45 gallon SW tank, what to do?

[Derf]

My 45 gallon reef tank is having a lot of things happening to it. First I had to put in lots of PVC pipe for my new (ready to be flamed) black ribbon eel. Then the eel went in, doing great, even eating frozen food on the 3rd day! Then my SOB chromis's killed it. So, being at least the 20th death by chromis in my tank, (the eel, a blood cleaner shrimp, and too many hermits and snails to count) I'm getting rid of these mofos. So all that will be left in my tank is a mandarin dragonet, a goby I believe is a decorated goby, 3 pajama/ spotted cardinals, one maroon clown which I might get rid of as well, and, again ready to be flamed, a yellow tang, which will be moved to a larger tank as it gets bigger. Anyway, I want to add some new things to the tank, including a new eel. I was thinking about a fu manchu lionfish or a dwarf fuzzy lion as well. Any ideas? The tank has lots of LR and a good amount of coral by the way. If possible, I'd like something a bit aggressive.

 

[BIGgourami]

if you can spring for the fu manchu then by all means go for it they look beautiful. the black ribbon i beilive was a freak occurance if it ate F food on the 3rd day an d i wouldn't suggest trying another one, but there's really no way of telling if it will or wont eat unless you buy, so that decision is up to you.
im supreised the clown wasn't an issue but the chromis were, strange.

 

[Derf]

With the ribbon, it ate more than once frozen, and it was eating when I got it. So, maybe not freak occourance?

 

[SteveO]

It's not common at all for a ribbon to eat frozen... pretty freak. Did you actually watch the chromis picking at the eel? What type of chromis are they? Greens are planktivores and shouldnt mess with the eel.

 

[Derf]

They're yellowtail chromis's. I did see the chromis's attacking the eel, and when I found the eel dead the next morning it was covered in little chromis bites and the tip to the tail was to the bone. Also, would a dwarf fuzzy lionfish do instead of a fu manchu if I can't find one?

 

[chrisdef15]

maybe they are some species of chromis we dont see here in Aus much but did you mean yellowtail damsels?? That makes them killing the eel sound much more believable (hmm that doesnt look right but ohwell).

 

[Derf]

They're black, or sometimes grey, with a yellow tail. I checked fishbase, and there is a yellowtail chromis, but the one I have looks a bit different. I'll try to get a pic of mine.

 

[Derf]

Wow, these things are hard to catch! I caught only the most aggressive one after 2 hours of trying to catch them. Any ideas on how to catch?