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Everyones Hero
02/06/2010, 10:24 PM
I have a 75g that's setup to be a reef tank with 4x54w T5s, K2 & K3 powerheads, sump, refuge, skimmer, ect.

Right now I have a pair of Clarki Clowns, Dwarf Zebra Lionfish, a Snowflake Eel, a Brittle Star, & misc snails.

I want to start growing corals again & I can't really think of any reason as to why I wouldn't be able to make this into an aggressive reef tank but I'd like to hear if anyone else has any valid reasons as to why it's not a good idea.

Thanks
-Nick

costellow
02/06/2010, 10:35 PM
I'm not sure but I think Lionfish and corals don't mix.

Everyones Hero
02/07/2010, 12:37 AM
From what I can find they won't bother corals, though they may knock them over when they perch.

Mine only perches on a couple of rocks & those are all near the bottom of the tank so I'm not concerned with them getting knocked over.

The eel has his den & works his way through some of the rockwork but he hasn't damaged an old coral skeleton I have in the tank.

sedor
02/07/2010, 12:41 AM
Softies and some LPS might be ok, but in general eels, lionfish and other aggressive species are kept it FOWLR tanks. I've never heard of either species actually consuming coral though. I'll let someone else clarify that.

tinnghe
02/07/2010, 12:42 AM
What so they do when you put your hand in there for a prolong period of time?

RealReef7
02/07/2010, 02:12 AM
Lion fish are reef safe when it comes to coral. They wont eat corals but will consume shrimps, smaller fish, crabs, etc. The most challenging part in a aggressive reef is keeping the nitrates in check. Good luck.

stanlalee
02/07/2010, 03:18 AM
all those fish are coral safe. if you can deal with the bioload, dont mind absent or replenishing clean up crews and keep the corals mounted down good so the eel doesn't knock stuff over its very feasable. large wrasses/hogfish,lionfish, groupers, hawkfish, eels, select (if not all) triggers coral safe and not reef safe due to mobile inverts or destructiveness (triggers picking up stuff, eels too blind to care about knocking frags around food chasing ect).
I've long considered doing something like this with hawkfish, one of the Halichoeres wrasses, toby puffer (actually tried this. only had to remove one coral. left all zoas, mushrooms, hammer, frogspawn alone. open brain not so much) and some sort of other risque reef fish just got off course at some point after my puffer died.

Everyones Hero
02/07/2010, 08:09 AM
Thanks for the replies. I had already considered the nitrates from both the lionfish & the eel. I already planned on fairly large weekly water changes & I'll probably try making a nitrate reactor to see if that helps at all.

Neither really responds when I stick my hand in the tank, though I don't do it often. I make sure I know where both of them are prior to sticking my hand in the tank & keep an eye on both of them so I don't get stung or bit. The eel is really shy until he realizes it's feeding time.

I have little interest in the ornamental shrimp or other inverts, I just want my fish & corals. It would be nice to find some cheap SW shrimp that I could add. They'd be good for both the fish & eel to hunt.

brycerb
02/07/2010, 10:04 AM
See if you can't get live bait shrimp locally. You might have a problem like I did, here in VA it is illegal for fish with live shrimp, not sure why. Call a local bait store and see what they stock for live bait, I had a bait eel for a while, kind of ugly but it lived.

fixx198
02/07/2010, 10:59 AM
I had started my reef off with these same exact fish. Never had a problem with any of them other than small reef fish and shrimp would not last the night. If you keep them well fed you will have success. My tank is a 220 gallon and always had nitrates around 10ppm with theses fish. I have removed them all from my reef after two years only because feeding was getting difficult. The eel would take a minimum of 10 large silversides every two to three days and the lion was a minimum of 3 dozen go shrimp once or twice a week. The clowns where fine unless you had to rearrange your reef at which point the got aggressive and constantly attach your hand.

Everyones Hero
02/07/2010, 10:59 AM
Thanks. That's a cool & cost effective idea.

I'm going to let this algae bloom die off then I'll buy new T5s & get the reef started. :thumbsup:

-Nick

erendon
02/07/2010, 11:07 AM
I have a Golden Dwarf moray in my reef. I've had him for about 4 years. I also have a pair of blood shrimp and a pair of skunk cleaners. He lets the shrimp clean him with no problems. He WILL eat/kill any gobies I try to put in. The only thing that he LOVES to eat is squid.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc313/erendon1971/IMG_1951.jpg
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc313/erendon1971/IMG_5661.jpg

I also have a Dwarf Lion. I used to have a pair but one jumped. I have not had any problems yet.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc313/erendon1971/IMG_5624.jpg

Everyones Hero
02/07/2010, 05:58 PM
That's awesome. I'd like to add a cleaner shrimp but I'm not sure if the eel would eat it or not.

droth335
02/07/2010, 07:07 PM
I have successfully had the following in a reef with no issues (other than the aforementioned issues with some clean up crew members disappearance!):

- volitan lion
- pink tail trigger
- niger trigger
- blue jaw trigger

Never tried a cleaner shrimp though but sounds like others have had success there...

Everyones Hero
02/07/2010, 08:07 PM
Did you have any of the triggers while you had a lion? I've always heard that triggers will pick apart a lion, eventually killing it.

I've always liked Monti Caps. I had a nice green one at one point, but algae took over & I went lights out. Killed the algae but killed my cap too. Really bummed me out.

I don't like too many softies but my girlfriend really likes the Zoas so I'll put some of those at the bottom.

I pulled out some rock to get off a bit of bubble algae & rearranged the rock work a little. The eel didn't come out & the lion fish paid no attention to me.

I'll order my lights this week & start looking for some cheap SPS. I think I paid around 30-40 shipped for my monti frag & purple digi back when I first started. Hopefully I can find a similar deal to get me started.

droth335
02/07/2010, 08:56 PM
Did you have any of the triggers while you had a lion? I've always heard that triggers will pick apart a lion, eventually killing it.

I've always liked Monti Caps. I had a nice green one at one point, but algae took over & I went lights out. Killed the algae but killed my cap too. Really bummed me out.

I don't like too many softies but my girlfriend really likes the Zoas so I'll put some of those at the bottom.

I pulled out some rock to get off a bit of bubble algae & rearranged the rock work a little. The eel didn't come out & the lion fish paid no attention to me.

I'll order my lights this week & start looking for some cheap SPS. I think I paid around 30-40 shipped for my monti frag & purple digi back when I first started. Hopefully I can find a similar deal to get me started.

Yes, I had all 3 triggers and the lion at one time. I never had any issues with the lion getting picked on at all.

You might try a local reef club to find frags. I have gotten most of my SPS frags from local reefers for $5 - 10 per frag (and, of course, no shipping)

mudskipper1
02/07/2010, 09:13 PM
+1 on getting frags from local people, cheaper, less chance of disease, make friends...

zippopunk1
02/07/2010, 10:42 PM
i had an aggree ssive 100 gallon reef with a marine betta a v tailed grouper a dog faced puffer and a maroon clown had softies lps and some sps it was actually cool cuz all the aggressive fish have really cool personalities. my biggest problems were i needed a huge protein skimmer and had to doa ton of water changes and puffer ate my sandshifting starfish and snails never had a problem with coral but my v tail did swallow my clown then spit him back out from then on the clown would not leave the colt coral i had

Everyones Hero
02/08/2010, 04:57 PM
There is a local club around here called SMAS. My biggest problem is that their meetings are usually when I'm working. Plus I'd feel really awkward going to the meetings/swaps for cheap/free frags when I won't really be able to be an active part of the community.