Showpiece fish edition

[fishguy777]

I never said the tank was undersized for any of the individual fish. The entire stocking plan is what makes the tank overcrowded. And although it can be easy to rehome fish, it gets more and more difficult the larger a fish gets. It’s irresponsible to gamble the well-being of an animal on whether or not you can rehome it or it’s tankmates down the line.

There is a public aquarium 15 minutes from me that takes donations all the time, also my lfs has a couple large show tanks that have my previous fish in them

 

[fishguy777]

My suggestions will always be large wrasses in a large fowlr.
Unfortunately in australia my choices are limited, (after waiting for 3 months, i finally got ahold of a male paddlefin wrasse for a meager $550 which is a 6x markup from their price in the us) but if i lived in the US these would be my picks
1: Male Thalassoma genivittatum. Commonly about 5-7inches and well behaved for a Thalassoma. On the rare side but not overly expensive in the US. This is my personal favourite fish ever. Hopefully in the next 5 years one will be imported into australia and wil be less than $1000

Newtons wrasse, Thalassoma newtoni
A small species of Thalassoma that doesn't often get larger than 6" even as a mature male. The blue facial lines are gorgeous. Commonly available at live aquaria

Another suggestion is a male Paddlefin wrasse. They might be the second most gorgeous wrasse in my opinion. Females look nice too but are small usually. Males also commonly 5-7". On the aggressive side of Thalassoma but nothing too bad.

Coris atlantica is another gorgeous wrasse. Coris gaimard, Coris formosa and Coris aygula get all the love in large tanks but these guys don't seem as popular for some reason. They're often available on liveaquaria. Can reach like 8" or so in captivity but often sold smaller. Coris have a reputation for being aggressive but that hasn't been the case, all of mine are model citizens.

And if it were my tank i'd round up the coris and thalassoma squad nicely with one or both of these gorgeous species

Both reach 7-8" in captivity and sold at a variety of sizes. Both species are extremely active and should be classed as sort of 'boisterous', but unlike most other boisterous wrasses completely non aggressive in my experience. But they aren't afraid to steal food off other fish. I had a 4" spanish hog in my tank a while back ($400 in australia!) and it was one of my favourite fish ever and the last surviving fish as the tank crashed. Cubans aren't quite as nicely coloured in my opinion, the purple on spanishes is just unmatched but they have a sleeker shape with nice long streamers as they age.

Anyways, i think you could have a lot more fish without that stingray in there. I don't know much about them but i'd be concerned they would eat fish and i've heard they need absolutely enormous tanks with minimal rockwork. But who knows.

I did the rock work so it’s a balance of caves and sand space (for the ray)

I’ve been told against the thalassoma because of aggression, none of my fish are that aggressive, in your experience overtime did they become bullies/ tank bosses?

Those hogfish are sick

 

[Cheese Griller]

There is a public aquarium 15 minutes from me that takes donations all the time, also my lfs has a couple large show tanks that have my previous fish in them

Glad to hear it has worked out thus far, but those options may not be available in the future. Both could stop accepting donations at the drop of a hat, and now you’re stuck with too many fish.

 

[Cheese Griller]

This many fish doesn’t pose a problem, when they get along, I have overdone filtration, and they won’t outgrow the tank.

Agree to disagree that a few of my fish will reach over 12”. It’s only the ray, snapper, and naso. The giant specimens of other species are caught at larger sizes. A Atlantic blue tang in the wild will always be larger than one in a tank.
I agree that the fishes need to be put ahead of greed for more additions, which is why I have places lined up who have taken in fish from be before, and will continue to do so.

The claim that giant specimens are caught large is untestable, but even if we assume it’s true and that your fish only hit 3/4 of their maximum size the Atlantic blue and desjardini will both be pushing a foot.

 

[fishguy777]

The claim that giant specimens are caught large is untestable, but even if we assume it’s true and that your fish only hit 3/4 of their maximum size the Atlantic blue and desjardini will both be pushing a foot.

Say thats true, it’ll take over a decade for them to get that large. I’m not sure if I’ll even have the tank in 10 years. might have to sell it when I go away for college.

Largest sailfin I’ve seen was maybe 10-12”, and largest Atlantic was 10”, I’d love for my fish to grow to their full potential but I can’t see them getting over 12”, atleast anytime soon

 

[fishguy777]

Glad to hear it has worked out thus far, but those options may not be available in the future. Both could stop accepting donations at the drop of a hat, and now you’re stuck with too many fish.

Definitely a good point, but there’s still a lot of reefers near me that would love a free tang