Fish ideas

After much research over the topic,

So far I've had the following thoughts show up multiple times

Niger Trigger
Bluejaw Trigger
Picasso Trigger

CAN USUALLY live with a Lionfish. I need more people to chime in please!

 

All of these fish are to large. I wouldn't put any of them in a <125 gallon tank.

 

Even if they are not fully matured/grown?

 

The fish are going to grow...what then? The puffer will get too large for a 75 as well.

And a picasso trigger (Rhinecanthus aculeatus) will NOT work with a lionfish...you want to stay with planktonic-feeding trigger species, which are generally too large, or are big swimmers and need more room.

As for lionfish, you could keep a medium-bodied lionfish (Pterois antennata, P. mombassae, P. radiata, or P. sphex) comfortably in a 75. You could also keep multiple dwarf species in a 75 as well: Dendrochirus brachypterus (fuzzy dwarf), D. zebra (zebra dwarf), D. barberi (green/Hawaiian lion), or D. biocellatus (fu manchu lion). A 75 is really too small for any of the large-bodied lionfish, altho you could probably keep P. russelii (Russel's lion) as a single fish in it. A M-F pair or M-F-F trio of fuzzies is also a nice idea.

Here's a good article on lionfish that should help:

LionfishLair.com - Lionfish Care Guide

In fact, you could do a whole lionfish/scorpionfish/stingfish type theme in the 75 and it would be a pretty cool setup...

We currently have a 48" 100 gal with five lionfish in residence (a M-F pair of fuzzies, fu manchu, P. radiata, P.sphex), a cockatoo waspfish, and a small species scorpionfish (Scorpaenodes caribbaeus), and it's a pretty cool setup. However, the medium-bodied lionfish will be moving to our 210 peninsula setup when we get it online.

 

Move them into my 150 gallon SW tank It would be years before they grew to size.

 

This probably some of the best advice your are going to get from someone that actually has the experience to back up his advice.

Moral of the story buy a tank of the appropriate size for the fish regardless of the fishes current size.

 

Absolutely!!

 

That's not exactly what Greg was saying. He was giving stocking suggestions for a 75g, not for a potential 150g. You would, however, have to plan on it sooner than a few years. Then you have to ask yourself if this will really occur, or if it's just wishful thinking. Would you be willing to give them away if that bigger tank doesn't occur?

We'd be the biggest hypocrites if we said our fish are in their adult living quarters. Our volitans started in a 6g cube. I'm not sure any of our fish started out in their adult tanks. Some fish, when bought small, are too difficult to keep in larger tanks. Too many places to hide, hard to reach and hard to train.

But a nice dwarf lion, scorp and Waspfish tank would be awesomeness! We recently had someone in for a renovation and he radioed his friend working in the area to come check out the 100g. I often have people on the sidewalk looking in when I feed them. We have window tint so I can't see out at night, but I opened the windowed and almost jumped out of my skin when I saw them standing there!

 

I understand what he was saying completely.

Is it realistic to think that people are not going to put a silver dollar sized tang in a nano, absolutely not.

But what is also realistic is that the vast majority of newer hobbyist either never upgrade, can not re-home the fish to larger systems (no one wants them) or they eventually get diseased and stressed from over crowding, aggression and decline in water quality.

There seems to be a long honeymoon phase in this hobby, after a few months to a year people just get bored with their tanks, or too busy or what ever reason. For these reasons I still like to encourage hobbyist to buy the appropriate sized tank for what types of fish they choose to keep.

I meant to provide support to his post regarding his/your experiences with these fish.

 

I know this is a point we disagree on, but I actually find it beneficial to keep smaller scorps in grow out tanks. I seriously would not be able to wean a small fish in a large tank. They often hide until they become more familiar with the environment, which would make a young lion impossible to "get to" in a 100g adult tank. If I would have difficulty, then absolutely someone one new to training would. Failing to wean is a common issue with these guys and it just so much harder in a roomy tank. Failing to wean can cause premature death, as one will rarely meet all their nutritional needs with live food. Keeping live food around can also be costly and inconvenient.

It's different with a tang or a clown or such fish, that generally doesn't need to be converted.