fish compatibility question

I hate to burst your bubble, but you said two key words right there. "Hoping" and "opinion..." Just because you *want* something to work, doesn't mean that it will just because you find one person that did OK with it once. Sort of like putting a sealion in a large (think Shamu) tank with a great white. They might swim around a while while the shark settles in, but then, all of a sudden, BAM.... Lunch time.

You have a mix of aggressive and more peaceful fish there. The tang, eel, and triggers might do fine, but the flame, copperband, and clown wouldn't fair well with that mix. I know that the maroon clowns are pretty much the most aggressive clowns out there, but once something one of the triggers matures, bye bye clown. The copperband would probably get chased to death (literally), and things won't go much better for the flame angel. The tang, being a natural swimmer, will be a little better off as long as it stays bigger than the trigger.

Basically, if you get a trigger fish, you can pretty much count on the other fish needing to get relocated at some point. Heck, even two triggers can go at it...

Check out this link and some of the early posts from people with lots of experience with triggers:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2260113

Don't take my word for it, post your tank size, what you currently have, and what (specifically) you want to add to the following thread. You will get an actual compatibility expert to answer you, but I fear that you will get the same information that I just gave you.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2068112

 

Your tank is too small to house all of those fish, particularly a lion fish, they get large pretty quickly, and it's a poor idea to have one in such small quarters. You're going to get hurt.

That morray will probably get too big for the tank, and in time you will begin to realize that you just feel sorry for the eel in such confined space.

Now that said, a tang would be a good addition, although a powder brown is one of the more difficult tangs to condition and keep. A melenurus wrasse should be no problem. You might even consider a trigger from the xanthichthys genus. Any other trigger genus will destroy your corals if you intend on keeping them. However, that eel will probably destroy corals in there anyways. The starfish is probably a bad idea, a trigger would eat it, and it would stalk and end up eating your clown.

An ENORMOUS majority of copperband butterflies die. Like 90% within the first year. Don't buy one. It's irresponsible.

 

copperbands are notoriously finicky eaters (food should be offered in a very wide variety and patiently) these fish do best if they are 'trained' to eat while in your QT versus just letting them lose in a reef 'hoping' for the best... you can NOT sustain a butterfly hoping he's picking enough pods off your rocks... (you should also consider having live food available for them if your serious about keeping them)

*Most: key word being most there, not "all", get a cb butterfly, if it doesn't do well right off the bat-you'll know and it's gone quick... but others can stay sustained for up to 4-6 months and then fade (probably mostly due to malnutrition).... and 90% die because they are harvested unscrupulously and continue to be supplied because the demand is there, from people who just order another when the first didn't work out! Now, that said there are others who get lucky right off the bat and they get one that does well... I can think of a small handful (like 2-3) of cb butterflies right now that I know of in tanks that are thriving and with little to know 'extra' effort was put into them as a new addition, but in general this is not the norm for this fish.

I would strongly encourage you to really dive in and do your research when it comes to the fish your tank will house (from littlest to biggest!) you are after all trying to form an ecosystem... that functions as a mimic to their natural environment.

 

Something that might help saltclg, and for my own curiosity: What are peoples' favorite websites to browse and do research for livestock? I've only used Live Aquaria, but maybe there are better resources with more information, larger variety, or easier user interface for narrowing down your selection.

 

I've killed 3 CBB's. Two of them even ate pretty well, one was the size of my hand. The first died almost immediately. The second ate, but only mysis shrimp which is nutritionally deficient for long term health. The third did really well for a while, ate all sorts of things, but then suddenly something shifted in the power structure between him and the tangs in the tank and he suddenly stopped eating, and became increasingly withdrawn. Then he died and I FINALLY learned my lesson.


This was after years of keeping difficult species like purple queen anthias, bartlett anthias, blue spot stingrays, and weening large wild caught angels onto prepared foods.


So, if you were an observer in my house over the course of the past few years you would say, "oh yah, that guy Andy has a copperband doing fine."


I sincerely hope this adds some perspective. We all want to see others succeed, and I'm not trying to berait you, or your questions. I'm simply hoping you'll learn from the mistakes I and others in our community have made.


Check out wetweb media: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/snowflakemoray.htm


http://www.wetwebmedia.com/lions&rels.htm

 

Yeah butterflies are difficult because all they've adapted to eat is pretty much sponges. A dwarf angel would be a good alternative, they are the most closely related to butterflies.

 

Multiple tangs can be done, but there will be aggression at first. When I added a powder brown the yellow chased him for a couple days, but then settled down. I would be a little apprehensive about putting 3 tangs in a 90 though. I think the key is making sure each has a comfortable place to sleep at night without being harassed. My fear would be that one would get too stressed and come down with ich, then would take the other two down with it.
I also failed with a copperband, I did not ensure it was eating prepared foods in the store, and after 6 weeks it died. It was eating all sorts of critters growing in my tank, but that was not enough to sustain it. Another thing to consider with the copperband is that they have a similar appearance to tangs and may elicit the same level as aggression. My powder brown Hated the copperband, but the yellow got along with it fine.

Wet web media is my favorite site for information.

 

I wanted to mention, if you're allergic to bees stay away from the lion fish. Not to mention the sting is excruciating.
Snowflake eels are surprisingly well behaved for piscivores/carnivores I've even seen them living with chromis. But I'd imagine that to be rare. None of the fish on your list are exceptionally small. I would proceed with caution on that many tangs but it can be done
- now Free