Poll: What would you add to your tank if you could?

[danmhippo]

Seahorse in a reef tank.....I think you know why I can't already. Exquistive.....I have go with a mat of sun flower coral. I only have a baseball size flat of them, and have to try very hard to make them open up. But, when they do all open....man, that was a sight. Imagine half of the tank is all like that!

 

[outerbank]

1. A porcupine puffer. He would eat everything.

2. Fish: Gotta go with the old favorite common clownfish (ocellaris). My Powder Blue Tang is an awesome fish but they demand a lightly stocked, large aquarium and long quarentine, IME.

Coral: A beautiful Gigas clam. They get too big for my 230 gallon tank unless I devoted half the tank for it and built a 3 foot tall calcium reactor!

Scott

 

[pathos]

-spanish dancer
-red feather star
-electric flame scallops
-portugese man o war
-sea hare
-venus flower basket
-blue ring octopus
-australian sea apple
-crown-of-thorns-starfish
-flamingo tongue
-radiata lionfish

i will get the radiata someday...

 

[davelin315]

The Great Barrier Reef or around 10,000 gallons....

 

[Goldmoon]

An anemone and some clowns. But the anemone would eat my other fishes and might hurt my corals. Planning to start a tank only to be able to get those

Exquisite? The sight of clowns rubbing themselves in their beloved anemone.

 

[sawcjack00]

A great white shark (been watching too much shark week on Discovery chanel)

 

[FishDaddy]

Mabu,
When you consider the vast number of beautiful animals and corals in the sea, there are relatively few that can be considered safe for reef tanks. The fish will either eat each other, corals or inverts, or simply get too big for the average home aquarium. Many corals are limited by your tank setup and your experience level.
Some of my favorites are the Clown Trigger; Peacock Mantis; Anenomes; Nudibranchs; and the Puffers. Needless to say, I don't even plan to try any of these in my modest 55 gal. reef!
Dick

 

[Mabu]

Ok, I'm curious:

1. What would you add to your reef tank in the way of livestock of you could? And why can't you?

2. What coral and fish do you consider to be the most exquisite?

 

[M.E.Milz]

Butterfly fish. Can't put them in a reef (w/ a few exceptions). And they aren't compatible with my FO tanks, which tend towards more aggressive fish (triggers, puffers, wrasses, etc.)

 

[Anonymous]

Pam Anderson...

 

[cgbexec]

If I could I would build a glass house out on the reef. That would be cool!!!!!!!! If I can't have that then Pam Anderson would do just fine.

Chris

 

[Anonymous]

Definitely a titan trigger. They are few and far between for sale, and would kill everything in the tank within a matter of seconds.

Not only the meanest and largest trigger, but fantastic looking with their "Eddie Bauer" colors & pattern.

Hell, I'd get one for my FOWLR tank, but can't seem to find one at a somewhat affordable price (around $100) and manageable size (4").

Peace,

Chip

 

[RUaBatfish2]

Mermaid

 

[cstar]

volitan lion fish

 

[M.E.Milz]

Well the trigger suggestion got me thinking. My LFS has a small undulated trigger. Nobody will probably ever buy it. Every time I see it, I try to convince myself that he would be ok in one of FOWLR tanks. I know better, but still . . . .

 

[bigtank]

1. I would love a vlamingi tang, but my tank is too small. Also a cleaner shrimp, but my flame hawk would eat him. An open brain would be wonderful, but my tank is too bright for them (don't ask

)

Mostly though, I really want some SPS really bad. I can't get them locally and it's a major PIA to buy things online (my parents are leery about the security, etc.) My tank could support some.

2. That's a tough question as there are so many exquisite animals in my opinion. So here are a few out of many:

Fish: most big angels, vlamingi and achilles tangs, maroon clown, flame hawk.

Corals: button polyps, all euphyllia, elegance, galaxy, meat corals, open brains, dendronephthya, most SPS.

What about clams?! Awesome.

 

[M.E.Milz]

By the way, are undulated triggers really as bad as people say?? I have heard a few horror stories about them killing every other fish in the tank. But you never know how true these stories really are.

FWIW, the tank into which I keep thinking of adding him is a 175 that holds a blue-lined trigger, a niger trigger, an annularis angel, 2 tangs, a dog-faced puffer, a zebra moray and a Hawaiian dragon moray.

 

[davelin315]

I believe that your blue line is just as aggressive as an undulated trigger. By the way, beautiful trigger that blue line. I have a small undulated I got for $15 at a crappy fish store that was moving (they didn't even know what it was) along with a tiny picasso for $5 that ended up dying within a few hours (had to try and rescue him). The undulated has not touched the urchins in my pond, or even the xenias that have been sent down there. In fact, he spends a great deal of time hiding in the rocks, even though he is the lone fish in there. I think that undulated triggers are fairly aggressive, but that they have gotten kind of a bad reputation in the fish trade. On my honeymoon in the Tahitian Islands, I saw many many undulated triggers, and they lived peacefully with the other fish on the reef. I never saw them bite anything, and in fact, I'm probably pretty lucky they didn't bite me, because, naturally, when they disappeared into holes, I just had to dive down and peer into the holes and poke my fingers in there to see what else was in there. Probably the only thing I saw them eat while snorkeling (and trust me, I spent a lot of time snorkeling to my wife's chagrin) was plants floating by that they would sample.

 

[DK]

I would settle for 1,000 gallons! (and a floor to support it)

 

[M.E.Milz]

I have had my blue-line for a 2 (maybe its been 3) years. I got him when he was tiny (mail order from FFE). He is now about 5".

The niger was added a few months ago. He was much smaller than the blue-line (although he is catching up in size very quickly).

The triggers scuffled when the niger was first added, and one time, I thought the blue-line was going to rip the niger's throat out. But they appear to getting along just fine now.

The undualated at the LFS is about 3", still pretty small.

[ August 17, 2001: Message edited by: M.E.Milz ]