Fish selection.

[Snider82]

i am nearing the time when i can add a CUC to my tank.  a week or so.   and i have to decide what kind of fish i want, so that i can pick out a CUC.  im having a hard time picking! i have a a 45 gallon tank and am happy with as little as 2 fish up to 4. i would like something that will grow as large as a 45 gallon can hold.
i know eventualy i will be upgrading lights and what not so i can keep nice coral/reef.  i was interested in trigger fish, or agressive fish.. but they may not go with coral/reef.   so now im stuck.   

any suggestions?

[Vincenzo.]

flasher wrasse.

[Snider82]

thanks Vince, ill look it up

[mikerobart]

Blue throat and pink tail triggers are reef safe, some people claim niger triggers are but I wouldn't count on it. Probably not a good choice in a 45g though...

Flasher wrasses are cool fish...  lot's of very nice fish from the wrasse family. Goby/ shrimp combo's are fascinating to watch. A mated pair of clowns that will host in a coral is very nice... really a huge number of options here, I suggest finding a good book on reef aquariums and looking at fish and their requirements.

[Vincenzo.]

the people on this community forum are enough 'book' anyone needs

[Severum]

Agressive fish are not really 45 gallon friendly. Triggers would certainly outgrown your tank rather quickly.

Not on the aggressive side but how about a flame or potters angel. They are quite stunning.

[Slyman]

Flame angels and Coral beauties are temperamental if you want coral it's 50/50.  I've seen good angels and bad angels lol

Wrasse make for nice fish in a tank, you also have the basselets you can put in or cardinalfish or firefish, dartfish which are gobies are real nice.

But you have a wide variety of colored fish

[Hookup]

There are some completely reef-safe fish that are listed above, but there are some other fish that are reef-safe, if you have a specific type of corals... A softy & LPS reef (no SPS) could hold some dwarf angle fish rather safely as an example...

one thing I would suggest is to pick fish that are easy to keep.  Angel fish and butterfly fish are harder to keep alive.  They required higher quality water and regular feeding (i.e. do not feed one day, then forget for a day or two, then feed some more etc..)...

I would suggest sticking with basslets, gobies, blennies, wrasses and jawfish from the start.

Personally; (photos below)
* Peppermint/Swissguard Basslet (same fish, two names - kind of expensive, kind of rare)
* Planbar/Aurora Goby & Pistol Shrimp (semi-rare, not overly expensive)
* Star Blenny (all black w/ loads of white/blue spots - very rare btw, not expenisve)
* Four/twelve line wrasse (same fish, two names - very common, not expensive)
Or, if you're willing to suffer some losses till a healthy one comes in... a Leopard Wrasse is awesome!  Just they do not always eat well and expect to loose a few before finding one that eats like a pig... Good they are not expensive.

Check out http://www.marinecenter.com/ for ideas and http://www.liveaquaria.com/

[Snider82]

thanks for all the help!  iv been doing some research, and i have  few choices i want to run by the pros  

-LeLeopard Wrasse - they look awsome!  thanks Hook up
-Chevron Tang - i read they are reef save, but may cost alot?
-Atlantic Blue Tang - reef save i belive

i have to see if they will go together, i might get 2 if 3 is too many.  still reading on them now. i also have to look up Mike's list he gave me.

[Hookup]

Two things..
1) you really do not have the space for any Tang.  Srry, just 45gallon is way to small... 4foot length is a good starting point...

2) Chevron tang's look out of this world as Juvi's... However, as an adult, they look similar to a common Scopas tang.....

Juvi Chevron:


Adult Chevron:




Scopas Tang:

[Snider82]

 i looked up the Chevron Tang at www.marinecenter.com. they said 20 gallons LOL.   so i read your post and checked another site,  they said 75gallon.   guess i should be checking multipule sites.  or just take the info here    thanks again Hookup

[RossW]

A couple good tang threads.

I think this one is tang police approved
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=739380

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acanthurTngs.htm