Suggestions please

[dsaundry]

Here is my situation. I have my 90g up and running. It currently has the following fish in it. A 3" Purple Tang{Thanks Chin} and a 2" G/S Maroon Clown.
There is an anenome that the Clown likes to frequent. Thats all so far. So I have been trying to figure out some tankmates for them. I was looking at a Niger Trigger, a Dwarf Fuzzy Lionfish, {maybe the lion would be too large right now for the clownfish} or maybe a Hawkfish of some variety. I dont have a maintanence crew as yet either..Snails?? Urchins?? So what I am trying to figure out is this. What would be a nice selection of fish to put in as well as a maintenance crew..

ps: If anybody is selling any of these items, please let me know..

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Beautiful clown! This is the Purple Tang that was tormenting all his other fish, right? Does the clown hold its own?

I've always thought an anemone/aggressive fish only tank would be amazing. In fact...it's got me to thinking....:)

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Hawkfish & triggers tend to chow down on cleanup crews. I use conches and a sandsifting star as my cleanup crew in the fowlr. Lions will eat anything they can stretch their mouths out to fit inside.

Yeah, I know, I'm just a bundle of good news eh:biggrin:

A longnose hawk is usually pretty good though.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

How big's the maroon. They grow fairly good size & are aggressive so a fuzzy dwarf may leave it alone if its too big to inhale.

[WuHT]

I'd just say that you should try to get your invert clean up crew in there asap... just to eliminate the possibility of them being lunch when introduced after your desired fishs have been established (i'd suggest losing the hawkfish, as inverts can be more fun..and you already have 2 fish with very deep colour (purple and red). You might have to sacrifice some fish choices if u want a clean up crew.
----
I've pesonally kept cleaner shrimp, a large hermit, a green bristlestar, and 2 turbosnails, so i can only speak for them :they are hardy as heck!

I'd say get some snails and at least a cleaner shrimp in there <-- most cleaner shrimp you can purchase now are very small .. and mine has grown to an inch and a half in a month, (no longer snack size). After that, you can start getting some of your desired fishes(or w/e your purp allows to live)

[tang daddy]

For a clean up crew that's a fish why not put a rabbit fish in there, they're great for eating algae and add lots of personality to a tank.

[dsaundry]

The clown has no problem with the tang so far..in fact the tang is a bit wary of him. They are both nice fish ..will try to post pics of the tang if I can train him to sit still for a second..Clown is about 2 inches and from the dwarfs I have seen so far that might make him dinner. Maybe in a year or two when he's about 4" he would be safe.:biggrin:

[dsaundry]

Yeah I was thinking of a Rabbitfish. I have a Foxface in my 72g reef, if I could catch him ...might be tough though.. :biggrin: :biggrin:

[dsaundry]

As for shrimp I would like to put them in but I was told that the Trigger and the Hawkfish would make meals out of them. :biggrin:

[saltwatermaniac]

From what I was told you can get away with the niger trigger and the cleaner shrimp if the cleaner shrimp is in the tank first and of a good size.

Just what I have read and been told no exp:smile:

[Lance]

From what I was told you can get away with the niger trigger and the cleaner shrimp if the cleaner shrimp is in the tank first and of a good size.

Just what I have read and been told no exp:smile:

A foxface would work. Peaceful, yet no fish will bother him. Eats algae as a bonus.

[dsaundry]

So I think this is what I am going to try: I am going to introduce a clean up crew now..Snails[different varieties] Maybe a Cleaner Shrimp, Maybe some evil Crabs, and maybe another Anenome. Then I think I will add a Trigger of some type and a Hawkfish..How does that sound??:biggrin:

[fishoholic]

We had a niger trigger in our reef tank for a couple of months. Never touched any shrimp, hermits, or snails however he tormented our poor foxface so much that we ended up selling him.

[dsaundry]

I was going to use a Rabbitfish in my tank< I wonder if a Trigger would do the same thing in my tank..Has anybody else had this happen?? Was the Rabbitfish bigger or smaller than the Trigger??

[tang daddy]

triggers can be like dogs peaceful and exciting to see them swim but again they can be nippy! now a rabbit fish can hold their own but in reality I would bet on the trigger winning even with poisonous fins it's no match for the teeth. maybe you can try it and see add the trigger after the rabbit fish tho so it establibshes dominance first.

[kevinpaz]

You mentioned an urchin as a clean up crew at the start of the post. Looks like it's no longer on your list. I wanted to mention we bought a black spiney urchin and it's grown very large, very fast (10" diameter now including spikes). It also drops a tonne of feces which will collect on the bottom of your tank (looks like little sand pebbles, actually adds a nice look to a bare bottom tank) =|:-).

I love having it in the tank - but it's now become one of the main centerpieces of the tank due to it's size.

[dsaundry]

:biggrin: actually an urchin is still on the list,,not sure about a spiny, maybe a pencil and a tuxedo....

[fishoholic]

I was going to use a Rabbitfish in my tank< I wonder if a Trigger would do the same thing in my tank..Has anybody else had this happen?? Was the Rabbitfish bigger or smaller than the Trigger??

Our foxface was almost twice the size of the trigger, and was in the tank for 6 months before we added the trigger. I will add that my foxface was fairly shy around more aggressive tank mates, and all this happend when we only had a 65g tank set up, so maybe if it was a bigger tank, it wouldn't of been so bad....hard to say.