Finding Nemo type tank?

[brooke]

I'm thinking of setting up a second tank and going with the Finding Nemo theme. The livestock I would include are as follows:

Cleaner Shrimp
Yellow Tang
Royal Gramma
Puffer
Moorish Idol
Clown
Black & White Humbug (4-stripe damsel?)
Hippo Tang
Star fish of some sort (no brittles, or serpents)

My questions being, how big of a tank would you need to faciliate all of this? Would you be able to adventually add corals? And will all of these fish get along in the real world?

[Reefland]

It's not feasible to set up a tank with fish seen in Finding Nemo unless your willing to spend some big bucks on a large tank. The 2 tangs will require lots of space and the Moorish Idol is a delicate fish. I think if you were looking for a second tank then making is small and hardy would be a priority. In doing so you could set up a nice small 20 gallon tank reasonably cheap and you could add a nice small pair of clownfish and the Royal Gramma along with a couple of shrimp and a starfish.

[CSeaSee]

For what I've heard there's a pretty good alternative to the Moorish Idol (Heniochus sp. maybe?- can someone else chime in on this?) that looks very similar. If you are setting up the themed tank, the Hippo Tang never actually was in the dentist's tank in the movie, so technically... As far as the puffer from the movie, they can get quite large, and you may be better off with a Valentini Puffer that won't get large. I don't know about the corals though...In the movie, the starfish looks like it has some knobby projections on its back, and those usually aren't reef safe... Hope this helps. As with any tank, the bigger the better!

[CSeaSee]

I apologize for the double post!
The Heniochus sp. that I was talking about is actually the Longfin Bannerfish
Heniochus acuminatus and looks very similar to the Moorish Idol.

[scubadude]

I apologize for the double post!
The Heniochus sp. that I was talking about is actually the Longfin Bannerfish
Heniochus acuminatus and looks very similar to the Moorish Idol.

Hi CseaSee
While the bannerfish family may be a slight improvement from the moorish idol, I still see problems with the Longfin (Heniochus acuminatus) as it will grow up to 10" and is known to decimate a reef tank. A slight better choice might be the Schooling bannerfish (Heniochus Diphreutes) which is very similar to the longfin but has a tad bit less protruding snout. The Schooling banner will grow up to 7" though and it is recommended that it has a minimum of 100g or more. Even though this fish wont decimate a reef tank like the longfin has been known to do it still can be a problem in smaller tanks.

Brooke
I agree with what Scott said too

[CSeaSee]

Hello scubadude!
Thank you for the correction. I saw both species, but apparently didn't pick up the differences. My apologies! In a fish-only tank, how would the slightly ammended llivestock count fare? Has anyone else seen the movie? What about that starfish?

[scubadude]

No need for apoligies
I think the fish would fare well in a larger FO (fish only) tank something like a 100g plus. They might even be safe in a smaller tank but this would be relative to experience and husbandry discipline, equipment, other fish etc etc. I have seen the movie (couple of times) just cant for the life of me remember the starfish.

[Samper]

The name of the starfish in the movie is Peach but she doesn't look like a "reef safe" star to me. I couldn't find what species her character was made after but maybe you can now that you know her name.

[Samper]

I found it....she is an Echinaster spinulosus