Starting a Aggressive tank any suggestions on fish!!!

[Hillybean06]

hey all happy new year! i'm setting up another tank but this time i want aggressive fish .. the tank is going to be a 55 gal i know alot about salts but i'm not really into the aggressive fish but i would like to be this will be my third tank and its just b/c i love my fish and i want more... so any suggestion would be greatly appreciate... Thanks!!!!

[art_of_war]

A battle ground! If I were going to keep a aggressive fish tank this is what I'd want to see:

1. I think baracudas are interesting predators.
2. Huma huma triggers make funny noises.
3. A porcupine puffer is an absolutely unique creature the way they look and behave.
4. Lionfish is beautiful, graceful...mean and venomous.
5. Eels are fascinating.
6. Can't have a aggressive tank w/o the grouper...I mean the big ones.


I think for a 55, you may be alright with these guys. However, if you really want to see something cool...get yourself a mantis shrimp and put him up against those guys. And when you're done, let us all know what happened.

[Kaptain-LokI]

I'm not trying to be a jerk here art_of_war, but;

6. Can't have a aggressive tank w/o the grouper...I mean the big ones.

Isn't a 55 gal too small for most "big" groupers? I mean, I'll bet the smaller ones would be fine, but some groupers get to be like people sized!

1. I think baracudas are interesting predators.

From wikipeda:

The barracuda is a ray-finned fish known for its large size (up to 6 ft or more in length and up to a foot in width[1]) and fearsome appearance.

Once again, that sounds pretty big for a 55 gal tank.

But back to the original question, I think puffers are the best. They are fun little fish to have. I used to have 2 little puffers until my big maroon clown killed one and the other got sucked into the filter . They were the coolest fish I ever had, you could hand feed them and they would come right up to you and beg for food and watch you. One of the puffers even used to like it when my wife would pet it with her finger. I swear, he would come right up to her hand and she would pet him with her finger! I would get one that grows up to be relatively small though. I think a fish is happier when he has too much room as opposed to not enough.

[Hillybean06]

ok so here is what i was thinking i would get a puffer or two a snowflake eel a panther grouper of course he would be small at first and then i was thinking a lion fish some flame scallops and i'm not sure what else i don't think that i have quite enough room for some of the bigger fish although they would be very awesome to have thanks for the suggestions guys!!! any more advice would be appreciated

[rededteck]

Some ideas: (not all of these in a 55 gallon tank), huma huma or niger trigger, dwarf volitan lionfish, any variety of puffer. A snowflake moray is a nice looking species, I had one that crawled out of what I thought was a well covered tank.

The panther grouper is a nice looking species, however they grow extremelty quickly and a 55 gallon is too small for that species.

Good luck, dont overstock!

[art_of_war]

I'm not trying to be a jerk here art_of_war, but;



Isn't a 55 gal too small for most "big" groupers? I mean, I'll bet the smaller ones would be fine, but some groupers get to be like people sized!



From wikipeda:



Once again, that sounds pretty big for a 55 gal tank.

But back to the original question, I think puffers are the best. They are fun little fish to have. I used to have 2 little puffers until my big maroon clown killed one and the other got sucked into the filter . They were the coolest fish I ever had, you could hand feed them and they would come right up to you and beg for food and watch you. One of the puffers even used to like it when my wife would pet it with her finger. I swear, he would come right up to her hand and she would pet him with her finger! I would get one that grows up to be relatively small though. I think a fish is happier when he has too much room as opposed to not enough.

Well,

No one said to get a 10' long, 50 lb potato grouper or a foot long barracuda. I think logically speaking, you can find a 3 to 4" great barracuda in most LFS's that stock unique fish. And believe me, I've done some pretty amazing things with both of my 55's.

[Hillybean06]

lol ok guys i didn't want for this to get irrational..haha . i know what you both meant and i appreciate your opinions both equally and thank you for you everything i greatly appreciate it

[Hillybean06]

any other suggestions on anything else would be appreciated tooo!! i love to learn!

[leebca]

A 55 has some serious limitations regarding the choice of predatory fishes. Most of them are fish that become very large. For most Puffers, you want no less than a 90 gallon and then, only one Puffer in that.

The 55 is sort of the least optimal design for a marine fish tank. Fish swim horizontally, not up and down. So the height of the standard 55 is really wasted on these fishes. A 75 would be of a better dimension.

There are some small Puffers that grow less than 6 inches that could be put into a 90 comfortably.

Triggerfishes, Puffers, Groupers, large Lionfishes, many of the aggressive Wrasses, etc. are fish mostly on the larger size. Even if you bought them small, I would hope you to be mature enough to realize that when you buy a pet, it isn't for the short term, but for the long term. Thus planning on its growth should be of a primary concern. When fed properly and properly nourished, predatory fishes can grow very fast!

If you want to go small, then look into some Hawkfishes, dwarf Lionfishes, and such and skip the large-end predatory fishes.