180 Gallon Compatibility Question

[kniesh]

Hi, I have put my slightly salty inhabitants from my 40gallon to my 180gallon and its now virtually empty. I have;

1x Sole (cant remember its name but done all the research on him and he is brackish and reaches around 7")
4x Nerites snails
3x Mollies (these are just to keep the tank running for now)
ton of Cherry Shrimp

I am looking to put bigger brackish in this now and looking at some Archers, Scats, Monos, and possibly a figure8 puffer or 2 and possibly a green spotted puffer. Final stocking would look like;

1x Sole
Archer fish (how many would you recommend)?
3x Scats
3x Monos
1x Green Spotted Puffer
Figure 8 Puffers (how many would you recommend if any)?

My main questions is about the Puffers, I am pretty sure in this size tank that the Puffers wouldn't be too aggressive for the other fish, although not too sure about the sole who does spend most of his time under the sand anyway. My main concern is whether the Scats and Monos would be too active for the Puffers? Any advice anyone can give is most welcome here. I have played with a few ideas for this tank but this one is final now and I'm really excited about getting some Puffers, although I have a feeling they may be dashed here

PS the tank is 6x2x2 (180 gallon)

Thanks in advance Vinny

 

[iliveinazoo]

I had a sole and my scats pecked it to death, i think that you could safely assume that either of those puffers will also peck the sole to death.

The soles, nerites and figure 8 all require low brackish (around SG1.005 - my figure 8 tank is predominantly SG1.003).

I've kept Archer fish successfully at SG1.005-SG1.010 but it does depend on the species (search for Nmonks FAQ's for info on species. I bought 2 archers which fought continuously so upped them to 5, it solved none of the bullying issues so I'm not sure how many you'd need for them to school properly. You could maybe house a T. Microlepsis with a figure 8 but they do get large and may eventually see the puffer as food.

Scats and Monos can be kept anywhere between SG1.005 and marine, however I noticed my scats twitch infrequently which stopped when I upped the SG to 1.008.

GSP's require around SG1.010-marine when they're adults and are particularly aggressive with most keepers keeping them species only.

As for numbers of F8's; you could have loads, the recommendation is 15USG for 1 and 10USG for every other on top of that.

As for the puffer/mono/scat combination, the puffer would really have to be a GSP (unless you want to risk your scats and monos at SG1.005) and my concern would be for the scats and monos, I don't know much about monos but scats just plod along looking for food/picking algae constantly and the risk would be that the GSP takes a big chunk of flesh before the scat has any chance to react.

For the pureists out there: all SG figures are at 25degC

 

[kniesh]

Thanks for the reply, very informative. I suspected as much, I was just after any experiences. Guess I will be looking for tankmates compatible with the sole but have personality, anyone got any ideas? The only thing they HAVE to get along with is the Sole, love this guy.

 

[iliveinazoo]

Thanks for the reply, very informative. I suspected as much, I was just after any experiences. Guess I will be looking for tankmates compatible with the sole but have personality, anyone got any ideas? The only thing they HAVE to get along with is the Sole, love this guy.

Archers and Halfbeaks would be a safe choice as they both hang around on the surface.
A waspfish would get along fine but i'm pretty sure they require around SG1.008+.
Small gobies such as BBG's would be a safe bet.
I'm tempted to say knight gobies but I have no experience with them.

 

[nmonks]

The community of fish you have at the moment is nice, and I'd stick with small, peaceful fish that won't cause problems. iliveinazoo made some nice suggestions, but I'd also add to the list glassfish, swamp guppies, Florida flagfish, and almost any small goby species. I'd argue against archerfish though. They are big, very predatory, and will eat any shrimp or fish that fits in their mouths. Knight gobies are also extremely predatory, so be careful with them.

