Predator Tank - Fish Ideas??

[North Borders]

There was a tank that won tank of the month over at Nano-Reef a year or two ago that was called "Predator's Paradise" and they had some really cool fish and ideas for this kind of theme tank.

 

[CanadianReefer]

Does anyone have experience with the mambosa lionfish?

 

[TexasTodd]

Yeah, they all have their personalities. My PBT have all been mellow but not to 8" that is a monster.
The Sohals are much better small for sure.

 

[4FordFamily]

Yeah, they all have their personalities. My PBT have all been mellow but not to 8" that is a monster.
The Sohals are much better small for sure.

I have seen 4 inch PBT kill fish 3x their size. And they don’t let up or get over their vendetta like others. Achilles and powder brown can be as nasty. It’s odd though some PBT aren’t very aggressive at all... but statistically a friendly large PBT isn’t a bet I’d take! Haha

 

[CanadianReefer]

I have seen 4 inch PBT kill fish 3x their size. And they don’t let up or get over their vendetta like others. Achilles and powder brown can be as nasty. It’s odd though some PBT aren’t very aggressive at all... but statistically a friendly large PBT isn’t a bet I’d take! Haha

My powder brown is a ***** cat

 

[CanadianReefer]

My powder brown is a ***** cat

I don't understand why that bleeped out lol... not aggressive at all is the jist of what I was saying

 

[lion king]

There was a tank that won tank of the month over at Nano-Reef a year or two ago that was called "Predator's Paradise" and they had some really cool fish and ideas for this kind of theme tank.

Ashamed, anyone can make an outrageously beautiful tank for a moment, everything in that tank was inappropriate for long term.

Does anyone have experience with the mambosa lionfish?

My momabas died in qt, had a seizure probably due to previous copper poisoning. Very similar to an antennata, similar marking and size. I've had an antennata in my lion's reef for several years now. Similar difficulty in feeding just like the dwarfs, usually come in eating live only and can be difficult to sometimes impossible to eat dead food. Needs to be target fed chunky food and/or live, not only because they couldn't compete for food in an aggressive eating tank, they will rarely(more like never) eat anything that s not moving in the water column.

 

[North Borders]

Ashamed, anyone can make an outrageously beautiful tank for a moment, everything in that tank was inappropriate for long term.



My momabas died in qt, had a seizure probably due to previous copper poisoning. Very similar to an antennata, similar marking and size. I've had an antennata in my lion's reef for several years now. Similar difficulty in feeding just like the dwarfs, usually come in eating live only and can be difficult to sometimes impossible to eat dead food. Needs to be target fed chunky food and/or live, not only because they couldn't compete for food in an aggressive eating tank, they will rarely(more like never) eat anything that s not moving in the water column.

I don't know very much about predator tanks. I just remembered seeing that a year or so ago and thought it was neat. Was just passing along info I thought might be helpful to the OP.

 

[lion king]

I don't know very much about predator tanks. I just remembered seeing that a year or so ago and thought it was neat. Was just passing along info I thought might be helpful to the OP.

I'm sorry that wasn't a snip at you, I remember that tank and it just bothered me.

 

[CanadianReefer]

Ashamed, anyone can make an outrageously beautiful tank for a moment, everything in that tank was inappropriate for long term.



My momabas died in qt, had a seizure probably due to previous copper poisoning. Very similar to an antennata, similar marking and size. I've had an antennata in my lion's reef for several years now. Similar difficulty in feeding just like the dwarfs, usually come in eating live only and can be difficult to sometimes impossible to eat dead food. Needs to be target fed chunky food and/or live, not only because they couldn't compete for food in an aggressive eating tank, they will rarely(more like never) eat anything that s not moving in the water column.

We don't have a lot to choose from in terms of live food here. How suitable would FW ghost shrimp be if they were gut loaded with vitamins and nutritious SW food?

 

[CanadianReefer]

Ashamed, anyone can make an outrageously beautiful tank for a moment, everything in that tank was inappropriate for long term.



My momabas died in qt, had a seizure probably due to previous copper poisoning. Very similar to an antennata, similar marking and size. I've had an antennata in my lion's reef for several years now. Similar difficulty in feeding just like the dwarfs, usually come in eating live only and can be difficult to sometimes impossible to eat dead food. Needs to be target fed chunky food and/or live, not only because they couldn't compete for food in an aggressive eating tank, they will rarely(more like never) eat anything that s not moving in the water column.

