What Are Good Fish for a Frag Tank?

Shep · Mar 31, 2015

About to set up my first frag tank and was wondering what are some good fish to keep in it? It will be ~25g. Thanks!

maroun.c · Mar 31, 2015

Wrasses for pest control, kole tang or other small tang for alga control, filefish or copperband for Aptasia, the Copperband doubles up for pests as well.
What size is ur frag tank?

Shep · Mar 31, 2015

maroun.c said:
Wrasses for pest control, kole tang or other small tang for alga control, filefish or copperband for Aptasia, the Copperband doubles up for pests as well.
What size is ur frag tank?

Its only going to be about 25 gallons. Its 36x18x8, I feel like even a small tang would be much to big for the tank.

eatbreakfast · Mar 31, 2015

Pseudocheilinops ataenia, sixline, or 4 line wrasse for pest control.

Shep · Mar 31, 2015

So should I have a cave or some rock work so the fish can hid in it or is that not needed?

carl page · Mar 31, 2015

Copperband good for Aptasia? Cause peppermint shrimp ain't done anything....arrrrgg

HiddenUser · Mar 31, 2015

Tang, Blenny, and Copperband would be my assumption on best things to keep in frag tanks. Typically what I see in the frag tanks when I go to my LFS as well...

Pete polyp · Mar 31, 2015

Shep said:
So should I have a cave or some rock work so the fish can hid in it or is that not needed?

It's not absolutely necessary, but wouldn't hurt things. Having some live rock in there will also help with nutrient control. If don't want any rock in the tank some pvc pipe can provide a place for the fish to hide.

AdamNC · Mar 31, 2015

6 Line Wrasse and an algae Blenny of some sorts.

maroun.c · Mar 31, 2015

carl page said:
Copperband good for Aptasia? Cause peppermint shrimp ain't done anything....arrrrgg

If you're lucky and get one that will consume aptasia. Mine finished up a nasty tubeworms infestation then switched to aptasia when there was no tubeworms left . It also eats frozen since early days in Qtank.

maroun.c · Mar 31, 2015

Shep said:
Its only going to be about 25 gallons. Its 36x18x8, I feel like even a small tang would be much to big for the tank.

Agreed would skip the tang.

carl page · Mar 31, 2015

Wow...i may have to try .
..

maroun.c · Apr 1, 2015

Keep in mind that they can nip on clams!

Longnose Hawkfish · Apr 1, 2015

It's only a 25 gallon so I would go with a six line wrasse.

Humblefish · Apr 1, 2015

Just from a fish disease standpoint ... If you are going to use the frag tank to QT newly acquired corals/inverts before placing them in your DT, the frag tank should be fishless in order to starve out the encysted stage of ich, velvet. etc.

Pete polyp · Apr 1, 2015

Humblefish said:
Just from a fish disease standpoint ... If you are going to use the frag tank to QT newly acquired corals/inverts before placing them in your DT, the frag tank should be fishless in order to starve out the encysted stage of ich, velvet. etc.

A separate tank should be used for qt. The frag tank would be a good place to do observations on new fish and corals though.

Humblefish · Apr 2, 2015

Pete polyp said:
A separate tank should be used for qt. The frag tank would be a good place to do observations on new fish and corals though.

I disagree for fish, as corals and fish can inadvertently cross contaminate one another in a frag tank. A coral frag carrying ich cysts, for example, can infect an otherwise healthy fish once the free swimmers are released from the cysts. Conversely a fish with trophonts in the gills will have them drop off after 3-7 days and next encyst upon corals/inverts/rocks/substrate as tomonts. Tomonts on coral frags are impossible to see and unaffected by coral dips; Fish with ich in the gills may only exhibit behavioral symptoms, which oftentimes go unnoticed.

Shep · Apr 2, 2015

Humblefish said:
Just from a fish disease standpoint ... If you are going to use the frag tank to QT newly acquired corals/inverts before placing them in your DT, the frag tank should be fishless in order to starve out the encysted stage of ich, velvet. etc.

Its just going to be a frag tank, I am moving soon and its only going to be for 1-2 years so I would rather just do a frag tank then have to deal with breaking down and moving a whole tank.

mrjlopez731 · Apr 2, 2015

Algae eaters like tangs but with caution I would go with small size one's, sixline wrasses for small pest that may come out (bristle or flat worms) and copperband or peppermint shrimp for any little aptasia. Just a few ideas.