out as a reef tank so please let me know if some of my assumptions are skewed!