red sea bio type help

[steveo32]

I want to start a 180 as a red sea bio type. I already have a purple tang. And I want to get a sohal and a red sea salfin tang. i was also thinking of putting some lrytail anthias. I think thats it for fish but for coral idk what to do and I can't find any good site with info

 

[Deanos]

Fishwatcher's Guide to the (Tropical) Aquarium Fishes of The Red Sea

 

[Deanos]

Red Sea Coral

 

[masterswimmer]

Dean, he mentioned that he has his Red Sea fish already chosen. He's having trouble chosing Red Sea indigenous corals. :wink1:

Damn, you're quick with that Enter key!

swimmer

 

[House of Laughter]

Steve,

As I mentioned, it looks like there are many corals (even ones sold here) that are indigenous to the RS.

Hard corals (Fire, Milli's etc) LPS, gorgs, Dendros etc. but getting the actual strain from the red sea is a hard thing to do due to the limittaions currently put on exporting from there. Many of the corals can be found here on MR for sale, but are not from the RS.

Hope that helps - Deanos links are awesome resources.

House

 

[steveo32]

Dean thanks for the links so far so good

 

[steveo32]

ohh no house i just ment ones that were indeginous not actual strains just ones that would be found there. i don't want to put lets say a xenia in there and it would never be found in the red sea you know what i mean

 

[masterswimmer]

Steve, sounds like it's going to be a nice tank. Well thought out. Keep us updated with a thread/log of your progress. And don't forget pix, because you know MR's are pic whores :lol2:

swimmer

 

[House of Laughter]

Totally Steve, well you have tons of option then

Millipora's, Hydnophoras, cyphastrea's(sp?), stylophora's etc. Many corals to be had from those species here on MR.

Believe it or not, way back in the day, when MR first started - member #3 (grevdin) started a indigenous Pacific reef - was one of the best I have ever seen

Look forward to seeing it up and full of Red Sea stuff.

House

 

[marrone]

I would skip the Shoal as the tank is to small for one and even if you get a small one in time it will be a problem with the othe fish, specially the tangs, down the line.

 

[steveo32]

Marrone, that is a good idea to keep in mind but i might just even keep it to just a sohal and a purple tang. The minimum requirements for a sohal are 180. I know that just the min and its not considering the full growth of the fish but then if you use that method all the time then non of us would have vertually any tangs becasue a full grown adult can be over 12 " for even a yellow tang. Also i might add that a sohal to reach it full potienial would have to be over 5 or 6 years or even older. By then if I still had the fish I would be able to have a bigger tank. But thank you for your suggetion I know its a whale of a fish lol.

Well russ since you asked I guss I will make this into a formal tank thread. I didn;t want to do one but here it is.

I will trying to set up a 180 rr tank as a red sea bi type as you all ready know. The tnak will be set up in a way to recreate a reef slope. So I will have my lr decending from a high poihnt in the back to a low point toward the front and grading down like a hill basicly. I am going ot attepmt at using pond foam for the backround to give the illusion of a massive rock moutain behind the slope. For live stock I am going to try and stick to the red sea as much as possible. Thought im not trying to create a true bio type I want ot stick to it as mush as i can. What can I say there might be something that I just have to have thats form the caribiean or something lol. The corals are going to be mostly softies and lps's and some minor sps's.

I will try and load as many pics as i can and will first start with the area i would like to imitate.

 

[marrone]

Marrone, that is a good idea to keep in mind but i might just even keep it to just a sohal and a purple tang. The minimum requirements for a sohal are 180. I know that just the min and its not considering the full growth of the fish but then if you use that method all the time then non of us would have vertually any tangs becasue a full grown adult can be over 12 " for even a yellow tang. Also i might add that a sohal to reach it full potienial would have to be over 5 or 6 years or even older. By then if I still had the fish I would be able to have a bigger tank. But thank you for your suggetion I know its a whale of a fish lol.

You can't say that if you use the full grown method than no one would have any tangs in their tanks. Some tangs don't get that large or need as much space, while other tangs not only get very large but need a lot of swimming room, not to mention that some become very aggressive over time. Every tang needs to be looked at differently.

If you get a Sohal tang, in the 3"-4" range, and feed it properly and have good water condition, is will grow very fast. It will not take 5 or 6 year to reach 12+", they will attain that size within a couple of years. Actually if you do have a Sohal tang, or any tang for that matter, and it doesn't grow at a good rate then you're not feeding it correctly. Also Sohal get much larger then 12". You need to know what you're getting into with a Sohal, as they can be model citzens when under 8" and terrors once they get larger.

Remember that a 180gal tank is a large tank for a reef tank, but if you plan on keep certain fish the tank will actually be on the smaller side, specially with a lot of LR in it.

 

[steveo32]

Well I do know that, that specific tang can get very aggressive. But hey that list is'nt set in stone so whos knows what ill have. As for the lr I want to keep a minimal amount in the tank. I will be holding the bulk of the rock in the sump. Since I want to be going with a reef slope I won't have that much room, since I only have 24'' to play with. But I do thank you for you reccomendation, however what do you think would be a good center piece fish then ?


As for an update... I will be using a tiger shark return pump, Euroreef skimmer not sure what he model is but it's pretty big. 65 gal sump/fuge and I will be running pc's for know until i get my T5's yeah !!!! (thank you Russ) um lets see what else...., Oh I am making this piece of crap stand that I hate doing !!! :screama: :headache: nad thats it for now.

 

[marrone]

If you're talking just Red Sea, and want one fish that will stand out, I would go with a nice Red Sea Sail fin tang. An Asfer angel would also be really nice as it has great color and doesn't get to large. There is a risk that it will pick on some of the corals though. The tank maybe a little small but an Red Sea Emperor angel would also be a good center piece, but it may pick on coral also.

 

[masterswimmer]

I told you Steve, call me if you need any guidance with your stand (or anything else for that matter). You know I'd be happy to help. :hug:

swimmer

 

[steveo32]

Yeah its under control so far. I just hate waiting for the stain to dry, its takes so dam long.


Marrone I would like to go with those angels but I have already had a bad experience with one that may pick at the corals. I had a queen angel and long story short I'm setting up a new tank. So as of right now I am being very coutious as to what I am going to add to the tank.

 

[marrone]

If you're looking Red Sea fish only, there really isn't any angel that would be consider completely reef safe. The Regal angel willl even eat corals. You would be taking a chance with any of the angels. If you don't want to take a chance it's probably better to go with a Red Sea Sail Fin tang or maybe a Hippo tang.

If you want to go with smaller fish there are a # of dottybacks from the Red Sea that would do good, even though they aren't large. Some can be kept in pairs of small groups, like the Sunrise or Orchiard Dottybacks.

 

[steveo32]

Yeah I will prob not go with the angel. But idk im still up in the air

 

[marrone]

If you plan on going just Red Sea fish it will cut down on what you can choose from. Most of the fish from the Red Sea will be problems in a reef tank, unless you go with smaller fish, like dottybacks or even clowns.

 

[steveo32]

Ok for all you pic whores as Master so tastefully put it here are some pics for yah !!