FISH List - Predator 6x3x2.5 AND 10x3x2.5 Mixed Reef

[pyroay]

Based on some wise advice from an experienced aquarist and LFS owner i have changed this so the reef tank will be the larger and the predator tank will be the smaller one.
- 6x3x2.5 Predator Tank
- 10x3x2.5 Mixed Reef
- 2,000 litre sump

Proposed Fish list.
Note a number of the reef fish are from my current 6x2x2 reef tank

10 x 3 x 2.5 Mixed REEF

Yellow Wrasse (Halichoeres chrysus) 1
Green Chromas 20
Black Peacock Blenny 1
Ocellaris Clownfish 2
Bangai Cardinal 2
Foxface RabbitFish 2
Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) 7
Naso Lipstick Tang 1
Fairy Wrase 1
Purple Firegoby 12
Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus) 1
Clown Goby, Citrinis (Gobiodon citrinus) 3
Australian Stripy 1
Scott's Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus scottorum) 1
Bluespot Stingray Dasyatis Kunhlii 1
Clown Sweetlips 1
Sailfin Tang 1
Yellow Tang 1
Lineatus Wrase 1
Lyretail Hogfish 1
Zebra Bar Goby 2

6 x 3 x 2.5 Mixed REEF

Blue Girdled Angelfish 1
Snowflake Eel - Echidna nebulosa 1
Regal Angel - introduce early 1
Emperor Angel 1
Clown Trigger 1
Volitan Lionfish 1
Harliquan Tusk 1
Green Birdnose Wrase 1
Purple Tang 1


Questions
Thoughts? Any obvious omissions from either tank?

[wayne2.0]

Can't comment on many of those fish as I have never kept them.

I would have more tangs , and from experience the chroms will stop schooling after a while if they feel safe. In other words if you want them to school they need to feel a tank mate might eat them.

[ovakil]

Was going to get a stingray for my tank. But read a few times some fish peck at their eyes.

[chromus]

You will regret the damsels.......

[biglil_blue]

Stingrays dont have a lot of suitable tank mates, especially triggers and puffer as they will likely eat its eyes out! Some tangs and angels do it as well. Your best bet would be groupers, cod, lion fish etc to go with rays

I also must note that seeing as rays generally hunt at night, they will take wrasse that are buried in the sand & you will have no idea where they went.

If you want schooling fish, perhaps a school of 7-10 square block anthias would be better as they will less likely become prey to bigger fish. Damsels are pains in the but so steer clear of them, I had two domjnos stress a much larger angel once so much that it died from related illness & I had the angel for 3 years prior

What about a panther grouper? Look them up, pretty cool fish and will be fine with rays but will eat ANYTHING that fits in their mouths

[pyroay]

You will regret the damsels.......

No regrets, that's the purpose of the post to find out and try to make the right decisions.
I've had a few before in smaller tanks 2 to 6 feet and they were s pain but unthought in s larger more aggressive tank they might be ok.

It sounds like they won't be so ill give them a miss





Anthais are s good suggestion I'm just concerned bout them with lion fish.
Thoughts?


Ps thanks chromis for confirmation re damsels

[pyroay]

If triggers and puffers will nip my Rays too then I'll ditch them and go back to the plan with the shark.

Maybe Gray or White Spot Bamboo Shark

[biglil_blue]

You will regret the damsels.......

No regrets, that's the purpose of the post to find out and try to make the right decisions.
I've had a few before in smaller tanks 2 to 6 feet and they were s pain but unthought in s larger more aggressive tank they might be ok.

It sounds like they won't be so ill give them a miss





Anthais are s good suggestion I'm just concerned bout them with lion fish.
Thoughts?

Square blocks are quite large so if you get a small lion then you will have no issues at all, from memory they get to 5 or 6 inches


Ps thanks chromis for confirmation re damsels

[pyroay]

Whats the best cleaner for a predator tank? Pilot fish?


Revised list based on feedback.

Whitespotted Bambo Shark (Chiloscyllium plagiosum) 1
Bluespot Stingray Dasyatis Kunhlii 1
Regal Angel - introduce early 1
Emperor Angel 1
Foxface RabbitFish 2
Volitan Lionfish 1
Lyretail Hogfish 1
Redstripe Hogfish 1
Female Birdnose Wrase 1
Male Birdnose Wrase 1
Yellow Tang 1
Blue Girdled Angelfish 1
Sailfin Tang 1
Clown Sweetlips 1
Zebra Eel 1
Bannerfish 6
Butterfly Fish 2
Harliquan Tusk 1
Marine Betta (Calloplesiops altivelis) 1
Paddlefin Wrasse (Thalassoma lucasanum) 2
Hawkfish 1
PilotFish 2 ?? as cleaners
Panthar Grouper 1


I assume a cleaner wrase will get eaten by something (Lionfish, Grouper) ?

