Archivarium 2004

[Mike612]

I am plannning on turning my 75 gallon fish and invertebrate tank into a reef soon. I hope to have some soft corals and maybe one or two hard coral. Currently in my tank, there is a Sailfin Tang, 2 Purple Firefish, 2 Ocellaris Clownfish, the Green Mandarin, a Red Hermit Crab, and a Blue Linkia Starfish. They all get along great. Now what I really want is a splash of yellow in the tank. I can't get a Yellow Tang because of the Sailfin Tang. I was thinking of maybe a Lemonpeel Angel except I'm also a bit hesitant because of the fact that they go after hard corals. I would just go with the soft coral but the one thing I really don't like about that idea is that soft coral are pretty much all the same colors. Anybody have any suggestions for a yellow fish? Does anybody have experiences with Lemonpeels in reefs with hard corals? Any yellow fish suggestions would be great. I am looking for a fish that's around the size of a tang or a dwarf angel. Nothing too big but nothing too small.

[SLACkra]

there are species of yellow damsel and a couple damsels in a 75g tank shouldn't cause to much havoc.

andrew
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32g planted community
7.5g Nano Reef
1 four legged wonder napper
2 winged demons

[KDodds]

Yellow Assessors come to mind. There sort of like the Pacific version of Grammas. They can be kept in colonies and are mouthbrooders, making breeding a possibility, but raising the fry would likely be a task.
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Kieron Dodds
Inside Aquatics
www.insideaquatics.com

[Mike612]

I am not a huge fan of damsels. I just went looking for the Yellow Assessor and finally found him at marinedepotlive.com but he didn't seem very attractive to me. Anyways, I would really prefer if the fish was around the size of a dwarf angel. I'm open to any other suggestions. I apologize but I am a bit picky about these sort of things. If anybody has experience with Lemonpeel Angels in reefs whether it's just soft coral or if it's also hard coral, please let me know.

I was just looking around and saw a Carpenter Wrasse. I read that they start off in a redish color and then as an adult it becomes a nice yellow. Does anybody have any experiences with Carpenter Wrasses in reefs with soft coral and hard coral?

[aurther_dent2001]

off topic.

Its really difficult to keep soft and hard corals in the same tank. soft corals give off toxins which are poisonous to hard corals. You might want to read up about this before mixing them.

[Mike612]

Okay, thanks for the suggestion. I'll read up on that in one of my books.

[KDodds]

First, this is true, mixing hards and softs generally requires pretty aggressive protein skimming and a reasonable water change schedule. As well, you might find you need to use carbon.

There aren't many super yellow fish that would work in you tank. Already, I think your cramped with the Sailfin. Carpenter's Wrasse is often confused with McCosker's. IME, the former is always copper to red and the latter can be copper to orange to yellow. Neither, however, are truly YELLOW, ever. There's the Candy Hog, but they can be somewhat expensive.
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Kieron Dodds
Inside Aquatics
www.insideaquatics.com

[Mike612]

I've never even heard of a Candy Hog before. I'll do some reading on that too. I know the Sailfin might at some point will grow out of my tank. When that time comes, I'll be ready to move him. Anyways, he seems to enjoy the tank. He has already eaten all of the hair algae in my tank, he gets along very well with my other fish and inverts, and really he just seems very happy. He always comes up to swim in front of the tank when I'm around. He also hasn't had ich yet or lateral line erosion or anything related to that and nobody picks on him. He's a great fish and he's in great condition. When he gets too big for my tank or when I feel it's time to give him more room, I'll move him out.

Also, I'm already using carbon and I've got a strong protein skimmer along with two strong powerheads for more current and my filter also makes a small current.

Just out of curiousity, if I were to forget about putting in those one or two hard corals, would a Lemonpeel be OK in there?

[Batman]

There are a bunch of great yellow gobies out there. Not quite the size of a lemonpeel, but yellow clown gobies are great. I have a few, they are small but they have a sharp yellow color and are really eye catching. A gold chromis is yellow, but not quite as bright as a yellow tang. You could try a yellow tang, as sailfin tangs aren't too aggressive as far as surgeons go. If the yellow tang fights, you could always return him to the store. I've had a sailfin tang with 2 yellow tangs before and they didn't fight but they were in a 380G
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370 Gallon Marine FO
20 Gallon Hardy Inverts
55 Gallon Hardy Inverts
10 Gallon Planted
1 Chinchilla 1 German Shepherd
Assorted Reptile Species

[KDodds]

As long as it's your last fish and you don't have any plans for corals, yeah, I think you could put in a Lemonpeel.
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Kieron Dodds
Inside Aquatics
www.insideaquatics.com