Glass Cages tank,2 72" VHO 320 watts,ASM G2 skimmer, 2 magdrive 7 return pumps, and Maxi-jet with 2100 gph Mod.
The cycle completed last Thursday night. Unfortuneatly my Lionfish passed at the petstore shortly after my last post. I am still kicking my-self for the losses I caused. My new plans for stocking have changed. I am going to have a mostly peaceful herbivore tank. My first fish is a Starry Rabbitfish. I plan on adding Threadfin Butterfly, Convict Tang, Longnose Hawkfish, sandsifting goobie, another smaller tang, and a starfish or two. I have 125 lbs of rock and plan to add another 75lbs as cash allows. I will post new pics as things are added.
I hate to hear about your lionfish. I had one die and it was like my pet dog died. Good luck with new pets!
I would not add a thread fin butterfly in that tank, it is too new for a butterfly, they need an aged tank. He well also have a hard time competing to get enough food with what else you are adding, as the others well be very fast at eating what you feed, and he well slowly starve. I would add the fish slowly too over atleast a month so to give the tank time to do somemore stabalizing and building of the good bacteria.
Not to worry. Nice and easy and slow. Throw me some ideas. I really like the Butterfly fish. Nothing is set in concrete yet.
You could try some type of small angel like a lemon peel, bicolor cherub, fireball or pygmy angel. All are very active and will add color to your tank. In my experiance they are usually peaceful towards other fish as long as its the only angel in the tank. That is if you like angelfish. Just an idea for you since there won't be any coral in the tank.
I was thinking of a Ebili's,Keyhole, or a Lamark's. I like alot of the angels. Just curious which fish on my list would cause a problem for the Butterfly fish? Is it the tangs? Everything I have read about the Rabbitfish says that they are peaceful fish. Or are the butterflyfish just difficult to maintain?
You may have to feed live food for a while to get it used to eating and then move to frozen a little later. In the wild they eat coral polyps, algae, and crustaceans. They are a shy fish so the tangs will probably eat all the food before it gets any. Fisherman is right they need an aged tank so you might want to hold off on one for now
Like said above, butterflies require an aged tank. I don't mean to discourage you, we don't want you to get discouraged and give up. The others are fine, but they well go wild when you feed the tank and eat up most of the food before the butterfly can get enough and until your tank is much older you are going to have to be careful with your feedings or you can set another cycle to start and also get algaes and stuff growing you don't want. Tangs and foxfaces have big appetites. Also by sandsifting gobie you mean a spotted [diamond back] you well need to target feed him. He well eat up all the bugs in the sand shortly and well not get enough food competing with the others as he like the butterflies are slower moving. I target feed mine twice a week small pieces of shrimp with prongs or his belly starts to hollow, they are like a lawnmower blenny and well slowly starve if not target fed. Like Sam said, angels are fine, but even they I would let the tank age a few more months, some like flames can be sensative to water conditions, but not as bad as butterflies.
Stephen, if you are set on butterflys I would suggest the Heniochus or bannerfish. I have found mine to be a very agressive feeder and since they primarially feed on worms in the sandbed, they take frozen bloodworms and mycid shrimp. I agree with the others that you should wait a while for some of these more difficult species. Just get some of the more colorful hardier fish for now and relax, do some more reading about compatibility and food requirements and enjoy your ocean view. Let your tank age and get the proper balance of bacteria and an established sandbed. Some fish I would recomend, but not all at the same time, are a pair of clownfish, midas blenny, pajama cardinals, 1 pseudochromis or dottyback, one of the many shrimp goby-pistol shrimp pairs, 1 hawkfish, foxface or any of the rabbitfish, which I see you have, Tangs, christmas wrasse or almost any of the flasher wrasses. Most of these fish are on the lower end of the price range and will allow you to have some great color, gain experience, are also "reef friendly" if you change your mind about corals. Your tank looks great and keep us posted on your build.
Thanks for comments guys. I am not in a big hurry as I do not want cause anymore loss. I want my fish to be as comfortable and as healthy as possible. I have kept corals before and I know I am not interested in doing so as I do not want the light bill that comes with it.
Very cool suggestions Norman, I had forgot about Hennies and banner fish, they are very cool fish and are hardy.
I looked at the bannerfish. I like it. Interesting fish. If I decide to add one it will be toward the end. I want to make sure my biological filter will support it. I am also considering the other recomendations you offered. One question though: will a bannerfish try to sonsume a cleaner shrimp? I have read that Butterflies will eat ornamental shrimps.
I personally have never had an issue and have had racoon, copper banded, thread fin, kleins and long nose and hennies and have never had a problem. Could it happen? maybe, haven't heard that one myself but there are alot of things I haven't heard. Some people that have reef tanks or have algae issues don't feed very often and have issues with fish looking for something to eat when they get hungry. Also I just thought of a Klein butterfly, they are alot heartierbutterfly, reef safe and well hold their own at feeding time. I would still add it atleast a couple months down the road, not quite as hardy as a hennie.
in most cases if the cleaner is added before the fish they are generally safe. there are always the exceptions to the rules but you should be safe.
There are 2 species of heniochus available in the hobby. One is what you call reef safe, but the one sometimes called the bannerfish is not. It is an eater of clams, soft corals such as zoos and pallys, and tank invertabrates. This is the one I have in the 400gal fish only tank and it holds it's own very well. Do some reading about them and get the one for the tank you decide on. It is difficult to set up a tank as fish only and then convert it to a reef as so many people try without moving your livestock around............WOW another reason for another tank !!!!
The Heniochus Chrysostomus is considered by some to be reef compatable with caution. Google Heniochus butterfly fish and read some of the links. Depending on which link you believe you can take your chances. I personally would not consider any butterfly in a reef system. I have the Heniochus Acuminatus in my fish only tank and believe it to be the best choice for color and survivability.