[biglil_blue]

Whats the best cleaner for a predator tank? Pilot fish?


Revised list based on feedback.

Whitespotted Bambo Shark (Chiloscyllium plagiosum) 1
Bluespot Stingray Dasyatis Kunhlii 1
Regal Angel - introduce early 1
Emperor Angel 1-May pick stingray and sharks eyes
Foxface RabbitFish 2
Volitan Lionfish 1
Lyretail Hogfish 1-Will get eaten
Redstripe Hogfish 1-Will get eaten
Female Birdnose Wrase 1-Large only
Male Birdnose Wrase 1- Large only
Yellow Tang 1
Blue Girdled Angelfish 1
Sailfin Tang 1
Clown Sweetlips 1
Zebra Eel 1
Bannerfish 6
Butterfly Fish 2
Harliquan Tusk 1
Marine Betta (Calloplesiops altivelis) 1
Paddlefin Wrasse (Thalassoma lucasanum) 2
Hawkfish 1-Will probably get eaten
PilotFish 2 ?? as cleaners
Panthar Grouper 1


I assume a cleaner wrase will get eaten by something (Lionfish, Grouper) ?

Cleaner wrasse will be ok around the grouper but not sure about lions. Pilot fish as a cleaner??? They get to two feet & are extremely hard to keep

[biglil_blue]

Also, that is a huge amount of bio-load so I hope you have a massive filtration setup planned and about a $3000+ skimmer

[pyroay]

Yep got a couple of Deltec's ready for it + 2 x 25,000 litre saltwater tanks ready for the water changes using my auto changer for as much as is needed daily.

[pyroay]

Pilot fish as cleaner for shark and rays, Obviously not the others.
I know 2 feet is the expected size. Specifically whats hard about keeping them aside from enticing them to eat initially?

Open to other suggestions if you have some?

Lionfish was the one i was worried about for the cleaner.

[biglil_blue]

For starters they are more useful for cleaning sharks that swim the open waters.

Secondly they need heaps of room to swim as they are extremely active, much more so than tangs even

And finally everything I read about keeping them is that they are hard to keep. No I haven't tried it bit it seems like a crazy idea to try one for the purpose of being a cleaner.

I have a 8x2x2.5ft tank and the only large fish I would ever put in are less active fish such as a panther grouper or large angels. My clown tang is only 5inches or so and I can already see him wanting more room than he has

[pyroay]

Yeah no worries I don't need them in the setup so happy to forgo them

Anyone experienced with blue spit stingray and round together?

[pyroay]

Based on some wise advice from an experienced aquarist and LFS owner I've changed so the reef will be the larger tank and the predator tank the smaller

- 6x3x2.5 Predator Tank
- 10x3x2.5 Mixed Reef
- 2,000 litre sump

Revised stocking list posted

[pyroay]

Anyone had experience keeping a Bluespot Stingray in a mixed reef ?

I understand no inverts and secure rockwork is needed + sandy bottom and space to bury.

In practice how messy have people found them?

[chromus]

Rays get picked at by many fish, and will add considerably to the bio load making it tough to keep coral friendly water parameters

[pyroay]

Im not so worried about the bio load impact as I have excellent filtration and associated systems but am aware of the issues some fish present.

Looking to keep the more aggressive fish in the other tank.
Hoping these reef fish will not bother it.
Yellow Wrasse (Halichoeres chrysus) 1
Green Chromas 20
Black Peacock Blenny 1
Ocellaris Clownfish 2
Bangai Cardinal 2
Foxface RabbitFish 2
Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) 7
Naso Lipstick Tang 1
Fairy Wrase 1
Purple Firegoby 12
Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus) 1
Clown Goby, Citrinis (Gobiodon citrinus) 3
Australian Stripy 1
Scott's Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus scottorum) 1
Bluespot Stingray Dasyatis Kunhlii 1
Clown Sweetlips 1
Sailfin Tang 1
Yellow Tang 1
Lineatus Wrase 1
Lyretail Hogfish 1
Zebra Bar Goby 2

[pyroay]

Well its been quite a while since an update on this but I've now commenced a tank journal and am moving ahead with the 2 tank although both are 10 x 4 so larger than originally planned which is good.

Build thread is here viewtopic.php?f=145&t=264860