Breeding Tank

[Wannabreeder]

Hello! First Time Poster, Long Time Reader! I'm so glad that I've found this board, I have learned a lot of information in a little less than a week's time! Here's my question(s):

I am planning on setting up a "Breeding Tank." It will be a 90 gallon tank housing 3 Royal Grammas, A pair of Percula Clowns(from my 55 gallon Fish-Only Tank), and 3 Banggai Cardinalfish. Does this sound OK to everyone or is it overcrowding? Will all this fish be able to breed under these conditions or I am hoping for too much? There will be about 50-60 lbs. live rock and 30-40 lbs. live sand in the tank with a Bak-Pak Protein Skimmer and maybe a Aquaclear 500(just for extra cleaning purposes). The lighting will consist of 2 strip lights with 20,000 K bulbs and Actinic bulbs. Does lighting play a role in the breeding scenario(it does for humans, so why not fish, :D. Any information will be greatly appreciated! Thanks Very Much!

Tim :smokin:

[FMarini]

Hi:
Iam very glad you found our site, this board and my forum useful.
So to answer your question.....
the fish list is fine for this size tank, however the 3 banggais will most likely not get along, the clowns will most likely prevent the banggais from breeding, and I'm mixed about the royal grammas(RG) . If you had a bigger longer tank w/ physical separation between the species they might all breed in the same tank.

Okay so why do i say these things.
1)3 banggais... as you've probably read by now banggais schoal as juveniles for protection, but as soon as ONE male reached sexual maturity he will kill off the other suitors, meaning any other males. So unless you have 2 females and 1 male expect one fish to be killed off. I would only tell you this so you can remove the "oddman out".
2)clownfish.... when breeding they establish a territory around their nest in which nothing else can get close. If you use an anemone for a host, then the closest flat surface next to the host will be used for egg laying. The Clowns will protect about 1-2 sq ft around this site, and unfortunately your tank doesn't have that much real estate. AS you know clown are already territorial, but add in eggs and its a different story. One thing to consider is physical barriers(like dividers) to allow each fish a section.
Royal gramma present a different problem in that until I saw Minh posts here i have never seen RG breed in the home aquarium. Apparently they do, and i'm not sure once you get an eggs mass what happens next. So I'm still learning about them.
W/ that said you can certinaly have a tank w/ these species of fish in them, set the tank up w/ rockwork which provides barriers from each other and set the clowns host away from everyone else and thing should be fine, maybe, just maybe, if the fish feel comfortable you might get some breeding activity, but i would say its unlikely. If you want three seperate 40gal tank each one dedicated to one species you migh have success there as well.
HTH
frank