fish compatability (1st SW tank)

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cherubael

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 7, 2008
67
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australia
Hey guys,
Basically i need some help sorting out what fish can and cant go together with each other and also how hard they are to keep etc.

Firstly i guess i should tell you about me and the tank: the tank is 4'X2'X2' (120g), it is going to be a fish only with live rock (FOWLR) and it is the first SW tank i have owned (its actually owned by my gf and i and its at her house but i will do most of the work, lol always the case eh?). It wont have a protein skimmer unless someone really convinces me that i need one (im a student so money can be a pain) and i have a custom weir filter being made along with the tank which our friendly lfs guy says should be enough for anything, also there will be a large amount of LR going in i would assume.

Now the plan originally was to have a whole range of things in the tank (the gf wants everything that is bright and pretty...), but in the last few months we have been waiting on the tank we have decided on several fish that we really really want and will go from there.

Now im a massive eel fan and we are looking at getting two along with the fish so some help there would be appreciated as well.

Ok so the list in order of what we really want to "maybes":

1.Zebra Moray
2.Clown fish (black with white stripes, black saddle i think?)
3.Long horned cow fish
4.banded snake eel or blue ribbon eel
5.Voltain lion fish (or maybe a fu man chu, not sure, does it matter?)
6.copper banded butterfly
7.panda snapper
8.blue tang/clown tang

thats what we have at the moment, we were thinking some gobys (fire fish i think) and maybe an eel goby but we got told they dont get big enough and will be eaten rather quickly. other than that stuff we will probably just see things at the LFS or online and ask our mate what he thinks and go from there, so what do you guys think? is that list possible?

cheers,
andy
 
id say black percula is out (clownfish), if you intend to keep the moray, you'll want many large pieces of rock that will be able to accomodate his large size after he grows. The cowfish and the lionfish should be fine together. I dont normally hear of any nibbling issues with cowfish or puffers with lions. Triggers would most likely be out of the picture with this tank just because of the lionfish.

the copper band and tang should be okay, but they might fair better in a comunity tank vs a pred tank. just my thoughts though.

skimmers are not a must but you would be surprised at the amount of junk they pull out of the tank. In my experience if you dont run a skimmer then it would be a good idea to do water changes more often, just to help rid all the feces, and with large pred fish, there will be plenty lol.

another good compatability chart is on liveaquaria.com, as with any website the info on fish and size tanks needed, etc changes, so be sure to take anything you read on the net with a grain of salt.
 
sweeTang21;2285280; said:
so be sure to take anything you read on the net with a grain of salt.
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I agree! Every fish is different, in there own right!
My maroon clown HATES my coral beauty, chases him around the tank if he gets to close to his anemone!
 
thanks guys, the charts are a massive help, now i just need to sit down with the gf and work out what we want to ditch and what to keep.
 
I would dump the ribbon eel as well..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinomuraena
Because most ribbon eels do not live longer than a month in captivity, some feel that this species should never be purchased. Ribbon eels have been observed in nearly every case to stop eating after being captured. Although there are reports of ribbon eels surviving and eating in captivity for 2 years or more. But most don't survive over a month.
With proper sized tanks, water flow, and depth of proper sand they can be kept for much longer in pairs.
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ok so im thinking that the ribbon will be taken off the list, unless i can get it to eat before i buy it at the LFS, which is a possibility. Are ghost eels considered to be the same as the ribbon eels? i'm pretty sure i want two eels and the tank is big enough to house two fairly large eels according to the fish guy.
Also for those who have eels, has anyone put any purpose built pvc piping into their tanks to act as housing for the eels? i was thinking of putting some piping under the substrate with different entrances and exits sticking up into the tank that the eel can go and hide in, or maybe putting some piping into the rock but im at a loss how to do that with out wrecking the rock??
 
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