A reef predator tank?

[guitaris70]

I was curious to know if anyone has a reef predator tank? Such as a 250 gallon or larger reef predator tank. I know the issue is that predators are messy eaters which degrades the water quality for the reef ecosystem but has anyone successfully done it? In the future I want a 350 gallon reef aquarium, predator tank if possible with a small type of shark, trigger(s), an eel or two, etc. I know high filtration/skimming would be a must. thanks for any input

 

[zonatus]

Most triggers tend to eat corals so make sure to get a Xanthicthys species, unless there are reef safe triggers I don't know about. The eels should be fine as they don't tend to bother corals but what I'd be most concerned about is the shark. You'd have to have a lot of sandbed space and sharks will hurt themselves by scratching on the rock, not to mention toppling it and the corals on it. This shouldn't be a problem if you get Xanthichthys triggers, but triggers do tend to pick at sharks, and therefore make poor tankmates.

 

[guitaris70]

Thanks for the response!

 

[zonatus]

I personally wouldn't try it as it seems risky, mainly just because of the shark. You could do larger fish that won't eat corals, but sharks and reef tanks just don't mix. I will admit that it's cool to see them together though, my lfs hatches cat shark eggs in their frag tank and it's really cool to see them sleeping underneath the coral racks.

 

[Duke4Life]

I think eels are fine, as well as groupers, non reef safe wrasses (go after inverts and small fish), lions. Quit a few options if the filtration is in place.

 

[zonatus]

Some particular fish that would be good I think would be crosshatch/bluethroat triggers, a harlequin tusk, a zebra eel, or whatever eel you like the most. If you could find a giant hawkfish that would be really cool, but they're super rare. A box or cowfish if you don't mind a risk

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Nix the shark...

 

[Newb73]

If you dont do any shrimp:

Blue throat or niger trigger. Large tang such as naso, large Rabits, eel, the marine beta or comet is cool. Any small fish in there would be fish food in minutes though, as would snails and shrimp.

The super large turbo snails do ok with my blue throat though

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

There are some predator reefs that I've seen. Here's my favorite: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/felicias-40b-mixed-reef-predator-tank.211840/ It's a good bit smaller than what you're talking about, but I would think it could be helpful. In any case, it's worth checking out just because it's awesome!

 

[tj w]

Nix the shark...

Agreed. I have started mixing my large reef up a lil too with preds as well. As long as you're ok with replacing clean up crew and making sure they are compatible and don't eat coral I think you'll be fine.