What fish to get for the 140gallon tank?

[potato5656]

It has a UV sterilizer, protein skimmer, and is a 140 gallon oceanic tank. instead of hassling with the install we are having our lfs just do it all. it'll be great. For some ideas of fish i would like a clown trigger (the lfs has a GIANT, about 6inches long minus the tail, for 400$) it looks old, but still has brilliant colors. I think it would be too large to introduce with the other new fish. I'm thinking of a small clown trigger, clown fish (not sure which type yet), blue tang or powderblue tang, one type of mandarin fish, a pyramid fish or bow fish of some sort like a cowfish, flame angel, emperor angel, some pretty damsel's or a bicolor dottyback, maybe a peraly jawfish, and queen angel. i would basically like any colorful fish! Btw, i know that some of these may not go together theywere just ideas to get this convo started.

I would like any ideas/suggestions of what fish you guys would get for your ideal tank that would work! TIA.

 

[pufferman]

I would introduce the trigger last. the tangs second to last and the clowns and cowfish first. is this going to be a FO or a reef. If its going to be a reef i would get rid of the angels and the triggers altogether.

P-MAN

 

[Guest]

I have a community tank, and my next one is going to be an aggresive /Large fish tank. If that was my tank id surely have to add the following. A medium Panther grouper, Medium Lunare wrasse, Adult Regal Tang, and a nice violatin Lion fish. As well as a DSB, and tons of LR. That would be my choice

 

[cmor1701d]

I have a sailfin tang in my 125. He's only a baby (about 4" now) but when opens up he's the biggest fish in the tank. It's amazing to see the tight spaces between the rocks that he swims in and out of. He buddies up with a Foxface Lo and tho they act like brothers that does mean an occasional squabble for a few seconds. The posturing between them is great to watch.

The mandarin needs lots of LR and a very well established (1 year old) tank.

 

[potato5656]

thanks for the suggestions, btw its gonna be FOWLR. Bio-Spira does not work all that well right? i've gotten mixed respsonses from people but i think i'll just be patient... Everyone seems to be for a DSB over a shallow sand bed, why is this? seems to me that many fish could distrupt the sand bed and cause ammonia to go into the water too easily. any thoughts?

 

[Guest]

Well the deeper it is the more room there is for the worms, pods, ect. As long as you have plenty of Shifting... not sifting animals. Sifters eat all the good worms, and pods in the bed. Where shifters roll it over keeping good and oxygenated. This is what keeps it from clumping and causing problems. Some nassarius snails would work well for this job. Skip the Bio-Spira its a waste of money IMO.

 

[cmor1701d]

Use either the fishless method (fresh shrimp) or the LR to cycle your tank. Skip the quick fix stuff. Always keep in mind that nothing good ever happens quickly in a sw tank.

 

[potato5656]

With the live rock method does it have to be cured or not? How long does that and the fish/dead shrimp method take before fish can slowly be added? I don't know much about the cycling phase and aquariums in general, but my father does and the lfs is setting up the tank using their live rock, salt water from the pacific ocean (close to SF), and sand. If we use all these new components that have previously been in a tank together will they need to cycle? thanks for all the info guys.

 

[Xenos]

In my opinion the best way to decide what fish you want in your tank, research all the marine fish you can and then pick your absolute favorite, the fish you cannot live with out, a fish that you would talk in a baby voice to...then pick out all your other fish that would be compatable with your center fish. Also add fish in order of least aggressive to most aggressive. Anemone fish tend to be first along with other small non-agressive fish, then butterflies, dwarf angels, tangs, large angels, wrasse, ect. I know three people who have housed triggers and were ultimately unhappy with them once they started reaching adult hood. Two of the three men have scars from being bit by territorial triggers. So make the desicion if you want to go aggressive or not. Groupers, snappers, eels, puffers, some large angels, sharks, triggers, can get big and aggressive quick.

My tank is 125gal and I set it up starting with my skunk clown, then pearl scale butterfly, and tawny girdle butterfly, then flame angel, singapore angel, and finally the star of the show the Queen Angel. I also have a queen trigger but she is blind due to an ammonia spike from a past owner. I picked all my fish out before I had the tank filled with water.

 

[cmor1701d]

If we use all these new components that have previously been in a tank together will they need to cycle?

Water from the ocean? I hope they are getting it from a pollution free area. You also have no idea what other organisms might be in there.

How much LR are you putting in the tank? Is it cured already? You may not have much of a cycle at all but I think it would be prudent to do daily checks and make sure your pH was good, ammonia and nitrite are at 0 and nitrates are low (<20) for a week before adding any fish.

Only add 1 fish at a time and give the tank several weeks to adjust to the new bio load before adding another. Well OK, you can add a pair of clowns or other small fish at a time. Just be sure to QT any fish for a month in a QT tank before adding them to the display tank.

GO SLOW!

 

[potato5656]

okay. THATS SLOW! but its for the best. i know the water is good and is used in all of their tanks, the lr is cured. i'll have fun waiting, so no bio-spira?

 

[Guest]

No bio spira, take your time and have fun. One thing to keep in mind is if you want inverts. A lot of the fish out there will eat shrimps, crabs and the like. Just keep that in mind, if you don't plan to keep any ornamental inverts then no worries.

 

[cmor1701d]

Good point six-line!

You are going to want some type of clean-up crew to eat all the detritus. Snails, shrimp, fighting conch, serpent starfish, etc. So take that into consideration with your livestock list.

 

[potato5656]

so inverts are neccessary? or beneficial to to an aquarium? i'll post pics of the tank that being set up as i type. It is much larger than i thought, the LR looks really nice! What substitutes having the clean-up crew inverts?

 

[cmor1701d]

What substitutes having the clean-up crew inverts?

YOU! and a vacuum

 

[Guest]

Inverts are great but not necessary. I still highly recommend them. Also cleaner shrimp are great, I finally acquired one. I also have a coral banded, and gold banded, as well as two peppermint shrimp. There very interesting, and the peppermints will jump on my hand while cleaning the tank, or hand feeding the other shrimp. Snails will keep alage in check, as well as eat detrious. If you want hermits id stay away from the blue legs. They can be aggressive, and evict snails.

YOU! and a vacuum

Trust me it's a lot easier letting them do the work

 

[Nitrate]

Trigger Fish

I have a fairly small Picasso Trigger that was the first addition to my tank about 2 1/2 years ago (He hasn't grown hardly at all in this time). If I wasn't so attached to him I would probably get rid of him because of the problems he has created. I cant have inverts, he destroys my live rock, and he recently had a Coral Beauty for a midnight snack. He also loves to bury everything in the tank by picking up the substrate and spitting it back out. He loves to shred his food before ingesting it, making a mess of everything I try to feed him or his tank mates. If you want a trigger be prepared for the hassel they bring, I cant image the trouble mine would be if he was 6 inches long.

 

[cmor1701d]

I also have a coral banded, and gold banded, as well as two peppermint shrimp

Six-Line,

How long have you had your shrimp in there? I have 2 CBS and they got rid of the 3 pepps I had prior to their arrival. At least they're the only thin added that would go after the peppermints.