Cheers, Neale

 

[kniesh]

Thanks a lot all. I was actually thinking Glassfish but found a few people saying they were freshwater. I will definately get a few of these and I think as a top water fish I will get Halfbeaks as I had one that didn't make the transition and I loved this guy. I will buy around 5 of these if I can, possibly more and some flagfish, and glassfish.

What about Waspfish then? I am thinking I cant have these and BBG's so would I need to choose between them? I am also thinking I am just going to order all these online too as I have the cash here but nowhere round here really sells any of the fore-mentioned. Does anyone have any decent online sites that will sell these and deliver to Liverpool

Once again thanks, I will definately add pics once its looking how I want.

 

[meyerev]

I am only going to say my experinces and what i have learned.

I have a 5 striped banded archer from the south eastern shores of Asia, Toxotes jaculatrix. There are two main archers that arrive on market the one i mentioned and the 7 banded archer from Australia area. From what i have read the 7 banded archer is much more aggressive. What people have said about the archers is true. I had two archers but the smaller one picked on the larger one so much i had to get rid of it.
I really do like these fish and have branches set above my tank so my archer can shoot down its' food. So from what i read 4 or more archers of the same species released around the same time should be fine. They hunt in parties to steal another ones food
But a final warning although these fish are constantly near the top. Your shrimp would not survive very long for mine will shoot water at the subtrate to get the shrimp up into the water.

I have 2 red scats, Scatophagus argus, and 2 mono sebae's, Monodactylus sebae. These fish are very very aggressive eaters and look like piranas in a feeding frenzy when I feed then frozen food. The only problem i have had with these other then having them steal food from other fish is that they should be roughly about the same size. One of my monos is about half the size of the other and when the large one gets bored he will nip at the smaller one.

Hope this helps

M

 

[nmonks]

Thanks a lot all. I was actually thinking Glassfish but found a few people saying they were freshwater.

Yes, they are freshwater fish. But they also do well in slightly brackish water. The arguably do best in soft to medium hard freshwater, but they can also be very happy and healthy up to SG 1.005.

What about Waspfish then? I am thinking I cant have these and BBG's so would I need to choose between them? I am also thinking I am just going to order all these online too as I have the cash here but nowhere round here really sells any of the fore-mentioned. Does anyone have any decent online sites that will sell these and deliver to Liverpool

Waspfish will eat any small fish they can, and that will include gobies. But they are otherwise peaceful, maybe even a bit slow at feeding time. Wildwoods is probably the best place to mail order unusual fish. Keith Lambert gets regular supplies of brackish water fish, and he maintains them in brackish water prior to selling them.

Cheers, Neale

 

[kniesh]

Thought I would keep you updated, just ordered 5 BBG's and a Knight Goby from Wildwoods. I wanted more BBG's but thats all they had left so will need to wait till next time. My final stocking is going to be this, I know its a slight risk but theres plenty of hiding places and the tank is huge compared to the fish being purchased so I think it may work. Hope no one thinks I am just ignoring advice, I just think its a calculated risk that I can make work.

15-20 BBG's (maybe more, just gonna buy them as I see them)
2-5 Figure 8 Puffers (Would these be best as a group of 5 rather than 2 or 3)?
Mollies--Already got 1 in there and about 8 young so I imagine that population will grow slowly due to the predators about
1x Sole
1x KnightGoby, (might get more if it works out and I like him)

plus whatever snails and shrimp survive as there is a massive colony of both in there at the moment. I may add some halfbeaks if I come across them too. I will add pics once I get it decorated how I want, thanks for the advice.

 

[kniesh]

I got 7 BBG's delivered this morning from Wildwoods. Got to say, I will definately be using them again, very professional and the laminated care-sheet topped it off.

I only ordered 5 but they said they only had 7 left so sent me them all because they never had the Knight Goby I ordered, which I still got my money back on. They are in fine form too, already chasing my Molly fry about the tank even though they are half the size of the BBG's.

Thanks for the tip on wildwoods Neale, I will post pics once I find the camera charger, just need to find somewhere selling figure 8's now