It has been a LONG TIME, but I'm going to try to be back kinda regularly now. I missed you guys. SO, here's my question, we have 2 Bangaiis in our 135 and that's it. We are considering getting a new fish or 2 in there. I am looking for suggestions of fish that would be a good "second" fish to put with our Bangaiis. We were thinking a tang or three, a lawnmower blenney (to help with a hair algae issue) or a fish that eats aptasia (because we have recently had an outbreak of them). Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Also, where do you recommend getting fish? We live in West Michigan and the only place around here is Rochester's Reef. While RR is a pretty good store, their selection is not the greatest. I WILL NOT buy fish from Petco (because EVERY fish we have bought from them has infested our tank with ich and killed everything in it). If the price is right and the fish are good (and maybe even come with a guarantee), we are willing to drive a ways. Also looking at buying from individuals, not just stores.
We have a 20 tall that we are going to use as a QT.
So i have an all tang tank so i would recomend a tang but a good atashia eater would be a scat. ive gotten them as a freshwater fish and introduced them to my saltwater tank and it lived and ate all my aptashia. So a tang that i recommend would be many A hippo tang, yellow tang, kole tang they are probably the hardiest for a first tang, but i would probably get a Uv sterilizer if you get to heavily into tangs.
VI Pets have excellent selection of healthy fish! they are a new sponsor of the site as well. they have 3 locations, closest to you would be plainfield (grand rapids) their fish tanks do have copper in them so when you aclimate dont put the water in your tank if you have corals. otherwise, chowhound on 28th st (grand rapids) is also great!
ps ive seen the muskegon petco and i was so upset by the condition of their tanks! (and any petco ive ever been to)
Lots of good recommendations, VI Pets on plainfield and Ecco-Reef in Zeeland are good ones to hit.
Another one to check out is Aquarium Services in Jenison, awesome people to deal with and they QT all their fish too! They are another new sponsor here.
Thanks for the suggestions on where to get fish, now I just need suggestions on what fish to get. We want something (or somethings) that are VERY compatible with our Bangaiis and something that will not get too territorial (we will want to add more fish later). Thanks again.
Honestly it is up to what you like. Are you looking for more smaller fish or still thinking a few larger fish like you original post said.
Larger fish in a 135 lots of people keep multiple tangs but make sure they are varieties that will stay small and different genus'.
Smaller fish - lots of gobies, clownfish, wrasses (fairies and flashers), blennies can all be options.
For a fish that will eat aiptasia, I have tried various things over the years and have found the best is to add a fair amount of atlantic peppermint shrimp, say 6-8 in your 135. These IMO work much better then copperband butterflies or other options. I have never tried a scat though either.
What types of coral and inverts do you keep? Depending on the corals, various angels may also be canidates. Also if you do not want shrimp, some triggers are also options.
I agree with the above post in that peppermint shrimp would be a more reliable way to control an aptasia problem than any fish. You could probably get away with just a few and have no more problems.
For the hair algae I've found that tangs from the genus zebrasoma are excellent at quickly eliminating it. Yellow tangs, purple tangs, sailfin tangs would all be excellent choices for that. Also, they are generally compatible with any other fish except other zebrasomas. That would be a good one to start with IMO. Also, I would consider going ahead and adding a wrasse or two if you're interested. I would start with the less agressive species perhaps from the the fairy wrasse family or the flasher wrasses. A small group of flashers would be very nice. Then, later on if more are desired you could add a mystery wrasse or a sixline. Add that type last to avoid any hostility towards the more peacful wrasses and only get one of these types. I highly recommend the mystery wrasse personally.
Once you get those fish established you can safely add perhaps two more tangs. Make sure they are all different types though. A blue hippo tang, a koles, tomini or chevron tang, and a powder blue or powder brown would all work well together. Good luck! Post some pics of your set up sometime
As for corals/inverts, we have snails, hermit crabs, a red thorny starfish, some zoos, 2 trumpet corals (1 very LARGE, 1 very small), 4 pulsing xenia, a staphalopora, one pinwheel paly polyp, a green slimer, brain coral, and one other SPS.
BTW, THANK YOU ALL for your input. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!!
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