I need you to educate me on lionfish I haven't researched them yet and I always find that people's firsthand experience is much better than anything we an read

 

[lion king]

We don't have a lot to choose from in terms of live food here. How suitable would FW ghost shrimp be if they were gut loaded with vitamins and nutritious SW food?

I feed my predators gut loaded ghost shrimp and mollies. People don't know that ghosties are a variety of shrimp that live in fw, brackish . and salt; they are just better transported and more economical to keep in fw. My predators have been living healthily, vibrant, and seemingly happy for several years with their main diet consisting of the live foods mentioned. My fu manchu will turn 7 at the beginning of the year. I do supplement other foods, occasionally soaked in selcon and vits. My atennata will eat krill(the tiny shrimp from the asian market not lfs) and silver fish also from the asian market. He's picky and it does have to look alive, he won't take chunks of dead flesh. The difficulty is about getting him the food when there are faster competitors. Not all, and I dare say most, won't be easily trained to take dead food from a stick; but a volitan lion is easily trained to take from a stick. This training would have to take place before the challenges of competing fish in a dt. Check out the lionfish lovers thread in the predator section to see all my lions.

 

[CanadianReefer]

I feed my predators gut loaded ghost shrimp and mollies. People don't know that ghosties are a variety of shrimp that live in fw, brackish . and salt; they are just better transported and more economical to keep in fw. My predators have been living healthily, vibrant, and seemingly happy for several years with their main diet consisting of the live foods mentioned. My fu manchu will turn 7 at the beginning of the year. I do supplement other foods, occasionally soaked in selcon and vits. My atennata will eat krill(the tiny shrimp from the asian market not lfs) and silver fish also from the asian market. He's picky and it does have to look alive, he won't take chunks of dead flesh. The difficulty is about getting him the food when there are faster competitors. Not all, and I dare say most, won't be easily trained to take dead food from a stick; but a volitan lion is easily trained to take from a stick. This training would have to take place before the challenges of competing fish in a dt. Check out the lionfish lovers thread in the predator section to see all my lions.

Do you breed ghost shrimp? If so, is it fairly simple? If not, how often do you feed each week and how many shrimp per fish?

 

[lion king]

Do you breed ghost shrimp? If so, is it fairly simple? If not, how often do you feed each week and how many shrimp per fish?

Breeding ghosties is likely not something you want to do. I feed my lions and eels 2 to 3 times a week. I feed my lions until I see a nice bulge in their belly, how many ghosties would depend on the size, on average about 5-6 maybe even 7. My antennata is about 7" and my zebra is about 6"; my fu is about 5" and eats mostly mollies now, I think she's getting cataracts and has a hard time seeing the ghosties and will not eat dead at all anymore. I stick feed my volitan shrimp, krill, and silversides mostly, he's picky too, will eat some scallop, octopus, and squid sometimes.

My black ribbon eel has been turning blue for about 6 months now, I've had him for about 1.5 years. You mentioned a blue ribbon eel, you'll find some of post on him as well. They are very tricky to feed. He eats squid, octopus, silversides; I slice them into pieces about as wide as the width of his mouth and a couple/three inches long. I settled him in with live ghosties and mollies. Lately he's been hunting down live mollies, and he hunts stray ghosties after lights out.

I lost my angler and fuzzy not long ago, at one time I was spending about $100 a month on live food. Keeping true predator tanks can be expensive and alot of work, but of so amazing. Watching their behavior when their hunting, stalking nature is still there is just remarkable to watch.

 

[CanadianReefer]

I just missed the tank size. I agree a 180 minimum for the fish @lionking mentions, and probably a 240 minimum for the Sohal tang.

If you can move them to a larger tank that’s alright but I think you’ll have aggression/stress issues in the 135, personally.

I do think a puffer could be alright in that tank until it grows to about 7 inches, they don't swim much relative to the others.

In terms of puffers - I'm curious about the need for a 180 vs a 135. They are both 6ft tanks. My 300g is a 6ft tank, for that matter. The 180g would have more water volume, but a lot of where they add the volume (with height) is space that many fish don't utilize. Water volume can be added with a large sump. I've always thought of it from a tank length perspective, since most fish (like tangs, for instance) need longer laneways to zip back and forth..... If the tank was minimally/smartly stocked with animals that don't compete with each other for space, I'm wondering what the main difference would be between the 180 and 135? Don't worry, I'm not arguing the fact that larger water volumes are needed for larger animals... this is just me thinking out loud ...

