Help me with my "lazy man's" FOWLR

[ReefLion]

I'd like to set up a 180 FOWLR. It would be supported by a basement sump system of approximately 200 gallons, including a 75 gallon stock tank with a DSB and live rock. The display tank will have live rock and a small layer of sand. The sand in the display will be just for looks, so I don't care if it gets disturbed.

What I want is to create a system that requires as little care as possible. That means nothing that will eat many snails/hermits/emeralds/shrimp (I'll need all those guys to do their jobs), something that will eat aiptasia, and something that will eat as many sorts of algae as possible. I'm looking for 5-6 largish, showy fish that get along ok.

So far my fish choices include:

- some sort of eel
- lionfish
- some sort of butterfly (aiptasia killer)
- some sort of tang
- some sort of angel

Any suggestions within this group would be great. Another problem is that this selection gives me a large number of laterally-compressed bodies, and I was hoping for some variety. Any suggestions would be great.

Fish I love but have rejected, by the way:

- all puffers (snail/hermit predation)
- large wrasses (same)
- triggers (same) (or how 'bout a Niger ...)

I also won't consider anything with bad RDO mojo (sharks, etc.)

Thanks for all suggestions.

Tim

 

[WRASSER]

reefloin,


i have a flesher,dragon,2 neons,red coris,six line,yellow wrasse. i also have an arrowhead crab,hermit crab,(even a fewsmall ones) bandit shrimp,and a snail.the bi-color and coral beauty get along,my two chaulk bass are just fine and my purple tang is in charge! all the wrasse are juvenile fish. everybody gets along just fine!!!

there is a pic. of a dragon golby on this forum (nice pic toooo) they also eat algea.

good luck



wrasser 8)

 

[Anonymous]

"Bad mojo".. heh.. don't forget the "bad juju", as Righty likes to put it.

For Aiptasia killers, I know of few folks who feel they've gone wrong with Lysmata wurdemanni, but have read of quite a few who were disappointed with their butterflies. IIRC, many tend to nip corals, LPS at least. I think the same can be said of the large angels, they tend to nip at the large, fleshy polyps.

Your system size will essentially be close to 400 gallons, excellent, though I'd stay away from the really big tangs just for their swimming room preferences.

Personally, I would not expect the dragon wrasse (much as I like them) to behave itself with the tasty inverts, same with the commonly found eels. A lionfish tends to try lots of stuff out, and may end up eating those as well.

What about some cardinals, and/or a school of anthias? A happy colony of anthias can be a stunning display. I seem to recall someone estabishling a small harem of flasher/picture wrasses not too long ago. They were hard to find but truly something to behold.

I also think you should check out Garry Thomas' reef tank.. hoo boy! That's a beauty.

 

[Bluetangclan]

As for the aiptasia eater if money is no issue try a Burgess Butterfly, much hardier than a copperband and cooler looking in my opinion, a little more costly however but it is said to be one of the better butterflies and loves munching aiptasia(much better record of it than copperbands too). The only coral it might mess with is LPS but thats only a might. Safe with SPS and softies.
Your eel you might have issues with. I would go for a tessalated, chainlink or zebra. If you want to go exotic try a golden moray. The more expensive the brighter it is. Most eels if you keep them well fed, as far as the pebble toothed eels go, they generally wont mess with your inverts. Make sure your rockwork is secure however.
The Lionfish is up to you, I would go with a more medium sized lion though and not the big boy volitans. Try a radiata or spotfin, you will find they have the best sociable(with you) personalities of all the fish on your list. and the other fish will be too big to eat.
Tangs and angels I have no personal experience with but I hear tangs can be quite territorial so you might want to make whichever one you add the last fish.
Brief rundown on the common tangs i know info on:
Yellow and koles- great, toughest and smallest of the tangs
Powder Blue(brown) Regal tangs- ich magnets, easily stressed and die
Chevron and Achilles- nice looking, hard to keep alive
purple-best looking(IMO) tougher than the blues, very territorial
the various Naso tangs- need MASSIVE swimming space, get very big

 

[Anonymous]

Forget the eels and lionfish, they will eat your shrimp. I have do disagree with the post that says keeping them well fed will prevent this. In my experience, this just isn't the case. Keeping a fish well fed will not prevent it from enjoying it's favorite food! Especially if your talking about specialized crustacean feeders like zebra morays and such.
Try a young passer angel (very hardy), just make sure he is't TOO small, say 2.5"+. A yellow tang would be a great choice too. Other suggestions you've gotten already are great too.
I would have some other suggestions if it weren't for crabs and shrimp.
If it were me, I'd go with smaller fish. Sixline wrasses, gobies, pygmy angels, basslets, anthias, etc.

