Cool beginner fish for a 90 gallon display tank?

[FLESHY]

Puffer should chime in again, but I know she has experience with a wide range of puffers. Not all of them small. She actually runs another website strictly about puffers.

That being said, I have never had one...so I cant help you there. Going to be getting a tetradontidae soon enough though for our lab tank. I just have to pick what I want.

Ashlee has kept lots of big fish...maybe she can help you with your lid question. I would say glass lids, with those plastic back parts cut very carefully. I have never kept an eel either though. This will be changing soon enough...tesselata coming my way within the next two months.

 

[Pufferpunk]

rationale?

Puffers eat a specialized diet & are slower swimmers than many other species, sometimes being the last to eat. They also can be nippy.

 

[Ashlee]

Triggers and puffers have always made great tank mates, especially because they both require a large variety of shell fish ( with shells ) and need all the same vitamins and supplements with their food. I think it would be almost cruel to have a puffer without some friends, they are such a social animal. ( Even our GSP and F8 have made friends with a clown fish and Niger Trigger) I can assure you the puffers always ate first in my tanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODE0nI5DJKg

Check out this video, the puffer is the most aggressive and takes the shrimp straight from the eels mouth. I find them to be the bully most of the time. The puffer was so freakin aggressive towards the food he was chasing it in the reflection of the glass.

As for the lid, the moray will leave the tank if it wants to. Despite all precautions if it wants to leave the tank, it will bust a way out. My old tank was completely open top, and my morays never left. I find if they are happy and content in your tank they will never leave it. Make sure they have a dedicated cave, good feedings, and nothing is bothering/harassing them. Cover as much as possible, glass working the best

 

[Pufferpunk]

Your miurus is so cute!

Even our GSP and F8 have made friends with a clown fish and Niger Trigger

F8s belong in low-end BW SG of 1.005.

 

[BigO6687]

halfmoon trigger

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=1&pid=908&cid=288

blue dot toby

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=1&pid=347&cid=22

white eye moray

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=1&pid=868&cid=17

diamond watchman goby

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=1&pid=597&cid=18

then some damsels to add motion and color

blue fin damsel

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=1&pid=784&cid=15

yellowtail blue damsel

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=1&pid=766&cid=15

blackspot red damsel

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=1&pid=2300&cid=15


etc.

 

[BradT85]

I still say go with the harlequin tusk and blue throat. Then get a couple clowns and a blenny of some kind. My starry blenny is by far my favorite fish because of its personality.

I would also think ahead if you think you would ever want corals and get fish that are generally reef safe.

 

[FLESHY]

Lol ashlee...the background on the last picture is funny. Whoever did the hardscape on that tank had...a beautiful mind.

 

[Diogenes]

awesome thanks everybody...

I just ordered a Mag 9.5 and I plan to start building the sump first. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to remove the center brace in the stand to get it in but i guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Right now this is what I'm thinking, but please continue to give suggestions:

White eyed moray -( dove with a bunch of these guys in Thailand and they stay relatively small), or jeweled moray

spiny box or porcupine puffer (wife loves the puffers), or blue toby

Humu, rectangle, niger, or blue jaw trigger- depends on availability and whether or not i stay with the indo-pacific theme. Also determines how aggressive the rest of the stock needs to be.

kole or sailfin tang

leaf fish or arc eyed hawk

maybe spotted grouper or harlequin tusk fish...maybe.

few damsels of as of yet unknown type.

How does this sound?

any suggestions?

 

[FLESHY]

This is a lot of fish for a 90...some things stick out at me right away. I think that the sailfin is too big for a tank that size. These fish given enough space get HUGE! I have dove with them while spearing in hawaii. My brother and I had one in a 125g (6ft long variety) and felt so bad about keeping him in it that we sold him back to the LFS.

Damsels sound fine, tusk sounds fine...spotteds get to be about 16" but with good h2o changes you should be able to do that, especially because they dont really move much. Warning to you, like many groupers, spotteds spend 99.9% of their life in the rock work. Then they jet out, take food from whatever they please, and sometimes try to take your finger with it!

Not quite sure what you mean by "leaf fish"...a hawk fish would work in this size aquarium though.

When it comes to the triggers and the puffers...Im going to recommend a species tank. Sometimes these guys have so much personality...it feels like a dog. You wouldnt put two dogs in the same kennel. If you want a larger, more aggressive trigger, I would recommend 1 per tank.

I havent ever kept puffers, but diodontidae have always given friends of mine more problems than tetradontidae. I also like the tetradonts better...thats just a personal opinion.

90g is pretty small for everything you are trying to do with it. There are also some things that envision as compatibility issues down the road. I would get one of the big preds (trigger, puffer, eel) a smaller tang, the harlequin, and then a smattering of damsels or the such. Small dither fish. Thats just me.

 

[Diogenes]

This is a lot of fish for a 90...some things stick out at me right away. I think that the sailfin is too big for a tank that size. These fish given enough space get HUGE! I have dove with them while spearing in hawaii. My brother and I had one in a 125g (6ft long variety) and felt so bad about keeping him in it that we sold him back to the LFS.

Damsels sound fine, tusk sounds fine...spotteds get to be about 16" but with good h2o changes you should be able to do that, especially because they dont really move much. Warning to you, like many groupers, spotteds spend 99.9% of their life in the rock work. Then they jet out, take food from whatever they please, and sometimes try to take your finger with it!

Not quite sure what you mean by "leaf fish"...a hawk fish would work in this size aquarium though.

When it comes to the triggers and the puffers...Im going to recommend a species tank. Sometimes these guys have so much personality...it feels like a dog. You wouldnt put two dogs in the same kennel. If you want a larger, more aggressive trigger, I would recommend 1 per tank.

I havent ever kept puffers, but diodontidae have always given friends of mine more problems than tetradontidae. I also like the tetradonts better...thats just a personal opinion.

90g is pretty small for everything you are trying to do with it. There are also some things that envision as compatibility issues down the road. I would get one of the big preds (trigger, puffer, eel) a smaller tang, the harlequin, and then a smattering of damsels or the such. Small dither fish. Thats just me.

thanks for the feed back fleshy.

I wasn't planning on keeping ALL these fish together. This is just sort of a rough draft for species I'm considering.

Your post brings up some interesting issues.

Is there no eel I could keep with any trigger in a 90?

There is no puffer I could keep with any eel or trigger?

Snowflake? blue jaw? niger? blue toby? none of the above together?

what about all triggers?