Do corals exist that would survive with: tangs, puffer, angels, and triggers

[Word up]

Anyone ever run across a coral that these aggressive fish leave alone consistently?

[steri]

"consistently?" I don't know if you will find that. The best advice I could give, is if you wanted to experiement with it, stay very very cheap. I would recommend softy corals to start, something like xenia, anthelia, maybe a leather, or kenya trees.

Soft corals don't tend to need as much light usually, tend to be better in "dirtier water," and are typically quite inexpensive (so if you lose it, the loss won't be so great).

I would not try zoas with these kinds of fish, esp angels. I have very rarely seen an angel that does not enjoy zoas.

Start very small and go from there.

I will tell you that in my tank I have Kenya Trees and Anthelia currently. You can see my fish list below. So far all is going well with those, but with these kinds of fish, it will be hit and miss at best.

[Word up]

Cool. Thanks Steri looks like you are doing reef tank conversion. Why? Just looking to see how the other half lives? I will totally follow your suggestions. It would be great to have the best of both worlds.

[vr697getta]

thats a tough question. because angles seem to like soft corals zoas and acans, triggers like sps . i never had a puffer and i never had a tang that bothered a coral

[Word up]

Great. Has anyone else had success keeping Kenya trees, Leathers, or Anthelia with aggressive tank-mates like angels,triggers, puffer, and tangs?

[reefergeorge]

Sorry. I know most of you have seen this pic..

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/rgeorge4651/IMG_20110619_162250.jpg

I had a coral beauty in there for six years no problem. I tride a dog face puffer, and a baby queen angel, and both destroyed zoas..

[steri]

Cool. Thanks Steri looks like you are doing reef tank conversion. Why? Just looking to see how the other half lives? I will totally follow your suggestions. It would be great to have the best of both worlds.

Ya, I am in the process of a conversion. I had a 75 reef setup for 5 years. Then we moved and I inherited a 210 that was already stocked as a FO tank. Angels are my favorite fish, so I knew I would not be getting rid of the majestic. If I knew I was not getting rid of the majestic I figured, "well I am not getting rid of the trigger either." Both are typically considered not reef safe.

When I started putting corals from my old tank into my new tank, I found success with Kenya Trees, Anthelia, and Mushrooms (so far).

In my old reef tank, I had a Rock Beauty Angel. He was the one that persuaded me to never get zoas with angels ;) ......That and the many stories I have read about angels and zoas.

From my perspective, with triggers and angels, corals are 50/50 at best. Some of these fish will live fine with them, but if they ever got a taste for them in the wild, I think you will find keeping corals very difficult. It is just tough to tell until you experiment yourself (hence the recommendation to start cheaply).

IMO, softies are always the best place to start. They are typically the chepest, most adaptable, and usually can survive in different lighting situations. They are also very quick to let you know if something is off (chemically) in your tank. Softies are not always the prettiest of corals, but personallly I like them.

If you go into this knowing that every coral may not make it, all will be good. If you go into it thinking that each loss will make you suffer, I would not recommend it.

[Word up]

Thanks Steri

[happyjack]

Maybe a nice carpet anenome

[Tmoriarty]

lol.... my nice carpet anemone just ate my puffer fish

[Sk8r]

SOfties are your best bet. Some like xenia are so stinky (smell your hands after handling) that they might discourage predation. Discosoma mushrooms, the greens, reds, purples and the neglectas, are all both prolific and tough. Green star polyp. I'd say experiment with small loose bits (beg your reefing friends and club and lfs) and see what lives. If you bring your water to coral standard (my sig line has suggested parameters) that should encourage green star to grow so fast you'll hope some eat it.

[Biscuit37]

I have some GSP that I swear grows faster than any fish could eat it. I give frags of it away all the time just trying to keep it in check.

~Tyler

[mattsilvester]

+1 GSP. The only fish I had that would eat them was an emporer angel, but he was a bit of a machine..... uncharateristicly so ..... but if any of those fish decide to wreck stuff just for fun, then there isn't much that will stop them.

[happyjack]

lol.... my nice carpet anemone just ate my puffer fish

My nice puffer just ate my nice bubble tip

[the real fishman]

reefergeorge, thats a great pic. are they still in the reef tank? any casualties? im interested in keeping a picasso in my new reef.

[clekchau]

with my old tank i had luck with angels, triggers, wrasse with gsp, xenia, mushrooms