180 gallon fish stocking list

[deweyhowell]

I am planning a 180 gal reef setup. It will have at least 300 lbs of live rock and a large sump with refugium. Mostly softies, LPS and a anemone.

I was thinking about the following list of fish.

pair gold-stripe maroon clownfish
1 coral beauty
1 flame angel
1 midas blenny
1 royal gramma
2 watchman gobies
2 clown gobies
2-3 banggai cardinals
3-4 fairy wrasses
4-6 lyretail anthias
1 powder blue tang
1 mandarin

Is this a compatible list with a reasonable stock level?
Any thoughts? or suggestions?

Any recommendations on the order of adding these?

Thanks!

 

[anth245]

If your filtration is good that should not be a problem, personally my favourite fish to keep is a blue spot jawfish! they have an amazing personality and watching them with fry is a treat!!

 

[ca1ore]

300 pounds of rock is far more than you will need for your biofilter and, depending upon what kind of rock you get, will greatly limit the 'swimming' room for the fish (which will get worse as the softies grow). That would mean dispensing with the anthias and the tang. As comparison, I have about 200 pounds in my 265, which leaves plenty of room for swimming.

 

[biomek]

Depending on which type of gobies you are adding, you may want to only stick with one. I have a diamond watchman goby in my 225 and he does more than enough sand sifting for the tank. IMO i'd be concerned adding a second sand sifter for fear of one out-competing the other. Plus twice the mess lol

 

[jason2459]

2-3 banggai cardinals

Only do 2 that have been observed to pair up. If you get 3 you'll end up with at best 2, maybe 1, or potentially none as they kill each other off.

Add the dwarf angels in at the same time. I would add the Powder Blue in last and make sure to get a very healthy looking one that's eating well. They can be difficult and aggressive to new additions.

Also, make sure the rock is on the glass for any diggers.

300 pounds of rock is far more than you will need for your biofilter and, depending upon what kind of rock you get, will greatly limit the 'swimming' room for the fish (which will get worse as the softies grow). That would mean dispensing with the anthias and the tang. As comparison, I have about 200 pounds in my 265, which leaves plenty of room for swimming.

Totally agree but some people do like the big pile of rock look... Great for many many small fishes. Terrible for the open swimmers like you mentioned. I have about 150lbs in my 180 arranged to allow lots of swimming room and a big cave for larger fish to swim through and some bridges for them to swim over/under connecting 3 main islands.