Cheers
Jim

 

[Bluetangclan]

I was only going with my own experience with eels. Generally mine keep to themselves and not bother anything if I feed them when they start roaming.
I do agree that all fish are not the same. Shrimp are dead meat with any lion species but I didnt see those on his list, maybe I missed it.
I also agree that I would go with smaller fish as well except for my favorite fish the lions which is why I would choose a spot fin over a volitans any day for size reasons. I think smaller faster fish add more color and movement than bigger fish and you can have more of them. Schools of chromis and flasher wrasse would be awesome and a few other bright fish would be great for both color, movement, and low maintainance and be invert safe. If you have the money, go for a dwarf golden moray, doesnt eat inverts and too small to eat most fish and is great looking.

 

[ReefLion]

Thanks very much for all the suggestions. Regarding lionfish, the only shrimp I was really considering were peppermints, for the aiptasia, but then again if I have a good aip-eating fish then I won't need them.

Do lionfish eat hermits as well? Keep in mind this will not be a reef tank at all, just FOWLR, so big hermits are a possibility. I guess I have the same question with respect to emerald crabs, ie will lions or eels eat them.

Basically, I'm looking for a tank that won't have a valonia problem because something eats valonia, won't have an aiptasia problem because something eats aiptasia, and won't have a hair algae problem because something eats hair algae. All without eating each other, and looking good at the same time.

I've been keeping reefs for a while now, and just have a hankering for a "showy" fish tank that applies the best of reef-keeping principles. I just don't have much experience with these big fish.

Further discussion appreciated. Thanks much.

Tim

 

[WRASSER]

REEFLOIN,


you can look up fish at MARINE DEPOT LIVE. it shows you a picture and the cost of the fish your looking for. the ocean is full of a big varity of what you're looking for.




watching my underwater tv.



wrasser 8)

 

[WRASSER]

REEFLOIN

sorry clicked twiced



wrasser 8)

 

[WRASSER]

sorry clicked twice

 

[WRASSER]

sorry clicked twice

 

[Anonymous]

Cut your shrimp out and you have a wider selection of fish........Niger Trigger....Foxface.......Hawks......Clowns.......Tangs.....Butterfly(Raccoon for aiptasia....forget the Coppeband)and a Snowflake Eel.

 

[Anonymous]

I would have to put a harem of anthias or flasher or fairy wrasses in. Or perhaps a pair of Genicanthus angelfish, or a harem of Centropyge angels. With these types of fish you wouldn't have to worry about your inverts, you still have beautiful fish, and you have a lot less waste to deal with/maintain. If you've got a nice mature tank that large, you might even consider a pair of Mandarin fish. This is basically my fish want list for my dream 240 gallon FOWLR.

 

[fishfarmer]

My FOWLR is about as lazy as they come. After two years it is looking really good without many algea problems. I think overfeeding was causing a lot of it. It's a 120 gal with the DSB in the tank with about 100 lbs of rock. I have three long spined sea urchins for algae control and a cople of large left hand hermits that haven't been eaten yet. I have a regal tang, lunare wrasse, white damsel, blue damsel, three striped damsel and a tomato clown. The wrasse is a PITA, if I add new fish they have to be big. I want to add a large yellow damsel if I can find a specimen.

 

[WRASSER]

FISHFARMER,

well i was thinking about getting a lunar wrasse to add to my collection of wrasse, but it sounds like they are aggressive. maybe you should take him out, so you can get more fish in your tank. then put him back in later or get another.


wrasser 8)