For instance, if I had a spiny box puffer, a niger trigger, a foxface, 2 eels and maybe a lion fish... the eels wouldn't compete for space, the puffer and lionfish are pretty stationary, and the foxface and trigger have 6 ft laneways and only the foxface looks for algae on the rocks so they don't compete for food.... I could counterbalance the high bioload (since puffers are messy eaters) between a large sump and a biodenitrator, and house only soft corals that prefer a slightly dirtier environment.

Would it still be too much?

On the flip side, if I were to keep several of the tangs in the 300g, take out all the small fish and inverts, and then put a couple of cool predators that I otherwise couldn't have in the 135 (a clown trigger, for instance) it does open up more possibilities in terms of fish.

The planning part is always so much fun. I love researching new things I've never considered any of these animals previously, so I'm learning

 

[CanadianReefer]

Breeding ghosties is likely not something you want to do. I feed my lions and eels 2 to 3 times a week. I feed my lions until I see a nice bulge in their belly, how many ghosties would depend on the size, on average about 5-6 maybe even 7. My antennata is about 7" and my zebra is about 6"; my fu is about 5" and eats mostly mollies now, I think she's getting cataracts and has a hard time seeing the ghosties and will not eat dead at all anymore. I stick feed my volitan shrimp, krill, and silversides mostly, he's picky too, will eat some scallop, octopus, and squid sometimes.

My black ribbon eel has been turning blue for about 6 months now, I've had him for about 1.5 years. You mentioned a blue ribbon eel, you'll find some of post on him as well. They are very tricky to feed. He eats squid, octopus, silversides; I slice them into pieces about as wide as the width of his mouth and a couple/three inches long. I settled him in with live ghosties and mollies. Lately he's been hunting down live mollies, and he hunts stray ghosties after lights out.

I lost my angler and fuzzy not long ago, at one time I was spending about $100 a month on live food. Keeping true predator tanks can be expensive and alot of work, but of so amazing. Watching their behavior when their hunting, stalking nature is still there is just remarkable to watch.

Have you had any experience with the Miles Lionfish? In terms of ease of care, is it similar to the Volitan??

 

[lion king]

Have you had any experience with the Miles Lionfish? In terms of ease of care, is it similar to the Volitan??

For the most part, the miles is a variety of volitan lion, depending on where you shop you may find the volitan, miles, and russells interchangeable. Experienced will find slight differences in markings, tentacle and spike length, body width, and so on; the miles is suppose to be a bit smaller, but in captivity the differences are slight. Their temperament and care would be the same. Coloring may be different as well, but so is the coloring within the true volitan. Check out the coloring on my volitan, he is huge almost a solid foot, they do rarely get this large in captivity, but I spoil the heck out os my pets.

Talking about the difference between a 135 and a 180, think in terms of square footage. Fish like a porcy does not like to be crowded, that's why I have always found them to be notorious nippers.

 

[4FordFamily]

In terms of puffers - I'm curious about the need for a 180 vs a 135. They are both 6ft tanks. My 300g is a 6ft tank, for that matter. The 180g would have more water volume, but a lot of where they add the volume (with height) is space that many fish don't utilize. Water volume can be added with a large sump. I've always thought of it from a tank length perspective, since most fish (like tangs, for instance) need longer laneways to zip back and forth..... If the tank was minimally/smartly stocked with animals that don't compete with each other for space, I'm wondering what the main difference would be between the 180 and 135? Don't worry, I'm not arguing the fact that larger water volumes are needed for larger animals... this is just me thinking out loud ...

For instance, if I had a spiny box puffer, a niger trigger, a foxface, 2 eels and maybe a lion fish... the eels wouldn't compete for space, the puffer and lionfish are pretty stationary, and the foxface and trigger have 6 ft laneways and only the foxface looks for algae on the rocks so they don't compete for food.... I could counterbalance the high bioload (since puffers are messy eaters) between a large sump and a biodenitrator, and house only soft corals that prefer a slightly dirtier environment.

Would it still be too much?

On the flip side, if I were to keep several of the tangs in the 300g, take out all the small fish and inverts, and then put a couple of cool predators that I otherwise couldn't have in the 135 (a clown trigger, for instance) it does open up more possibilities in terms of fish.

The planning part is always so much fun. I love researching new things I've never considered any of these animals previously, so I'm learning

Puffers are less concerned about back and forth swimming, or swimming in general. The other factor is they’re quite dirty. Puffers do tend to swim up and down the front of the tank, IME.

It’s always a judgment call, however

 

[madweazl]

The Garibaldi needs cooler water than we typically keep our tanks.

 

[lion king]

The Garibaldi needs cooler water than we typically keep our tanks.

Good catch, something that I overlooked.