Allowing fish to grow out

Yea I can only imagine catching the little guys in the tank the way it is setup!

I only ask so many questions because I am new to SW. With FW I bred cichlids and had a lot of luck doing thing that people told me would never work because of aggression issues. I had a large colony of cyps that people said need at least a 4 foot if not a 6 foot tank and I had them in a 26gallon for 4 years and still have many left. The argument of what is best for the fish and what is doable is a hard one since the fish can not verbalize their needs to us.
I will say I trust you guys way more than a lfs who will sell you almost anything to make a buck, was told I could keep a dwarf angel and a tang in a 20gallon for years!!

 

This is very good advice

+1

 

Two angels in 46 gallons is just drama waiting to happen. Even if they seem to be pairing up, as they age, they most likely will try to kill one another. Dwarf angels are quite aggressive and territorial. 46 gallons is pretty small for just one dwarf (though okay), so two is definitely too much for a tank that size.

Just buy fish that will be okay for their entire lifetime in your system

 

Sounds like a great excuse for a larger tank!! Win - Win situation if you ask me!!

 

220 gallon fish tank

$650 and your problem of choosing fish is solved....and its not too far from u..lol

 

agreed with kevin, It will be a much easier conversation explaining the purchase of a bigger tank, than having to tell your wife most of the fish she wants, she cant have.

BTW 650 for that is a steal, that should help any convincing.

 

check the classifieds in your area, i bet you could get a tank over 100 gallons for 60 bucks. i see tanks on craigslist all the time! fantastic 200 gallon acrylic setups for 150-300 dollars!

 

Well 3 pages of people saying don't do it, but it looks like your going to do it anyway.
my 2 cents
People always say they will buy a small tang and sell it when it gets too big for the tank. Well since the majority of people have between 15G to 75G the odds of there being demand for large
fish is quite low. don't count on being able to sell or give a fish away to a suitable home.

 

this is great advice, also you hear alot of times people saying they will upgrade tanks the day their fish get too large which is also only another excuse people give themselves to buy fish too large for their tank. its best to just do all the fish a favor and stick with the countless beautiful fish you actually can house comfortably.

 

Ok ill be the odd man out here.now please listen close. Im the exception not the rule.I like heavily stocked tanks.probably way overstocked by most people on here would like to see.how ever I jusdge my fishes happiness with the fact that I have several pairs breeding regularly and pristine water.I feed my fish a huge amount of food and have fairly high flow.tons of rock and a way oversized skimmer,aswell as ozone(new adition) and bio pellets.I do have a bigish tank(210 with 120 sump/fuge) but my bioload is well over what is considered safe for happy fish.there are many other factors at play here and many have failed where I am succeeding(for the time being).it may be a ticking time bomb with a slow fuse but as of now no hostilities and many happy fish and inverts.just a nippy filefish I will be catching this week.