Predator fish

[kreblak]

I have been toying with the idea of getting a predator fish for a tank which I am planning to put together. I have been thinking along the lines of a Bluefish or a juvenile King mackeral. That in turn got me wondering what fish hunt damsels in the wild?

Anybody have any experience with top of the food chain dwellers? Which ones are hearty enough for a 100 gallon or so tank? Also, how successfully can one catch an ocean going fish and transplant it into the tank (such as a bluefish or a mackeral)?

 

[VoodooChild]

I think those get to be pretty ginormous. In a 100 gallon you do have a couple of Volitans Lionfish, a moray of some sort, some hawkfish. If you could go with a larger tank you could probably get assorted groupers, such as hind and panther. Just make sure whatever you do you have some good filtration and a strict water changing schedule.

 

[Boogiechillin]

Bluefish & mackeral are both too big and active for a 100g tank, plus they are predominately temperate fish - a tropical tank would be a little too hot for them. (But, if you had a sufficiently big temperate tank, these are both hardy enough to be line-caught, kept alive, and nursed back to health in captivity).

Damsels, chromises and anthias are major food fish on the reef - everything from groupers to frogfish to morays will eat them. They're the marine equivalent of minnows. Lots of smaller predators would do well in 100g, including smaller basses/groupers (eg, tobacco bass), moray eels, smaller lionfish species (eg, antennata), puffers, triggers, etc...

 

[kreblak]

Thanks for the input. However, can you please define "temperate" for me, Boogiechillin? Obviously tropical temperatures would be too high for ocean going species, but what temperature specifically would be suitable? I know the water temperatures off the coast of SC reach the low 70s during the late summer when the big, lone wolf King mackeral come inshore to feed. Would this be acceptable, or are we talking 60s here?

 

[Boogiechillin]

Temperate water species prefer cooler water, typically in the high 50's to low 60's. You generally need a chiller to achieve these temps as this is cooler than most people keep the surrounding room.