290 Gallon Stocking Advise

[Piscez]

Originally Posted by dusty16

I love your tank Piscez. It looks great. I thought that the Majestic Angel wasnt reef safe though.

Here is what I know I want for sure.
I have 2 clowns and a foxface already
Blue Hippo
Yellow Tang
Purple Tang
Powder Blue Tang
Regal Angel
Flame Angel
Copperband butterfly
And now possibly a zebra moray eel.
Debated a naso tang for a while but they seem too big.

That takes care of the bigger fish more or less. Now I just need something smaller. Anthias seem like the best option. I wanted something cheap like damsels/chromis but Ive read that they just kill themselves off.

Thanks a few things changed I think I should post some updated pics as I lost few fish, but regarding reef safe, my majestic ate my Zoa's but leaves the rest of my softies alone and I don't have any SPS so not an issue.

Orange spotted gobys are great for sand cleaning but a PITA to keep in the tank, big jumpers, even when I put a mesh on they would jump out of the hole where my auto feeder was. After losing 6 I gave up and now rely on conches and Cerith snails

[rishu_pepper]

Regarding anthias, Albert is spot on about their feeding regiment. If they feed pellets/flakes, you're in, but if not, you're gonna have a bad time.

Recently I lost a really beautiful specimen of a male squareback anthias, we were crushed, unreal colours; it was eating well at LFS and in the first few days, but eventually stopped and withered away. I also had a pair of lyretails about half a year ago doing the same thing. Only one female lyretail remains now, healthy as ever, but definitely make sure you get good ones that eat well.

Triggers are pretty cool, have you considered them?

[dusty16]

Originally Posted by rishu_pepper

Regarding anthias, Albert is spot on about their feeding regiment. If they feed pellets/flakes, you're in, but if not, you're gonna have a bad time.

Recently I lost a really beautiful specimen of a male squareback anthias, we were crushed, unreal colours; it was eating well at LFS and in the first few days, but eventually stopped and withered away. I also had a pair of lyretails about half a year ago doing the same thing. Only one female lyretail remains now, healthy as ever, but definitely make sure you get good ones that eat well.

Triggers are pretty cool, have you considered them?

I always thought triggers were cool but just thought they would be too aggressive or eat the corals. Which ones would be a good fit?

[rishu_pepper]

Originally Posted by dusty16

I always thought triggers were cool but just thought they would be too aggressive or eat the corals. Which ones would be a good fit?

The Xanthichthys genus (blue throats, crosshatch, sargassum, etc.) are known to be more docile and relatively reef safe. My limited experience with my blue throats is they are really shy but easy to get feeding. They haven't shown any aggression at all to other fish in the tank, big or small, and haven't touched coral and CUC. YMMV.

Also with the damsel topic, some damsels are definitely fine for a big tank like yours, my yellowtail just does his own thing. Some are meaner than others of course.

[ponokareefer]

Originally Posted by dusty16

I always thought triggers were cool but just thought they would be too aggressive or eat the corals. Which ones would be a good fit?

As was pointed out, the Xanthichthys genus of triggerfish are known to be more reef safe and more docile, for triggerfish. They can get quite large though. As they get quite large, they typically become more aggressive to the point of them bullying. My personal experience with a blue throat triggerfish was that initially at 2 inches in length, she was scared of her own shadow, but then at 6 inches in length, was eating parts of the tails off my tangs that were bigger and being very aggressive to any fish during feeding time. I had thought my experience was out of the norm but when I researched more, I found more people had difficulties with Xanthichthys triggers when they got large.

As was stated though, fish are like cats and each has its own personality.

[Piscez]

I had a stunning blue fading to purple pics never did it justice Niger trigger approx 5" nicest one I ever seen, and for the first 4 weeks was docile, then started to swim more aggressively and bump my other fish out of the way, then led to nipping the fins of all my other fish!! Back to J&L he went, shame

[rishu_pepper]

Originally Posted by Piscez

I had a stunning blue fading to purple pics never did it justice Niger trigger approx 5" nicest one I ever seen, and for the first 4 weeks was docile, then started to swim more aggressively and bump my other fish out of the way, then led to nipping the fins of all my other fish!! Back to J&L he went, shame

Heh, I think I saw that fish in JL. Feisty bugger! Would come ram the glass when I put my hand towards it. Beauty for sure.

I'd recommend a nice fairy wrasse collection; easy to feed and not really aggressive at all (unless same species).

[ponokareefer]

Originally Posted by rishu_pepper

Heh, I think I saw that fish in JL. Feisty bugger! Would come ram the glass when I put my hand towards it. Beauty for sure.

I'd recommend a nice fairy wrasse collection; easy to feed and not really aggressive at all (unless same species).

Fairy wrasse's are awesome, but are jumpers. Just make sure you have something to keep them in your tank. There are so many nice options and the fish, on the whole, are so well behaved. Flame wrasse's pairs are unbelievable in color but you pay a tonne for them.

Flasher wrasse's are really nice too, but are more timid and stay smaller. If you are getting bigger fish, you would probably want to stay away from them.

[dusty16]

Originally Posted by rishu_pepper

The Xanthichthys genus (blue throats, crosshatch, sargassum, etc.) are known to be more docile and relatively reef safe. My limited experience with my blue throats is they are really shy but easy to get feeding. They haven't shown any aggression at all to other fish in the tank, big or small, and haven't touched coral and CUC. YMMV.

Also with the damsel topic, some damsels are definitely fine for a big tank like yours, my yellowtail just does his own thing. Some are meaner than others of course.

Triggers look cool but I dont want to deal with a bully. Maybe some day down the road Ill pick up a small one. And Ill drop by JL and see what damsels they have. I have a 30 gallon quarantine right now. Any chance they will pick each other off before they even get into the DT?

Originally Posted by ponokareefer

As was pointed out, the Xanthichthys genus of triggerfish are known to be more reef safe and more docile, for triggerfish. They can get quite large though. As they get quite large, they typically become more aggressive to the point of them bullying. My personal experience with a blue throat triggerfish was that initially at 2 inches in length, she was scared of her own shadow, but then at 6 inches in length, was eating parts of the tails off my tangs that were bigger and being very aggressive to any fish during feeding time. I had thought my experience was out of the norm but when I researched more, I found more people had difficulties with Xanthichthys triggers when they got large.

As was stated though, fish are like cats and each has its own personality.

Yeah. I think Ill stay away from Triggers for now.

Originally Posted by Piscez

I had a stunning blue fading to purple pics never did it justice Niger trigger approx 5" nicest one I ever seen, and for the first 4 weeks was docile, then started to swim more aggressively and bump my other fish out of the way, then led to nipping the fins of all my other fish!! Back to J&L he went, shame

I saw a picture of your Niger. Looked pretty cool. What do you mean it went back to J&L? They accept returns?

[Piscez]

Originally Posted by dusty16

Triggers look cool but I dont want to deal with a bully. Maybe some day down the road Ill pick up a small one. And Ill drop by JL and see what damsels they have. I have a 30 gallon quarantine right now. Any chance they will pick each other off before they even get into the DT?



Yeah. I think Ill stay away from Triggers for now.



I saw a picture of your Niger. Looked pretty cool. What do you mean it went back to J&L? They accept returns?

Yes they do, but you only get half retail.