[ZBT3091]

I know i am just setting my reef up, but just to be safe i want to list my stocking plan... my skimmer is a Aqua C Remora and light is coralife 4x65 watt PC. I have an eheim classic, and 2 emperor 400 hang ons. I have about 80 lbs in live rock. Corals: A toadstool soft coral, brain coral, bubble coral, a ricordea mushroom, and button polyps and maybe 1 BTA given a small live rock island in the corner of the tank. Inverts: 20 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs. 10 Scarlet Reefs. 1 Linkia Star, A few banded shrimp + banded coral shrimp, and various snails. Fish: 2 Perc Clowns, 2 Bangaii Cards, 1 Mandarin Goby, 2 Neon Gobies, a few blue reef chromis, 1 algae blenny, 1 Cband Bfly, 1 Pinktail Trigger, and 1 Yellow Tang.

How does this sound?

[wozza]

1 Pinktail Trigger, and 1 Yellow Tang.

with out these two fishj everthing else sounds fine, i think these may get too aggressive/big for your 75G. adn maybe the cband bfly but thats up for debate

[ZBT3091]

well i know pinktails get big... but there growth is really slow... like 1 inch per year...like most triggers ...right? and i was thinking that maybe after 2-3 years i would sell him and maybe introduce another fish that would be agressive like a powder blue and then do the same thing as i did with the pinktail when he gets too big

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by ZBT3091

A few banded shrimp + banded coral shrimp, and various snails.

I'm not sure what you mean by "a few banded shrimp?" What is a "banded shrimp?" I'm familiar with Stenopus hispidus (banded coral shrimp) but I'm not sure what you mean by "banded shrimp."

In any case, Stenopus hispidus is rather aggressive and a threat to other ornamental shrimp in a 75-gal tank. I think something like two Lysmata amboinensis might be a safe choice for that size aquarium.

Fish: 2 Perc Clowns, 2 Bangaii Cards, 1 Mandarin Goby, 2 Neon Gobies, a few blue reef chromis, 1 algae blenny, 1 Cband Bfly, 1 Pinktail Trigger, and 1 Yellow Tang.

That size tank would be marginal for a Mandarin Dragonet (Synchiropus splendidus) but might be workable if you wait at least seven or eight months before adding it.

As for the Copperbanded Butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus) and the Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma flavescens)), both of these fish really require tanks larger than 75-gallons. This is really right at the bare minimum size for either of these fish.

The Pinktail Triggerfish (Melichthys vidua) -- humuhumu hi‘ukole in Hawaiian -- is definitely not suitable for a 75-gal reef aquarium. It may behave itself when it is small but chances are very high that it will cause problems by the time it gets to 6" and larger. People try this fish all the time in reef tanks but invariably they eventually have to remove them. This trigger is not a true planktivore. I don't consider any triggers to be reef-aquarium safe but I can think of at least three other species that would be safer than this one.

Check out the fishbase profile on Melichthys vidua: "Diet consists mainly of algae and detritus but also takes in crustaceans, octopuses, sponges, and fishes." Max. size: 40.0 cm TL

Assuming you could find a pinktail trigger smaller than 3" TL, I really don't know how fast it would grow from that point in captivity. A brief search of another board using "pinktail trigger" as the search criterion turned up 1,025 posts. A quick review turned up lots and lots of reports of these fish eventually causing problems, especially once they got to be more than 6" TL, but I didn't see any reports on growth rates.

It would seem to me that it might be hard to remove a fish, especially one with a lot of personality like this one has, after keeping it for a couple of years. Another consideration is that this fish will really, really add to the bioload in a tank of this size as it grows.