# question about predatory tanks



## bsautococker (Aug 3, 2005)

alrite yall heres my set up - its a 140g with 2 small volitans, 2 gray bamboos (indos) 5 damsels, and 2 yellow tangs - yes i know its bad to have 2 yellow tangs in one tank, also have assorted snails and hermits. ok my question is i want to add either a triggerfish or a puffer.. i was told that i couldnt put any puffers in my tank except for the toby kind. but recently my brother just purchased a spotted dogface for his setup in which he has a eel and a lion in it.. everyone said that the puffer would go after the eels tail - well this didnt happen. so i was figuring that the same kinda puffer wouldnt go after my shark. ok and the triggerfish i was told i could put in my tank is a niger trigger... plz help me with this situation.. thx alot


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## wrasser (Apr 5, 2005)

well i hope i can help atleast a little, i havent had lions with triggers and puffers. i do now how triggers work, their jaws are very powerful for the size. i have four triggers in together. i thruogh a very large sallylight foot in thinking it was big enough to survive, NOT the triggers, harlequin and dragon wrasse had a field-day taking leg by leg, then the shell. Less than five mins. it was gone. the crab was larger than a half dollar.
If he puffer or trigger or both which ever you get wants to eat the lion or the eel, trust me when i say this, IT WILL EAT THEM! They will bite each spine off one at a time til the lion has no more stingers then eat the fish, ofcorse it dose depend on the personality of the fish. you could get a real laid back one that dont even care what you put in or an aggressive one that will take over the whole tank.
OH i had a snowflake eel and my clown trigger did bite the tail, it is not the reason why i got rid if it, i felt the eel was trying to eat my small fish and didnt want to take the chance of losing any.
my recomendation is the odomus trigger (niger), or a trigger that has the same body type. ex. pinktail trigger,blue face trigger, queen trigger. the rectangler body type are more aggressive. ex undulated trigger, clown trigger.
Good luck in what you decide, just keep an eye on what ever you chose


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

gray bamboos? as in bamboo sharks? 

2 yellow tangs is not a big deal in a tank that size but 2 bamboo sharks would be. If you go with a trigger get a bluethroat or a pink tailed. The triggers often get more aggressive later in life, so thus your brother wouldn't have problems initially, but sooner or later if he has one of the more aggressive triggers the lionfish and eel will be killed.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

I wouldn't add a trigger at all, but if you simply must have one, then I have to agree that a Niger is your safest bet, although the least exciting one. Queens & Undulates are pretty much the meanest, nastiest ones in the bunch, and if you don't want your sharks' eyes pecked out, stay away from those two hooligans. Pinktails are a pretty good choice. 

Puffers.. too much individualism in them to guess. I wouldn't do it on a dare, though.


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## bsautococker (Aug 3, 2005)

yes they are gray bamboo sharks... so you guys say to stay away from the puffers and get a trigger right?? which other triggers would be my best bet besides a niger or a pinktail and which would yall recommend??? 
:help: 

old salt why do you say to stay away from the triggers? is there any other fish that are as aggressive as the triggers or puffers that i could put with my grays and lions - besides groupers -???? if so lemme kno 

i just dont wanna wake up one morning and see that the eyes of my beloved grays have been eaten or my lions have been killed...  


thx for all yalls input


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

you will find that the tank will be too small for a bamboo shark, but a temperary stay won't be horrible for them. Wrasses are a good choice for tankmates, as well as lg angels.


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## bsautococker (Aug 3, 2005)

your prolly thinking of a "brown" bamboo shark.... thats a completely different kind from the grays... browns get like 4ft which, i agree, is way to big for my tank... but the grays in the wild max out at like 28 inches... so they may only reach 25 or 20 in an aquarium... so they are by far a better suited shark for the home aquarium


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## bsautococker (Aug 3, 2005)

do you think a dragon wrasse would hurt the sharks???


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

lol not sure since I've never owned a dragon wrasse... but my guess is that its probably mild mannored.


