suggestions for species tank
 

Hey everyone, been tankless for a while now but hopefully that will be changing soon.

I want to start a small species tank (<40g display) but i just cant decide on what to keep. I've already had mantis shrimps, sea horses, and a reef but im hoping theres something i havent seen before. So what are all of your favorite species you have kept or would like to keep and why? Thanks for any suggestions
-Sam

I've recently been intrigued by the concept of an anemone species tank. Maybe that and your clownfish of choice.

Frogfish, never had one, but I hear they are interesting enough to devote a smaller tank to and be entertained.

And if you do go with the frogfish idea you could also put hammer and torch corals in there as well as they are all in the same family and do well together, that is if you wanted some variety in it

Rhinopias frondosa, I have always wanted one.

"Sargasso Sea" tank.. file fish and stuff?

i did think about a frogfish/angler tank. An anemone/clown tank had also crossed my mind, but i had some in my last reef and i think i need something new.

nismo driver-What else goes into a "sargasso seea" tank? i've never heard of one.

I have a 40g tank sitting around and I toy with the idea of setting up to be a frogfish tank. It sounds like fun to me. A nem tank sounds like too much work on top of my 100 reef, but you say that you're tankless so that might be an option. A nem tank with a wavemaker would be all sorts of awesome to look at.

ya, but a wavemaker would cost about as much as i plan on spending for the whole set-up ;) . I will be working for my LFS again tho....so basically anything is possible

Maybe try a jawfish oriented tank. 55 gallon tank, 6 inches of sand, very little live rock. And a bunch of jawfish with their own little burrows to hide in.

Rhinopias frondosa should not go in a 40 gallon tank. A jawfish tank would be interesting. A frogfish tank requires that you feed the frogfish, and they prefer live food. Sometimes you can train them to eat silversides, but that may not be nutritionally adequate.

A pygmy angelfish tank with (centropyge ancanthops) I always wanted one of those.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11525822#post11525822 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snorvich [/i]
[B]Rhinopias frondosa should not go in a 40 gallon tank. A jawfish tank would be interesting. A frogfish tank requires that you feed the frogfish, and they prefer live food. Sometimes you can train them to eat silversides, but that may not be nutritionally adequate. [/B][/QUOTE]

Do frogfish/anglers have different nutritional needs than, say, a lionfish?

No, there should be no difference in nutritional requirements. The problem is that some people feed these ambush predators with fresh water fish, and there is a nutritional deficiency in that case.

frogfish are easy to feed. until mine learned to take frozen, I offered gutloaded ghost shrimp and guppies, acclimated to salt water. the occasional small damsel is always apprecieated.

all of mine eventually learned to take frozen from a feeding stick (though one took over two years, so you can never count on this).

once eating frozen, I offer pieces of scallop, shrimp, a selection of ocean nutrition gel cubes (which really help with dietary variety).

I've noticed growth and color is better with the frozen food diet. you can keep anglers long term with live foods, but getting them on to frozen is best.

I have several species tanks - angler, mantis, seahorse. I love all of them. that's why I have so many (too many!) tanks. I can't give up any of them.

If you like Rhinopias, and want something cheaper, easier, smaller that can be kept in groups, consider Hawaiian leaf fish. they are exotic, gorgeous, different. mine are in with my seahorses. I've had the leaf fish and seahorses for several years. the leaf fish WILL need live food. I have never been able to train a leaf fish to take frozen (again, gutloaded guppies and ghost shrimp). they'll eat any shrimp in the tank and any tiny fish (like neon gobies).

if you are willing to upgrade your species tank in time, I'd consider an undulated triggerfish. it's pretty clear you can't keep them with other fish long term. They are gorgeous and don't get over a foot long. You could keep a juvenile in a 40 gallon tank for some time, but would eventually need to go with a 75 or larger.

another "pet fish" for a smaller tank might be a toad fish - I had an orange gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta) in a 20L on my desk at work for years. it got to be quite personable. it ate anything and everything I offered.

I have a green wolf eel blenny that is full of personality. I have it in a 55 with a waspfish, as well as two fish I'm growing out for a bigger tank (niger trigger, blue spotted rabbitfish). they all get along great, and the eel is really ugly/cute. There is a reefkeeping article on breeding them. I'd try pairing up some wolf eels and breeding them.

sorry for the long post. I had a lot of ideas... trying to decide what to do with my empty 40g breeder as well. :)

Wow, lots of great ideas there Lisa!

Recently I saw a tank with flounders and cuttlefish, was kind of interesting... probably not many like it.

Dwarf Octo

Cuttlefish!

[url]http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1245638[/url]

Jawfish.

I've kept a Harlequin shrimp tank for a couple of years - it's really cool to watch the tiny pair of shrimp work as a team to flip a starfish 30 times their size over!
I only recommend Harlequins if you have a steady supply of starfish for them, as it is all they eat. Mine seem to prefer Linckia type starfish over other types.
If you do go with Harlequins keep them alone as they are not immune to predation like cleaners.

I do kind of like the jaw fish idea, i've never seen that before. Aren't jawfish territorial though?

Keep on going back and forth with the frogfish thing, they do seem really cool. most of all they seem to be on the more low-maintenance side of species tanks (regarding setup and equipment).

Cuttlefish and octos had crossed my mind more than once. from what i hear though, dwarf octos dont come out much and cuttles are difficult to locate. cuttle also have demanding food requirements, and though i will be working at a LFS, i want something that will be ok if i leave for the weekend. cuttle's are pretty awesome though. Anyone know if you can feed them those common crabs found on so cal rocky beaches? (i think referred to as shore crabs) if thats alright then i may indeed have a constant live (and cheap) food source if they dont take frozen.

so right now the top contenders are:
-frogfish tank
-cuttle tank (would have to be s. bandensis)
-jawfish plains tank

great suggestions everyone! keep them comin.
thanks,
-Sam

Pipefish
or
Basslets

The Cuttlefish/Flounder tank I mentioned just had some small pieces of rock and macro-algae and was dominated by sand, so it was easy to see them...

Pipes and jawfish would be cool.

I think the general rule is like... 1 square foot per jawfish or something like that. Pearlies seem to be the least territorial.