Fish I Like

None of the triggers or butterfly fish are reef safe. You may get by with the Niger trigger but the odds really are not in your favor.
The Mandarin Goby is one of my favorite fish in a reef tank but. I could never keep one in my 90. Fact is unless you have a refegium and a very ample supply of pods they just wont live. You can try to teach it to eat frozen but even then you have to make sure the food gets to the fish which is not always as easy as it sounds.
As far as getting fish small that will outgrow your tank with intentions of getting a bigger one in the future, I never feel this is a good thing to do. Things happen and you may never get a bigger tank as it is the blue tang you have will be about 1/3 the length of your tank fully grown.
In my opinion the smarter choice is to get fish that when fully grown will be comfortable in your current tank and then if/when you upgrade go for the larger fish. Otherwise you are putting the cart before the horse.

 

I would say the mandarin is possible to do as long as you don't have other fish competing for the same kind of food... You will also need a lot of rock to sustain the pod population.
Mine has been in my 75 for about a year. i don't think he has ever accepted prepared food. I add 1 or 2 bottles of live pods every month, just something to think about. It is possible, but iv spent about $400
feeding this fish alone over the last year.

food for thought (pun intended lol)

Patrick

 

You could add some other varieties of the firefish/dartfish. They get along really well and take up little room.

 

I'd love to see a 16" blue hippo! Maybe when we go to the aquarium at the Omaha zoo, I hear the new updates are awesome!

 

Your going more towards a predator tank with all those triggers than a reef tank. If you plan on getting a mandarin, as stated above, your going to need A LOT more rock than you have to provide enough food, and continue adding pods over time. Usually a good rule of thumb is to wait a year after you've set up your tank to put a mandarin in, to make sure there's plenty of food for him. Also, if you did a lot of rock to supply the mandarin food, your not gonna be able to put that much fish in there, at least that big of fish. I have a lot of rock work, and 3 tangs, and they're only medium sized and my 75 is too small for them now. I'm upgrading to a 180. This fish list is defenetly not feasible in my opinion. Decide if you want to go more reef tank or predator tank. With what you have now, I'd only add 1 or 2 more tangs, but then you'll have to upgrade in the near future, or a lot of smaller fish. Wrasses, chromis, firefish, anthias, etc.

 

If you are looking for a good active reef fish, might I suggest various wrasse. Multitudes of colors and species, and will help control pests.

 

Its not the fish you need to worry about when it comes to triggers, well not completely. They will %100 eat your clean up crew, and your coral. The butterfly fish will also eat your coral. So you need to decide if you want a fish only tank or a reef tank.

 

the wrasse and the bristle tooth tang.
Niger Triggers are considered the more reef safe of triggers, but keep in mind all fish are different and not all will follow the same behavior as your friends.
[table]

Minimum Tank Size:


180 gallonsCare Level:


EasyTemperament:


AggressiveReef Compatible:


No

[/table] from Live aqauria

 

Best of luck and keep us updated.

 

You didn't mention you had a coral beauty in your current tank list......sometimes dwarf angels of different species do not get a long or the more aggressive one will harass the more docile. You CAN say no to a fish, make sure you have the best environment for what you're getting before you get it. It may be fine for now or as long as you have it or maybe not, but its a lot easier to not get a fish than to try and get a problem fish out of a fully arranged coral reef and then find a home for it in short order. Hope it works out for you.....

 

I can understand that feeling. You just want to be sure that while you are experimenting to do research on your choices so the choices you make are educated ones. There ave been many times that I wished I had a fish only tank so I could house fish like your trigger and puffers. I will just have to set up another tank for that to happen.