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## wrasser (Apr 5, 2005)

NO, a dragon wrasse will not hurt them, just dont get a full grown one you can probably get one accordingly to the size of your sharks. dragons eat shrimp and minos. thay are not aggressive towards to many other fish, unless you are a wrasse


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## bsautococker (Aug 3, 2005)

the dragon wouldnt mess with the sharks when he did get full grown though??? also a guy in a local fish store suggested that i get a harlequin tusk (dunno how to spell it). i always thought that they were like a grouper but he says they are more like a trigger or wrasse.... do yall think that a harlequin would be better than a niger trigger or a dogface??? thx yall


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## wrasser (Apr 5, 2005)

Well to tell you the truth, i have a dragon wrasse, a harlequin tusk, a niger trigger, a pinktail trigger, a blueface trigger, a clown trigger and many others living together. i like them all a lot. the only thing i see wrong is the clown trigger is starting to become aggressive. The rest i would recomend, BUT it also depends on the personality of the fish YOU buy. You can buy a very aggressive harlequin or a non-aggressive niger. The wrasse family will big the BEST choice for your sharks. Even the harequin tusk. So, i recomend the whole wrasse family.


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## bsautococker (Aug 3, 2005)

ok i think im goin to go with the harlequin tusk (australia)... is the harlequin tusk alot like dragon wrasse.... as in does it dig under the sand at night, is it a quick moving fish or does it just lay around like a puffer. will the harlequin tusk eat snails, hermits or any other inverts??


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## wrasser (Apr 5, 2005)

OOPPPS, yes the tusk will eat snails ,crabs and hermit crabs. Now mine ate a snail i cought at the beach, but cn not get the turbo snail off the back glass. i even think he has stop trying. I also have a bunch of blue legs, he use to pick them up and roll them around in his mouth, but has not eaten any. I also think he has giving up on this. Had a large hermit, All the fish left him alone, i think the stone crab was fighting with him and finally won.
The tusk is nothing like the dragon and nothing like a puffer. They are open water swimmers and like to swim all the time, searching for food in the rock on the reef.


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## bsautococker (Aug 3, 2005)

ok well tuesday i am gettin a dragon wrasse and a harlequin tusk and adding them to my 140... so my new line up will be 2 gray bamboos, 5 damsels, 2 volitans, 2 yellow tangs, a harlequin tusk, and a dragon wrasse, and also nassarius snails, turbo snails, and a couple hermits..


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## wrasser (Apr 5, 2005)

Try to put the fish in together, i put the tusk in first and the dragon a few weeks later and the tusk stalked the dragon for months. i moved the live rock around and divided the tank up with the rock so the tusk didnt have a straight view of the dragon and it has worked for them. So try to put them in together


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## bsautococker (Aug 3, 2005)

ya my fish guy is gettin em both for me on tuesday, i prolly wont be able to pick them up until sunday tho cause of work and school and all. how big is the tank that you have your tusk and dragon in?? and will the tusk dig down under the sand at night like the dragons do?


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## wrasser (Apr 5, 2005)

I have a 150gal. tank that is semi-aggressive, the tusk will not dig in the sand. They sleep in the rocks, mine actually sleeps in a cave, in one of the rocks i have. They just swim around and look for food in the the rocks. Try to test your water now and see if you can fix anything that might not go so well when you acculamate the fish next weekend. just so you can be successful in doing it


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## bsautococker (Aug 3, 2005)

alrite thats a good idea... thx for all your input


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## wrasser (Apr 5, 2005)

No Problamo, Any Time


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## wrasser (Apr 5, 2005)

I tried to get some pics and show you, but i am at work and i cant 'dont know how to make them smaller from the cd i have. When i get home i will post some pics of the tusk and dragon so you can see


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## wrasser (Apr 5, 2005)

Here are some pics of the dragon and tusk, hope you enjoy them


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## bsautococker (Aug 3, 2005)

nice fish and nice tank... you have the australian tusk right?? your tank looks good


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## wrasser (Apr 5, 2005)

yes it is an australian


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