Next Fish (Tang, Trigger, Other?)

[ryangorney]

Hi all, looking for a suggestion on which fish to add to my aquarium. I currently have a 90 gallon which has been up and running for about 3.5 months. All levels are great and have had the following living in it for about two months:
1 - Lion
1 - Cardinal
3 - Damsels (these fish were to get the tank started)
2 - Emerald Crabs
1 - Long-Spined Sea Urchin

I was naive and has a cowfish and powder brown tang before I knew what I was doing. They both died (I was lucky that the cow didn't take out all my fish when he died). Didn't know they were difficult fish to maintain. The cowfish died of natural causes (I think we has returned to the local fish store and was already old when I got him - gray skin with blue spots, not the typical yellow). The PBT got ICH which I cured but then scratched up his eye on a rock which they started Popeye, he stopped eating and died.

Anyway, I was thinking of another tang (Blue Hippo) and perhaps a trigger (Picasso) but need suggestions on compatibility. My real goal is something colorful and on the easy scale to maintain but also impressive to look at. I am open to any fish type really.

Suggestions? Thank you.

 

[dustin_P74]

either of those fish would be fine

 

[daugherty]

if you get a trigger you will prob say goodby to the urchin they love to eat them.

 

[ryangorney]

Will it even eat the long-spined (thought the spines might protect it).

 

[daugherty]

no they will eat them. urchins as far as i know are on of there fav. they get them flipped over and then go to town. i have see this happen at one of our ols lfs's

 

[Keaton]

I think they pull their spines right out. It's kinda crazy.

 

[dustin_P74]

however they do it, it must be fun to watch

 

[Bifferwine]

A blue hippo tang will be just as hard to keep as your other tang was. They are especially susceptible to disease and stress.

How about a pink tailed trigger? I have one of those. They are AWESOME!!

 

[dannyboy]

The pink-tail are sweet, I have a Picasso, he is really cool, lots of color, and my blue throats are really cool, even the females are awesome looking fish and have great personalities. Very easy to take care of also.

 

[Keaton]

Ya the tangs aren't on the "easy to care for" list. Have you thought about some kind of dwarf angel?

 

[ryangorney]

Hi all, thank you for the suggestions. We ended up getting a pearlscale butterfly and an arrow crab. They have both adjusted nicely to the aquarium and are really fun to watch. Would a pink tailed trigger be okay as a next fish. Would he eat the long-spined?

 

[dustin_P74]

it could eat the urchin, as for the butterfly good luck, not a fish suited for an aggressive tank

 

[Bifferwine]

It's unlikely that the pink tail trigger would eat the urchin. I think they'd be fine together.

 

[ryangorney]

The butterfly died, I saw him get poked by the lion and he died the next morning. You guys were right. What about a foxface? What else?

 

[Bifferwine]

A foxface should do well with the other animals you have.

 

[Teixeira29]

Yeah Tangs are hard to keep they need alot of room to swim and they usually get lateral line disease which eats away at their face. I would not suggest that. As for Picassos they are meat eaters and you really have to keep them fed. Gobys are pretty cool they dont need alot of room to swim most of them need at least 30g to swim!! Good luck

 

[dustin_P74]

Yeah Tangs are hard to keep they need alot of room to swim and they usually get lateral line disease which eats away at their face.

thats not true, tangs are easy to keep if you meet there requirements. not all tangs get HLLE, they are suseptable to it but it doesnt mean that they will get it

 

[jhnrb]

I would introduce either a pair of cleaner wrasse, or gobies. the gobies are very small so maybe the cleaner wrasse. Always try to introduce only animals that will contribute to the community at this point and introduce the most aggressive lastly. Im afraid though the lion if a volitan will eat most any fish it can get in its mouth. good luck keep us posted. the cleaners should be ok though and will help with ick and parasites. it seems though your biological bacteria capability may not be able to support the rapid increase in bio load you propose. try to take it slow otherwise the new tank syndrome might bite. good luck.

 

[ryangorney]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. All the fish are doing well together and I am looking for another (as my lion eats my starter damsels - which I expected as they were only there to helped get the tank started). Here is the current load:
1 Lion
1 Foxface
1 Cardinal
1 Long Spine Sea Urchin
1 Emerald Crab
1 Arrow Crab
2 Striped Damsels
90 Gallon Sand Base with Live Rock

I am getting a bit more brown algae than I would like so I was thinking of some turbo snails - heard they help with this. Any thoughts? Any fish that would help?

The last post mentioned a cleaner wrasse. Would the lion eat those? He is about five inches long and can eat damsels.

At some point I would really like an eel. What are the easiest eels to keep?

In terms of a next fish, I really like the hippo tangs or an angel. Would I have issues with either of those and the fish that I already have? Any suggestions?

 

[dustin_P74]

if your lion is eating the damsels that cardinal is a goner too. also that arrow crab could eat the cardinal or the damsels if he can catch them. turbos will eat anything. as for eels, they are escape artists so your tank would need to be locked down tighter then fort knox, that means egg crate and window screen over the overflows, egg crate with window screen over the top of the tank and weighted down so it cant push it up. as for the hippo i wouldnt put it in a predator tank because they are so susceptible to ich, and for the angel, dwarfs might get eaten by the lion because if it can fit in the lions mouth itll end up in there at some point or another. and large angels can get big and might need to be pulled out of the 90 at some point but i dont see how a large angel is gotten big enough to get hurt by the lion would be a bad addition.