How Would You Stock A 120 Gallon

anyone have an opinion on this setup?

 

From what I've read nigers are one of the more peaceful triggers, clowns and humu's are both high up on the agro scale.

For a 120, when fully grown, you'll have room for the sailfin, coral beauty, goby, and that's about it from your list. Emperor angels, and puffers will EVENTUALLY out grow a 120g tank. It could take a few years... but they will.

The trigger... depends on the species, but they all get large, 18+ inches in the wild. i have seen humu's 2' long in Hawaii.

It really depends on how you aquascape the tank too... Less LR and lots of open tank for swimming room and you'd probably be ok. Lots of live rock and caves tho... and the larger fish will feel cramped.

If you start with small specimens and don't over feed them you could probably get away with that stocking list, but you're going to have a huge bioload to filter out, so I'd consider a 60-80g sump with a large refugium, one or two large skimmers, regular 15% water changes (2x a month), etc...


Do you already have the tank? if not, and you're determined to keep these fish together, then maybe consider a 240-300g tank. In the long un it would be better suited for large fish.

Or you can decide which of the 3 top fish you really want most and skip the other two.

Or get them, but know that you'll likely have to upgrade to a larger tank in a couple years, or pass the fish on to a larger tank, but that can be difficult. Despite the recent thread most public aquariums won't or can't take fish from the public, and LFS's may or may not depending on if they know someone looking for bigger fish.


As for fin nipping and smaller fish - puffers and triggers are notorious nippers. They will nip live rock, fins, filtration components, heaters... if they can put their mouth on it it will get nipped.

Also, smaller fish probably won't be safe around a large puffer or trigger either. I wouldn't worry too much about the watchman goby as long as it's got a place to hide... but you probably won't see it often, and if too stressed it will probably die from starvation. Any fish that can fit in the mouth of the puffer will probably become reef snacks.

 

what would be better as far as a lesser bioload between a puffer and a trigger? If i took off one of the larger fish between the trigger,puffer and angel could i pick two of them?
I plan on not having too much rock work because i really dont have the money for it. I have some rock that looks just like live rock but isnt live and then i will buy a few pieces of live rock for show pieces.
So i know that i will at least have a sailfin tang and a trigger because i like both of them the most. Do you have suggestions on what fish would work around those two? Thanks

 

As far as size goes, you should use the adult size to determine if it's a large fish, medium or small fish. I don't know if there's really a difference in bioload between a puffer and trigger, it really depends on the size of the fish.

Your last comment also brought up another concern. Because the types of fish you want to keep produce a lot of waste, you will need large bacteria colonies on your rock to support the tank. If you don't have enough surface area for these bacteria, they will take to the water column and you will see hazy water, which is all the bacteria free floating. I've seen this happen when you don't have enough surface area for the bacteria to colonize. I don't know how much rock you were thinking about getting, but you will probably need a decent amount. I can't give you a specific number, but 1 or 2 pieces will not cut it.

 

well i have a wet dry so the bioballs will work right just as long as a rinse some of them every once in a while? but i was thinking about getting a sump so i dont know yet. which would be a better choice live rock or live sand as far as where to spend my money? If i was gonna probably buy 40-50 lbs of live rock so there isnt to much space being taken up. does that sound ok?
I basically want a niger and a humu trigger and want to base the other fish off of these 2, although tee would be a sliht concern with fin niping for whaever else could work in there..any ideas?

 

for nigers and humus it says that the humu gets 10 inches and the niger gets a foot so would they be better than having the angel and puffer with one trigger? If so would the 2 triggers be a problem? What else could go with the triggers that could be able to hold their own? Im a little skeptical of an eel because my friend said that one day his snowflake eel had half on one of his triggers in its mouth and he had to pull out the trigger.

 

what do you guys and girls suggest as far as basically an aggressive fowlr or a semi aggressive fowlr? I basically want a trigger or two so it would be great if anyone could include triggers with a list of other fish that would work, thanks

 

so i think i will be going with two triggers (anyone got suggestions for the 2?). What else could i put with them. I was thinking a wrasse but dont know which to get. Would i be unable to keep any smaller fish if i put these in? Smaller fish as in like 5 inches or so fully grown. Just need some ideas...thanks

 

bump

 

You order that baby whale yet?