need some advice on my summer "de-stress" project (its better then drinking)

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darklcd

darklcd

nursing eel
Joined
Nov 30, 2004
Messages
547
Location
Thunder Bay
need some advice on my summer "de-stress" project (its better then drinking)

Good day all,

I think I have waited long enough after my trigger passed away to try something new and with the prices at my lfs on tanks and accesories I am starting to slowly get back into things one small piece at a time after almost a year off. I went to my lfs and I found that I was more relaxed watching the tanks in that 10 minutes today then I have been in weeks lol.

I have decided that I am going to go with a predator set up with either a 75 or a 90 gal tank and I have a few fish in mind but I want to see if they will work.

First off I am going to get a snow flake moray as it seems to be pretty popular and they don't get that big. I wanted to find out if a small lion as well as a trigger and a frog fish would be ok. I am thinking that the frog, the lion and the eel will be ok but I am not sure on the trigger. I had an undulated trigger for a while and I loved him he was huge but still fun. I know that I will not get another one as big as he was (thank god his teeth hurt like hell) which I am ok with and even a different species would be fine with me.

I am thinking that in a 75 or a 90 3 or 4 of the fish I am looking at will be it and I wanted to know if this might work.

I have also seen some people have tangs and other fish in thank with snowflakes and I was thinking that this was crazy as I am thinking it will eat everything.

If anyone has any thoughts on this good or bad please let me know as I want to start picking up parts for the tank.

Thanks all
 
I would start with a 90 maybe. If you aren't keeping corals I would look for a used 90 on craigslist as they tend to be cheap cheap. With the 90 and being a predator tank you are going to be very limited on bioload as most of them are sloppy eaters.

The snowflake won't eat most fish larger than it's mouth and the same goes for the Lion fish. I kept clowns and some cardinal fish in with my large Volitan lion and never had any issues.

Honestly with a 75 or 90 I would probably limit myself to a lion and the eel with some damsels in there as snacks lol.
 
My brother in law is keeping a lion, snow flake eel, small puffer and a small trigger in a 72 gallon bow front. They all seem to be ok, he's had them in there for 4 months or so with no major issues. I can't speak for long term but for now it looks ok.
 
That seems like a small tank for that stock list. Most triggers aaren't supposed to be in anything smaller than a 125. I'm not the tang police though.
 
akunochi said:
That seems like a small tank for that stock list. Most triggers aaren't supposed to be in anything smaller than a 125. I'm not the tang police though.
Click to expand...

Yeah he picked one of the smaller ones, the Picasso Triggerfish Live Aquaria lists it at 70gal min. Since it's really small it shouldn't be a problem right now. I've always been more worried about bioload and cleanup in his tank with all the messy eaters, the eel seems to clean up the large stuff nicely but with the trigger in there he can't put shrimp, crabs, or snails they'll just be snacks.
 
IMO, that's too many fish, for a 75 or 90. It's not just about the size of the fish, with a predator tank, but with the Bio-Load. These fish all eat A LOT. They all are also going to get territorial! You'll need LOTS of live rock, in order to get enough filtration AND in order to create enough individual spaces, for each fish to set up it's own territory. I'd either look into a larger aquarium, or remove a couple fish from your fish list.

All in all, I think your fish list is a good one, in a larger tank. I'd be concerned with the Trigger though, especially towards the Frogfish, which can't move very fast. I think the Frogfish would need to be the first fish introduced to the tank and then the Lionfish, since they aren't actually aggressive. The Eel or Trigger would need to be introduced last. The Trigger is probably going to be your most aggressive fish.

Remember, when it comes time to feed the frogfish, you'll need to put the food at it's nose, basically. It will sit and wait for food to come close and then gobble it up, as fast as lightening. It's food needs to be basically sitting in front of it. This may be hard to accomplish with the Trigger in the tank.
 
The Damsels are the cheapest and most nutritious living foods. Lower down the line are small salt acclimated mollies followed by prepared foods such as shrimp and chunks of fish. Thus the high level of nutrients in the water column as they munch all this down lol
 
as far as feeding I usually make my own with raw shrimp, scallops and squid when I can get it. chrmois are about 8 ot 10 buckes each up here (canada) so they are not something I can do all the time. the fish list can be changed that was just my ideal that I wanted I can drop the frog fish and not lose any sleep about it. The trigger I was thinking something small that is not going to get too huge I know some can get massive (my last one was almost a foot long).
 
The incredibly cool Hawaiian Dragon Moray Eel was by far my favorite predatory species I have ever kept. Maybe just one of these along with a Clown Trigger or Black Volitan Lionfish would be quite the sight. As far as feeding, if you have any access to small Herring, Candlefish or Shiner Perch (Pogee) this would give the appropriate food values needed for them to thrive. I collected Candlefish throughout the Salmon fishing season to feed fish and my anemones for several years. Looking forward to seeing what you will end up with as livestock choices.

Cheers, Todd
 
Todd,

I think that the Japanese Moray is going to require a larger system than a 90 gallon.
 
Yah Seth the Dragon would definitely end up needing a larger system than a 90g. I started my lil one (9-10") in a 60R and eventually ending up in a 180g and pushing 30". This way he would have a built in Summer De-Stress Project for another upcoming year and could tell the spouse/ family that" Its not for me, its for the fish" that I need to get a bigger tank!

Cheers, Todd
 
yeah I don't know what my wife will think of that lol. I am still working on the tank I am going to see a 90 gal tonight and we will see what happens. That is the largest tank I can get my hands on at the moment with out breaking my bank so it is what I have to work with. I am just concerned that if I get a trigger and a lion that the fins on the lion might be a snack for the trigger.

I also wanted to ask if a grouper might be better then the lion or the frog
 
Last edited:
I had a Picasso Trigger, Blue jaw Trigger, Clown Trigger, Volitan Lionfish and a Snowflake Eel in my 100G. The Lionfish outgrew the tank fast. The triggers seemed like they wanted more swimming room. The Eel was fine. I had about 100lbs of rock in the tank.
 
allright, you've drawn attention to yourself, and now the tang police have asked me to stop by... :)

IMO, a 4' 90g is too small for a full "predatory" tank,
unless were talking a dwarf eel, a dwarf lion fish, and a "smaller" trigger.
then, remember with all those messy eaters your going to need a beefy oversized skimmer,
and GAC in a media reactor being changed out at least once a week.
also, some serious flow in the display to keep uneaten food and waste in suspension,
as well as delivering excess nutrients to the bacteria colonies on/in the live rock.
I would also consider filter socks that are rinsed out every several days.
 
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