Coverting my 330 to FOWLR..Could use some advice

mhurley · #1 08/28/2006, 10:18 PM

Well, as some tell me, I'm crossing over to the dark side and getting rid of my SPS and my halides.

For me, it's a relief and a fresh start that I'm very excited about.

My tank is 96x30x30 with 100 gallon sump and a small refugium and a big dual beckett skimmer.

Current fish are yellow tang, 2 hepatus tangs, a bicolor angel, melanarus wrasse, cinnamon clown (hosting in a rose anemone) and a watchman goby. My desire for the tank is for big angels, triggers and tangs.

I'm pretty sure, some of my current inhabitants will need to go. But I'm trying to get an idea of how many, when and in what order to introduce the new ones.

Angels-I'm thinking about French, Majestic and I dunno.
Tangs-Naso, Powder blue
Triggers- Huma, clown

I'm looking for ideas for more fish and any conflict issues for those I've listed.

Please understand that due to my previous SPS tank, I've never even considered many of these fish, so I don't have a full grasp on compatibility/incompatibility.

Thanks all! I look forward to spending a lot of time in here and making some new friends.

Titan*69 · #2 08/28/2006, 10:38 PM

Your rose anenome will be like a stringy chew toy for those two particular triggers. I'd suggest more mild mannered Triggers, such as Blue-Throat, Niger, Durgeon, Sargassum, Crosshatch, Pinktail etc. besides that the rest sounds good. That big beckett will come in handy with the fishload.

chicken · #3 08/29/2006, 02:33 AM

I have a 12"+ rose (with a pair of GBM) in with my huma, clown & niger for over 3 years and have never had a problem. It all comes down to personality. My huma is the most peaceful while my niger is a bastard. You can never tell........

LRS078 · #4 08/29/2006, 03:24 AM

True...you can never trust triggers. They tend to "go to the darkside" one day for little reason/warning. Still, they are cool and endearing so all you can do is play odds and keep a close eye. You are pretty safe with crosshatch or bluethroats. Less so with nigers/humas and clowns almost all tend to be evil. Think teen driving statistics.....go with the beige 4 cylinder minivan. j/k If you have the budget for it a pair of crosshatch or a pair of blue throats will do a safe trigger slow very nicely.

Nasos are a borderline case as they can top 2 feet. You have a tank that most would consider big enough. Your call, I wouldn't do them in anything smaller. Sounds like you have the knowledge, discipline and equipment to give it a go. No problems with the powder blue. However, I've often found that tangs do well in odd numbers. I think its just the rock/paper/scissors aspect as they tend to fight in even. Not a rule, just what I've observed. There are plenty of cool tangs so pick one you like. Only ones I'd caution would be sohal or maybe clown as they can be excessively mean.

A rule (with many exceptions of course) with angels is that as long as you keep to different genus you are okay. Seems to be as much personality as well. If you want multiples in a tank avoid passer and maybe queen. French shouldn't be bad, Magestics can be a finicky but should do well with your background. A goldflake would also look stunning in a setup like yours.

Current list: tangs should be okay, wrasse and bicolor may get beat up but you can give it a go. Just have someplace to put them should things sour. I'd pull the watchman and the clown as they are just too defenseless. Move em to the fuge if you have to.

You have a ton of space and have a good setup, are there any other FOWLR type fish you are interested in?

Hope this helps....

mhurley · #5 08/29/2006, 06:38 AM

Also would love a nice butterfly or two, or will they be too docile?

SDguy · #6 08/29/2006, 09:41 AM

IME, some of the larger, hardier, more aggressive feeding butterflies would be OK, like Chaetodon auriga, Chaetodon ulietensis, Chaetodon paucifasciatus. Any of the Heniochus species would be nice additions as well. Just be sure to add any butterflies first.

jamesbuf · #7 08/29/2006, 09:58 AM

Do you have a cleaning crew, and if so, do you want to keep them alive? If so, then I would also suggest a crosshatch pair or bluejaw pair. I have also heard of others having success in keeping cleanup crews with nigers and pinktails. I actually have a small niger in my reef right now. I haven't seen him attack any of the hermits or snails yet, and my cleaner, peppermint, and coral banded shrimps are all accounted for. Supposedly if you introduce the trigger last, they will come to see the inverts as part of the tank instead of food. So far so good, but as you know, its hit or miss with aggressive fish. Best of luck.

Also, you could always move some rock and your cleaning crew into your sump or refugium and do the whole 24/7 light period on the fuge. Should keep most of the undesired algae growth away from the main tank. This way you could house the more aggressive triggers and your inverts will be safe.

On a side note, I was able to keep large arrow crabs in the past in my trigger,wrasse,puffer tank.

mhurley · #8 08/30/2006, 01:29 PM

I have some snails...not a ton, no hermits...they're evil in my book...

I'm on the hunt for a Chaetodon paucifasciatus as the first addition...Thanks Peter.

SDguy · #9 08/30/2006, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mhurley
I have some snails...not a ton, no hermits...they're evil in my book...

I'm on the hunt for a Chaetodon paucifasciatus as the first addition...Thanks Peter.

Great choice! Look forward to pics

jda · #10 08/30/2006, 03:04 PM

My huma is a total wuss. Another trigger to consider that was not mentioned is a hawaiian black - or a few of them. In a larger tank, they hang together and are really cool.

