Fish versus coral ..what is more important in your tank?!

[nata]

I have been very frustrated today ..everybody who knows me knows my tank has too much fish and too much corals lol.I try to keep a balance and always thought both are equally important in an aquarium ..that includes all the other critters too..brittlestars, cleaner and fireshrimps...yes i try to keep the ocean in my home ...Today I lost my third scolymia due to food scavengers that like to dig for food in their mouths .. The worst ones are fire and cleaner shrimp that will dig deep but then I have some friends who will join the feast ..My kole tang likes to remove injured flesh and prevents from healing , brittle star comes to check it out and foxface checks it out too..as soon an injury is done they seem to gang up and healing is no option ..My blastos flesh got ripped also ..I am so frustrated debating to remove my fish for an coral only tang as I cannot afford to loose those expensive corals and I am scared to buy more ...How is everybody else dealing with this issue or am I the only one with that problem? and yes everybody in my tank has plenty to eat ...My fish are naughty ..my blenny just attacked a huge turbo snail and transported it to the other side of the tank literally throwing it against the glass...I have no qt right now as my fragtank is home to a huge carpet anemone that has been wandering around for days and do not want to settle ..My sump is home to 5 chocolate starfish with missing legs ..foodsource for my harlequin pair ... I want some input and ideas !!!

 

[fishoutofwater]

I am a coral over fish person my self. In my 210 I am packed with corals. Only have a handful of snails and crabs. 2 cleaner shrimp and 6 peppermints. Fish I have a 6 line wrasse, purple tang, Red sea sailfin tang and 2 percs and a mandarin goby and a sand star and a starry blenny. That's it. As far as coral. I have about 90 plus pieces. No issues with algae nor any issues with my fish messing with the coral.

 

[nata]

It seems they only mess with lps that can eat large amount of food so it is tempting to steal from ..scolymia, blastos , dendros , acan ( but no damage done because they just give up the food)

 

[krisfal]

For me it is fish, I get the most enjoyment out of watching the fish. Therefore, when it comes to a choice between the coral and my naughty angel the coral loses and I avoid those corals in the future, no acans, zoanthids, brains in my tank.

 

[Romewhip]

What do you like best? Do you like the forms and colors of the corals or the movement of the fish? Would you be happy with less expensive but colorful corals and keeping your fish, or would you prefer some less harmful less interesting fish?

Me personally it's the fish. I love watching them, watching the evil damsel dynamics, cracks me up when they throw snails or knock hermits off the rock. I only keep soft corals, and look at the cool corals with envy, but they're not for me. Believe it or not the tanks aren't my main hobby!

 

[nata]

I love the comments ..keep them coming!!!!

 

[returnofsid]

I try to keep a good balance of compatible fish and corals. When I've had fish that nip at corals, to the extent of doing damage, I remove them. The only fish I've had to remove, due to coral damage, was a Lavender Tang that developed a taste for Acans, after tasting the slime of a recently fragged Acan. The Tang destroyed several colonies, in a very short time, before being captured and re-homed.

 

[dragoneggs]

I like a balance... I cannot choose one over the other. Fish and their personalities and how they interact is always fun. Corals, LPS and softies that move with the current add zen. SPS are special. Inverts always attract me. Zoos and Ricordias add another dimension, especially under the right lighting. So... gotta have them all!!!

 

[Bored4ever86]

It used to be fish for me. I wanted a fish only and did just that. Then after seeing all the beautiful pictures of tanks housing not only fish but corals too, I felt I may be able to strike that balance and do some corals. I'm currently loving the corals a lot more, primarily cause my tank's chem. balance isn't where it should be... Once i get things where I want them, it'll hopefully be a balance, more towards the fish rather than corals but I'm never gonna choose a fish over zoanthids just because they are the one coral that I really want to keep. I plan in the future to branch out, and am planning ahead of the time to avoid anything, fish wise, that may inhibit my love of zoas and the other corals that I'm really interested for down the line such as brains, favias, and other LPS/softies.

 

[mcoomer]

I've got a mixed reef but I'm beginning to lean more towards SPS. I will always have fish but I've developed a terrible addiction to corals and they've begun to dominate my purchases. Please help me...I need your help.


















No really. Anybody got frags?

Mike

 

[mfinn]

I keep more coral than fish.
I get plenty of movement with a 240 stuffed with soft corals moving in the current.
I only have 6 fish.

 

[roscoe]

Well over the years I have learned that I can't keep the "whole ocean" in the same enviroment. There are certain animals and inverts that just are not compatable long term. Yeah they might seem to do good with one another for a period of time or so and then all the sudden turn on you for no reason. So for me anything that is known to eat or irritae corals are banned from my system such as crabs and shrimps except harlequins because they can care less about anything but starfish. So in short if you like corals don't put anything that has potential taste for corals because it is not a question of if but when.

