Purple tilefish in my 200g reef?

[jamal-188]

These fish are incredibly beautiful. I've read everything I can find and from what it seems they are generally hardy if you can get them to eat and stay in the tank...lol. I plan on having a super tight fitting lid on my new tank but am still worried about a couple things.

We get them in at work so I can make sure he's eating, but I've read they like burrowing in the substrate. I will probably only have 1" of sand in my tank, will it be okay or do they really need to burrow?

I'm also a bit concerned about the fish jumping and hitting my metal halides and possibly breaking one. They will probably be 8-9" above the water, do I need to worry about this or should I build cover for the lights?

 

[TCTFish]

Tile fish will dig. You can't stop them. You'd be better off with a nice deep sandbed for the system. It'll create denitrifying bacteria and allow for the diggers to enjoy themselves. Also, it would eliminate the need for vacuuming the substrate (though PWC will still be needed of course).

If you are going to have a tight fitting lid, then why worry about the halides? It would however be a good idea to protect the halides with a cover if even just to keep water from splashing on it which is more of a possibility than fish jumping and hitting into it.

 

[jamal-188]

I"m not interested in a DSB for this tank, don't want to start a DSB vs. barebottom theory here but I will have a DSB and plenty of macro in my fuge to compensate.

I plan on making sure the canopy is jump proof and actually won't have a lid over the water, I doubt the fish could jump 9" out of the water to hit them but am not really sure.

 

[TCTFish]

You'd be surprised the spring action some fish can have. If anything, a cover for the halides to keep water from hitting the bulbs I highly suggest. The store I work at has lost a few bulbs to that and they are expensive to replace. A cover would help protect that investment.