starting a reef

[The camaro show]

so guys ive had my freshwater tank for 6 years now and i want a salt tank i think it would be a nice graduation gift next year i was thinking 125-200 gallons and i want a reef because i figure if your gonna do salt you should do a reef but i know some fish arnt reef safe. Also what are aggresive because it seems like alot of tangs and angels are all semi, is that what most people do i also love dog face puffers but i hear they are 50/50 with coral i like queen angels and lemon peel angels and powder blue tangs and blennys and cleaner shrimp and starfish and other oddball stuff what all is good to have and what about corals?

 

[arnoldndana]

Puffers, if they put up and poison the whole tank and kill everything. Most tangs are peaceful, reef and invert safe. Most tangs are only aggressive with con specifics. Most angels aren't reef safe or are 50/50 as for reefs. Wrasses are good, Firefish, royal Grammas, ocellaris, most gobies and blennies. My main focus on my tank is going to be green mandarins. The best way to do the research and make a list of what you want is to look on liveaquaria.com

 

[The camaro show]

So I could only have one type of each tang no pairs? And what about coral

 

[The camaro show]

Do most people do a reef, does doing a reef really limit myself to fish

 

[arnoldndana]

If you want Coral them there's only one trigger you can get called Niger trigger and Angels attention reef safe but a couple of them if you get them young enough and feed them well can be trained not to mess with Coral

 

[The camaro show]

What are some good coral to start with what's so hard about sps and lps

 

[arnoldndana]

I'm still new to corals but the soft fleshy corals are my favorites. They're good for beginners and beautiful. The one that I have I would recommend and that's toadstool, hammer and frogspawn.

 

[The camaro show]

I've seen those, What about a snowflake eel and what's your tank size and stock?

 

[arnoldndana]

I don't know about eels.
Corals: toadstool and frogspawn fixing to get a hammer
Inverts: 6 hermits 1 emerald green crab, 1 Harlequin serpent star fish
Fish: yellow eyed kole Tang, Firefish, McCorskers Flashers Wrasse, royal Gramma, 2 nano owns
Still stocking up on live rock
150 lbs of sand about 4 to 6 inches
125 gallons

 

[arnoldndana]

Future critters are a pair of green mandarins, a female McCorskers Flashers Wrasse, rainfordi goby, more crabs and snails and a couple more starfish not sure which kind yet, and don't remember the name but it's a purple and orange lobster and 2 Christmas tree worm rocks

 

[bribo12]

You can do a semi aggressive reef but it will really limit your livestock selections and you wouldn't be able to do nearly the same amount of fish in a peaceful reef.

 

[The camaro show]

What fish and coral are a semi aggressive reef and what's fish and coral are in a peaceful reef, it just seems to me on live aquaria that a lot of fish are semi aggressive and reef with caution.

 

[bribo12]

Most sw fish are super aggressive towards conspecifics. But with that being said certain fish like tangs and angels can dominate a tank if added to early and won't allow any additional fish.
A semi aggressive reef imo means no mobile inverts or clams. Fish that would go in here would be like medium to larger angels, eels, groupers, lions, predatory wrasses and large clown species/damsels

Whereas a peaceful reef would have smaller fish like anthias, gobies, blennies, clowns, dwarf angels(still caution with corals), reef safe wrasses, cardinals, etc... and then add larger fish like tangs which can be dominant last. This tank would also contain mobile inverts like shrimp and crabs

 

[The camaro show]

I'd like to have some cleaner shrimp and a clean up crew

 

[bribo12]

Then no snowflake eel

 

[The camaro show]

whats the most peaceful and reefsafe eel

 

[arnoldndana]

The most peaceful and reef safe eel would be a garden eel. They're beautiful and fun to watch but you need a 4 to 5 inch deep sand bed. I've thought of getting a couple of them.

 

[arnoldndana]

If you want something similar try looking at the jawfish as well

 

[The camaro show]

graden eels are cute also do many people do pairs and groups of fish like people do pairs in fw or do most people do singles

 

[arnoldndana]

Not sure. He can tell you anything you need to know about SW aquariums. [mod edit]