 

[TJL]

'Mixed Reef' all the way baby!

After nearly 28 years keeping a reef tank I've pretty much had the gambit on most every feasable set-up from Large predatory fish-only to softy/gorgonian with a pair of Sea dragons & pygmi seahorses to one one of my favorites of the past a 15gNanobefore it was even coined A dozen differently colored Condylactus anemones w/ 12 different pair of Periclimenes shrimp hosting them. My current and by far my favorite of all set-ups a 75g DT w/ 40g fuge though small ( working my way back up ) is a true mixed reef. I have 11 mostly compatable fish, clams, sps, lps, softies, zoas, mushrooms, gorgonians, macro algaes and a typical clean-up crew of hermits, snails, stars and a yellow cuc. But I did not/have not introduced any cleaner shrimps because of there tendancy to destroy lps & zoas nor any small ornamental shrimp as I have (wifes pick) a Flame Hawk. I will eventually add a Harlequin shrimp as natural Asterina control as I'm fairly OCD on natural balances over chemical fixes.

I think/believe that a trully mixed reef with all of its intricasies in achieving a harmonious balance is the Pinacle of Achievement in reefkeeping, literally when it looks as though you have cut a section out of the reef that exactly fits the dimensions of the aquarium. In seeing this in others reef system this is what has always impressed me. Not how much money one can throw in them (which usually looks very artificial) or bare bottomed mono specific systems, though easier its like having an Astro-turf lawn and only silk plants in ones home. Way to commercial for me as I can't stand to even see any plugs in my tank for very long.

After seeing pics in posts and what not of your beautiful reef I'd just fine tune your inhabitants and enjoy the diversity that our reefs can have

Todd

 

[Faciosity]

I'm for the corals over fish, but still gotta have a few swimmers. I started with a 10 gallon with a few zoanthids and a clown fish, and now I'm up to a 75 full blown reef with way too much coral. I have over 60 varieties of coral (mostly lps and zoanthids), an rbta, a pajama cardinal, lawnmower blenny, mandarin goby, 2 yellow tail damsels, and a couple peppermint shrimp. Every time I have an incompatability problem, it must be removed. I recently pulled a velvet damsel out and got rid of him just because he nips corals, hadn't even done serious harm yet. Usually problems like that are gonna get worse before better unless you step in and change things.

 

[burning2nd]

The tank will figure it self out, dont know how long that will take... but id think like this

the fish require (imo) more attention,

 

[ac7av]

I have a 210 and I love the fish. I have a few small pieces of soft stuff but it really wouldn’t bother me if they disappeared. The fish are always into something and the kids love to watch them too. Everybody has there own fish, mostly based on the color but what the heck they like to feed them and talk to them. I have one white crab that when it comes out everybody comes running to see. It was rescued from the sink drain by my wife. It floated around the drain for a couple of days before she threw it in the tank. It was actually fish food originally for the two big moray eels I had but now it’s a favorite in the tank. All the fish I have are suppose to reef safe and I will probably throw some different corals in the tank as time goes on but nothing expensive that I would not care if it died or became fish food.

 

[brandyrb]

For me it depends on the fish. I have a large angel in my 300 that has been my choice over keeping lps and zoanthids. He's fine with sps. I just recently posted him for sale because we want to keep lps and zoanthids in our large reef. If he doesn't sell though, I'll just stick with sps in that tank.

It's because of the emperor angel that I decided to have multiple tanks. I still wanted lps and zoanthids, so I have a 90 gal aquarium that is a mixed reef.

I've gotten rid of a flame angel and fox face for nipping corals in the mixed reef, but the only reason I bought them was to eat grape caulerpa.

For me it's a toss up. I become more emotionaly attached to my fish and even name them, but the corals cost a lot more and can help you with the cost of running an aquarium when you frag them, they also make the aquarium a lot prettier. I could never just have a fish only system.

I say get another tank or keep compatible species in the one you have if you don't want the maintenance and cost of an extra tank.

 

[sglazne]

Thanks for starting this post. i have been wanting to add a $coly, but I too have a cleaner, fire, pepermint, and normal clean up crew of crabs and snails. I would hate to loose a $coly to them. Think I would just have to keep ur aquarium as it is but unfortunately no $scolys. Have other people had issues like this loosing $scolys? I can't afford to learn this lesson the hard way. Thanks again for posting this as I will gather more info before investing in a $coly

 

[nata]

Thanks for all the input..it is very interesting to see how different we all approach this hobby...everybody has their favorite...at this point I decided to not remove anything and let nature take its course..I will pay more attention while feeding my scolys and keep cleaers entertained with a nice piece of shrimp and i moved them
farther away from
their home..out of sight..

 

[NC2WA]

Mixed reef for me...although, I currently have 15 fish in my 375g with a balance of LPS, leathers, elegance, and scolys.