Predatory Marine Tank

[SCRAWNY]

Hi i am currently thinking of getting another 55 gallon tank for predatory marine species. I have a couple of favourites in which i would like to place in the tank these being a huma huma trigger fish and a lionfish and possibly a very very small panther grouper . I am wondering if they will be suited in an aquarium together and at what size should i put them in i really want to start of small and let them grow for a while then replace them when they have outgrown a comfortable size in return for a smaller fish of same species. Can you please also tell me what clean up crew can i add without the lionfish, panther grouper and triggerfish having snacktime on them.
Sorry i also forgot to mention that the size of the triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus) preferably about 1 inch if not smaller
Plus the filter system is an undergravel filter with a powerhead on one end and charcoal on the other cannister filter which is a rio 400 and a skimmer is this adequate enought to support the lion fish, grouper and triggerfish?????
Or the trigger and panther?????
1 more question what cheap fish can also go with a triggerfish in the size of the tank i got??????
thank you
shaye

[Wolverine]

OK, there's a lot to repsond to in this, so I'll try to keep it somewhat organized. First thing I'll say is that you'll probably want to get rid of the undergravel filter. And, since you want to get together a predatory tank, you should seriously look into making sure you have a good protein skimmer. Predator tanks tend to produce a lot of waste, and this can really overwhelm systems that don't have adequate skimming.

I know that several people do it, but I'm not a fan of mixing Rhinecanthus genus triggers with lionfish. Many triggers, large angels, and some tangs will pick on a lion's fins. Rhinecanthus triggers seem especially good at this, and are especially good at hitting the non-venomous spines and avoiding the venomous ones. This obviously puts a lot of stress on the lion, and not uncommonly it leads to its demise.

Lionfish get big in a hurry. A 2.5" volitans lion will outgrow that tank in about 9 months; even faster if it grows as quickly as mine did.
A panther grouper will likely outgrow the tank even more quickly than that.

It's really not a great idea to get the fish small and then simply replace them when they get larger. One problem is that you have to find people willing to take the large ones. Large fish are much harder to find homes for; some stores won't even take them. Especially panther groupers, which look really cool when they're little, but then get ugly when they're big.

Another big problem with doing this is that you're going to find it's hard to add anything into the tank, even if you're taking one out.

Here's an illustration of how things could easily happen (and I've seen things similar to this happen before). You get the trigger, lion, and grouper, all around the same size, under 2". At the end of the year, the grouper is about 12" long, the trigger 4", and the lion about 8". Since the grouper has clearly outgrown the 55g, you take it in, and replace it with another 2" panther. You acclimate this fish, release it into the tank, and watch the lionfish swallow it whole. Let's say it's lucky and escapes the lion for a minute, and gets into the rockwork. You check out your tank 15 minutes later and watch the trigger beating the new grouper to death.

The next problem. You get a lionfish, you have it for a year, everything is fine. You replace it with a new one. You remember that lionfish are not always easy to get to eat food right away. The other one was fine, but you can't figure out why this one just won't take any food. The problem is compounded by the fact that there are two other fish (grouper and trigger) in the tank that are voracious, aggressive feeders. -> Lionfish starves.

As for cleanup crew, the lion and panther grouper will leave hermit crabs and snail alone. But the trigger will most likely make a quick meal out of them.

I know this probably isn't what you wanted to hear for this, but it's better that you find out this way rather than repeating mistakes that others have made.

Dave

[FMarini]

yeah....what dave said.......
Fantastic explaination, and i couldn't have said it better. Lets copy this and stick it.
I'm serious
frank

[FMarini]

edited duplicate post....sorry

[SCRAWNY]

Hi thanks for your information about my tank i was interested in setting up. Well can i still use the filtration for just the triggerfish or not, i mean i know it will look quite boring just 1 fish in a tank but i really want one of them, but cant really afford to add any more fish that will go with him as they are all to expensive.
Can you please offer me some advice on this situation then.
thank you.

[Wolverine]

I like to have tanks that are a little bit bigger for a huma, but they can be kept in a 55g (it's listed by Scott Michael as the minimum size tank for that fish). Your filtration should also be fine.

Even though you're just going with one fish, this is a really good one for that situation. These fish have a ton of personality. As Scott describes it, it's "a fish that thinks it's a dog".

Dave