GiantBen Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Rather than ask "How big of a tank do I need for XXX", where XXX generally is a tang, I'll ask this: What nice colored, active fish can I get for a 24x24 tank? How about a 36x24? Please don't tell me to google it, I'm interested in peoples opinions of why a fish is interesting and if they have had any experience with it. I'm looking at a shallow tank (12" probably) if that matters. Link to comment
Hoosierfan Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 It depends on your answer to some other questions. Are there any other fish in the tank? What are your future stocking plans? Do you plan on having coral? Link to comment
keydiver Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 most of the wrasses are great and very active, I love flasher wrasse and yellow coris wrasse. Clowns are obviously a great choice as well. Link to comment
Mini-Dude Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Just to ask. How many gallons is it? Link to comment
bensanders Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 What nice colored, active fish Tough to beat the coloration and unique activity of a sixline wrasse. One of my favorites despite it's commonality. Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 School of cardinalfish. Maybe Orange Lined Cardinals or Blue Streak Cardinals. Link to comment
GiantBen Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 It depends on your answer to some other questions. Are there any other fish in the tank? What are your future stocking plans? Do you plan on having coral? The tank doesn't exist yet, so no. Right now I'm trying to decide if it is worth getting a 36" wide tank vs a 24" (which I already own). If it opened the door to considerably cooler fish, I'd consider it. If not, might was well roll with what I got. Yes, it will be a reef. Should have thought to mention that. most of the wrasses are great and very active, I love flasher wrasse and yellow coris wrasse. Clowns are obviously a great choice as well. Cool, thanks. I think most of these would be okay in either tank, right? Just to ask. How many gallons is it? 24x24x12 ~ 30 gallons 36x24x12 ~ 45 gallons Not that it matters Tough to beat the coloration and unique activity of a sixline wrasse. One of my favorites despite it's commonality. Agreed, six lines are cool. They in rocks mostly, or do they do some open-space swimming. School of cardinalfish. Maybe Orange Lined Cardinals or Blue Streak Cardinals. Are these open-space swimmers or loiterers? Edit: typo Link to comment
Rehype Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 The cardinals are loiterers.. wrasses are the one of the best open space swimmers..Midas blennies are good as well. Link to comment
foothill reefer Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 i have a 55g tank. my 6 line wrasse swims the whole tank, very fast fish. he jumped out the tank few months ago, when i found him he barely alive/moving. i put him back in the tank, by next morning, he was back to normal. 6line maybe an ubiquitous fish, but he is a good swimmer with good colors, and good price. make sure you have a lid on the tank. Link to comment
fewskillz Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Just to ask. How many gallons is it?Doesn't matter, he gave lengths. When determining what active fish you can keep its more about how long the tank is, not the volume. Volume matters for total bioload, but not what specifically you can keep. I'd go for the 36" tank and get a lemonpeel angel, or whatever your dwarf angel of choice is. There's not much that equals the visibility (combo of size and colors) and the activity level of a dwarf angel. A fairy or flasher wrasse would be a nice choice too. Don't get a sixline. They're evil little fish. The 24" tank will limit you to relatively static fish. Sure, they'll be visible all of the time, but they wont be active swimmers. I would suggest a group of cardinals for the 24" tank. Link to comment
holdorf333 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Has anyone said Anthias yet? If your tank is big enough, they are amazing fish. Link to comment
GiantBen Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Thanks for the input everyone. And now to de-rail any meaningful discourse: I suppose a tang would be a no-no for the 36" long tank? Link to comment
fewskillz Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I suppose a tang would be a no-no for the 36" long tank?If it's really wide (like 36x24) and at least 15" tall or more I'd say you could get away with a bristletooth tang like a mimic or a kole, but I wouldn't recommend it. Tangs get big and are a very high-bioload fish. Plus they're aggressive. You'd be better served by a dwarf angel for an active, big, dramatically colored fish without the bioload. Link to comment
19jeffro83 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 36x12x12 is around 22 gal. The 24x24x12 is around 30 gal. Just thought this might help a bit. Link to comment
GiantBen Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 36x12x12 is around 22 gal. The 24x24x12 is around 30 gal. Just thought this might help a bit. I miss typed earlier, meant 36x24x12~45gal, not 36x12x12. Either way, not sure it's relevant here. Link to comment
d9hp Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I'd argue that the 36'x24' could keep a small kole happy for a while (a while being longer than most people keep aquariums running). I think a better question would be how many people have kept a single fish in a nano for longer than 1.5 years. Link to comment
Rufessor Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Not a rare fish, but I love my Fire Fish, standard variety. He is almost always hanging in front moving around searching out anything that floats by and checking for edibility. He is a pig, moves very fast when feeding, is pretty and is visible pretty much 100% of the time the lights are on. Not sure in a bigger environment how much exploring he would do but does seem to like open water, we have a few big caves that are about 1/2 tank height and he almost never goes in them so I assume given more space he would just move more in the open water... I have a BC29 so he is kinda limited in terms of where to go. Also pretty cheap for the flash he provides. Unsure if they like each other, but if they tolerate or swim together a few of these would be more than affordable and very cool..... could be bad mojo, you would need to look this up as I have no idea about infighting. Link to comment
LPS-Crazy Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Neon DottyBack....Great open space swimmer, does not require a ton of room and are real personable. Plus they are tank raised and do not require pulling from wild reefs. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...&pcatid=169 Link to comment
19jeffro83 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Sorry it does matter a bit. I also think a kole needs a 4' or larger tank bt maybe with the depth it mite be ok. I like small fish myself and if it up to me I'd go the route of a helfrichi again. Mine is always out swimming around. Link to comment
GiantBen Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Sorry it does matter a bit. I also think a kole needs a 4' or larger tank bt maybe with the depth it mite be ok. I like small fish myself and if it up to me I'd go the route of a helfrichi again. Mine is always out swimming around. Why does it matter? Not being argumentative, just curious why you feel it matters. Link to comment
Squared Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 The cardinals are loiterers.. wrasses are the one of the best open space swimmers..Midas blennies are good as well. wrasse a very active. midas blennys are as well, but they like to take rests on powerheads and rocks everynow and then. my cardinal (copper) is pretty active, but it's not much compared to wrasse. Link to comment
CoralReefDoc Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Tough to beat the coloration and unique activity of a sixline wrasse. One of my favorites despite it's commonality. +1 Link to comment
19jeffro83 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Well if you went with a bigger fish bio load and teritory will matter. A coris wrasse doesn't belong in a 20 IMO either do Pygmy angels and many other species. So it kinda matters. Link to comment
Squared Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 sixlines are very nice fish. i now i enjoyed mine while i had one. but they can become extremely aggressive and can eat small shrimp. Link to comment
GiantBen Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Bioload I'll buy as a concern, regarding volume, but lets put it aside, since no one fish is going to overload the system. 30 is the min tank size we are talking about. What is more important when conidering territorial issues: volume or foot print? I'd think having a large footprint would be the most important thing, but I could be wrong. Link to comment
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