sps and fish

i was wondering if a fish is not reef safe can i have sps corals since they are hard?

 

SPS still have soft polyps that extend. So if a fish is not reef safe that goes for SPS too.

 

Not nessisarily, there are alot of fish that feed on SPS polyps.

 

Some fish like a clown goby will eat the small polyps of SPS and not harm anything else....

 

in my dt at the moment i have a lionfish and niger trigger and they arent harming anything at the moment. both fish are around 3-4in.

 

The problem is the definition of "reef safe". Some places call something not reef safe if it eats inverts. To some not reef safe means it will eat or harm coral. Some it means all of the above, and to some if means reef safe is the fish wont harm a single nothing, crab, coral, snail, anything.

Some fish with teeth for example will eat polypls, or graze at the coral to keep its teeth trimmed.

Some of the sitting style fish will sit on the coral and cause some harm or discomfort to the corals.

It ultimately comes down to the individual to research the livestock and see what its eating,social, and even nesting type habits are.

 

Is it your intent to house sps and those fish in the display?

 

no i plan on upgrading soon and got a great deal on them. i just figure sps hard i could have them in a sps reef tank. im wanting to go towards the more aggressive fish. when i do upgrade ill have a urchin and 3 to 4 fish going to the bigger tank.

 

I once made that mistake... my humu picasso trigger would take a big bite out of a SPS coral (skeleton and all) then spew a mouthful of 'sand'. They have very formidable jaws and beaks when they get a bit larger.

 

wow