Suggest some fish for me

kangadrew · Sep 23, 2016

I am designing a lagoon project with a few teachers at the school, and we are wanting to breed one species that is rarely successfully kept in captivity - let alone bred. In fact, these have never been bred in public or private aquaria to my knowledge.

Anyways, the theory is that if they are kept in a lightly-stocked tank, with biotope specific fish/inverts, a natural filtration system, and natural lighting, they will not only thrive but breed. I'll not say what the fish is - but feel free to guess, I'll reveal it if someone gets it right

Anyways, the tank is designed around these two fish. So anything else in the tank has to fit under the criteria:

No fin-nipping (especially important with these fish, hint hint)
ABSOLUTELY cannot harm the eggs of my "star pair"
Must be biotope-specific (this fish's range includes most of the Indo-Pacific, including east Africa, all of the Indian ocean, Hawaii, Japan, and most of the South Pacific islands)
Must be reef safe - clearly (the star coral will be a massive colony of pink birdsnest, I think)
Must not decimate the plants in the system (which will include macroalgae, seagrasses, and mangroves)
Must not add too much bioload to the tank - I want to run without any kind of skimmer or anything, just trimming the plants and the occasional water change

That's all I have for now. If someone guesses the fish, I will let you know. Please give me some suggestions though. I have been thinking of mandarins, that's my main thing I would like. I will post more on the system's design later

Humblefish · Sep 24, 2016

I would just focus on keeping the pair you're trying to breed. Even my female mandarin once tried to eat some clownfish eggs.

Thankfully, big mama clown just pushed her away and didn't attack.

kangadrew · Sep 24, 2016

Humblefish said:
I would just focus on keeping the pair you're trying to breed. Even my female mandarin once tried to eat some clownfish eggs. Thankfully, big mama clown just pushed her away and didn't attack.

Hmm, the lagoon is probably going to be approximately 950 gallons, 8 feet in diameter and 30" high although that might change. I feel like that much floor space (before rocks are added that's about 50 square feet. A pair of 8" fish wouldn't be the most interesting thing, lol (although if I get them breeding, they will likely be impressive to anyone who knows a bit about the species)

I'd like to use this tank to try and breed other species as well, I wasn't thinking about any other large species but mandarins are on my "breeders wish list"