You can use mexican turbos for cleaners - even my gunea fowl puffer and larger queen trigger could not kill them.

You still might consider the halides, but only 2 of them with each covering 4 feet (spread the reflectors). They make the fish look cool.

Figure out some way to do mechanical filtration on your overflows. You will have to feed the heck out of these fish and this will help.

You can also use sugar/ethanol in a FO with little risk. This will help to keep N and P low.

I still like most reef fish in a FOWLR. I have genicanthus caudo's, chocolate tank, a few purples and a black tang are my favorites.

I am a huge fan of the large fuge/isolation tank hooked on to the FOWLR. I don't QT unless the fish needs treated for infection, but a 75G tank growing cheato is a good spot for fish to get used to captivity in peace before they are thrown in with the big guys.

Chances are that you won't be able to keep peppermints, so plan on a butterfly (or angel if you are lucky) to eat aips.

mhurley · #11 08/30/2006, 08:23 PM

Part of the reason I'm getting out of SPS is the 1600 watts of halides...I just want them gone for heat and electrical expense reasons.

I have plenty of sump space to work out additional mechanical filtration if needed and at least 80 gallons of other sump available for refugium.

Now, for the big question...the order of adding the new critters. I'd like to add two for now, let them settle and keep going. The first will be the butterfly and along with him would beeeeeee?

Huma?
Naso?
Angel?

I'm going to buy medium sized ones...Don't want juvi's and not full adults, I want to watch them grow up too.

Any general rules on order of addition?

SDguy · #12 08/30/2006, 08:36 PM

I'd say the naso, unless you really plan to go with the navarchus angel, then I'd say the angel.

jda · #13 08/31/2006, 09:41 AM

Add them in the order that you can find quality specimins. Captives would be #1 on the list - they almost always do better. If you feed a lot, it will help keep agression down.

TitoTee · #14 08/31/2006, 03:04 PM

This will be the trend of 2007 with gas prices and the rest of inflation hurting our pockets. Poor SPS LPS

Billybeau1 · #15 08/31/2006, 03:36 PM

Mike, welcome to the world of FO. You are gonna love it.

When you get all converted over, give me a pm

I've got a beautiful harlequen sweetlips thats about 5 years old now. He's in my avatar. He's almost 6 inches now and has outgrown my tank. I would love to see him live out his days in a large tank. He eats well and doesnt bother my other fish. Him and the Huma are buds.

He's your if you want him. Just let me know. He's one beautiful fish.

Bill

Zoom · #16 08/31/2006, 10:37 PM

1) Blond Naso.
2) Blue face angel.
3) Auriga butterfly.
4) Australian Tusk fish.

................QUARANTINE................

mhurley · #17 09/01/2006, 08:23 AM

Bill,

Thanks for the offer! I just might have to take you up on that guy in a while.

Zoom,

Thanks for your input too.

SDguy · #18 09/12/2006, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mhurley
I have some snails...not a ton, no hermits...they're evil in my book...

I'm on the hunt for a Chaetodon paucifasciatus as the first addition...Thanks Peter.

Liveaquaria.com has some, BTW.

clekchau · #19 09/15/2006, 01:26 AM

1 harlequin tusk
1 red sea emperator
1 sohal tang
1 blue tang
1 purple tang
1 assasi trigger
1 surge wrasse

would be awesome, similar to what i'm planning

mhurley · #20 09/20/2006, 03:57 PM

Just got my first batch of fish from Liveaquaria and I'm quite happy.

I got an Auriga Butterfly (MAC certified), Paucifasciatus Butterfly and a Blue Girdled Angel.

They acclimated fine and are hanging out in my QT tank. I'll snap some pics later but the Paucifasciatus is beautiful!!

Kudo's to Liveaquaria on packaging...quadruple bagged. The styro was cracked so clearly FedEx bounced it on a corner and the box bottom was all wet...I was freaking out when I first opened it but there must have been some water in the stryo that leaked out because the bags were sealed.

Billybeau1 · #21 09/20/2006, 04:15 PM

Man I would have freaked out if I saw that leak.

Looks like you are on your way. Make sure to stock up on extra frozen food.

Cant wait to see pics.

Zoom · #22 09/20/2006, 06:18 PM

I like LA i got some corals from them like you excellent packaging and quadruple bagged.
How big is your Quarantine tank.

mhurley · #23 09/20/2006, 06:28 PM

40 or so gallons....about 30x30x10...It used to be a frag tank.

capt. insano · #24 09/21/2006, 07:54 AM

I had always wanted a Naso tang, until I bought my eyestripe tang. Their colors are amazing (and they get better with age), they are large tangs, and they are very hardy. Here is some recent pics of mine....sorry, the tank wasn't clean when I took the pics

VegasMike · #25 09/21/2006, 11:54 AM

Ah, somebody else with an Eyestripe/Palani/Dussemers. Mine is the main reason I am adding another tank to my house. They get big, reasonably quick, IME. They do get better with size, which is somewhat unusual. They are very mild-mannered, will eat out of your hand and very hardy. They are a very underappreciated fish, but you have to have a good sized tank. I am moving mine from my 450 SPS to a 350 mainly fish only(will have some softies)