180 gallon stocking list
- Thread starter Dustin2
- Start date
Young Joe Gibbs
New member
flame angel, purple tang, orange shoulder tang, and later a mandarin
espocrespo
New member
I 2nd the Purple Tang, maybe a harem of fairy wrasse aswell.
Chibils
halide loyalist
What kind of corals do you plan to keep?
Will you be able to do special needs (like feeding 3x daily for anthias)?
I would say a tang or two and a harem of anthias/wrasses would be a great addition. Pygmy angels are great, but all have a pretty decent chance at nipping corals (save for Genicanthus sp., who are more costly deep-water fish). Gobies are always great if you're into details (there's a lot of subtle beauty to be had in reefs compared to the giant fish of a FOWL), as are invertebrates. They can add a lot of personality. Cardinalfish (kauderni, orbicularis, nematoptera) are very interesting due to their shape and behavior. They will school, spending most of their time suspended still in the water column; they breed relatively easily and the males hold the eggs in their mouth. (Note: if you decide to get kauderni, get them tank bred. They're a little more expensive, but adapt better to captive life and are on the verge of endangerment in the wild.)
As far as pest control goes:
- Zebrasoma tangs (yellow, purple, sailfin, etc.) or [slightly less desirably] Ctenochaetus tangs (tomini, kole, etc.) will graze just about any kind of algae off your rocks.
- A six-line, four-line, or yellow coris wrasse will keep pests (flatworms, etc.) and other critters like bristleworms/polychaetes under control. (Note: some bristleworms are bad, some are good. Most eat detrius and waste food, some eat corals and eventually inverts/fish.)
- Mandarins and rainfordi gobies keep your pod population under control (both are really beautiful fish and require an established tank... That said, pods are a good thing but mine are so rampant that they coat the glass).
Will you be able to do special needs (like feeding 3x daily for anthias)?
I would say a tang or two and a harem of anthias/wrasses would be a great addition. Pygmy angels are great, but all have a pretty decent chance at nipping corals (save for Genicanthus sp., who are more costly deep-water fish). Gobies are always great if you're into details (there's a lot of subtle beauty to be had in reefs compared to the giant fish of a FOWL), as are invertebrates. They can add a lot of personality. Cardinalfish (kauderni, orbicularis, nematoptera) are very interesting due to their shape and behavior. They will school, spending most of their time suspended still in the water column; they breed relatively easily and the males hold the eggs in their mouth. (Note: if you decide to get kauderni, get them tank bred. They're a little more expensive, but adapt better to captive life and are on the verge of endangerment in the wild.)
As far as pest control goes:
- Zebrasoma tangs (yellow, purple, sailfin, etc.) or [slightly less desirably] Ctenochaetus tangs (tomini, kole, etc.) will graze just about any kind of algae off your rocks.
- A six-line, four-line, or yellow coris wrasse will keep pests (flatworms, etc.) and other critters like bristleworms/polychaetes under control. (Note: some bristleworms are bad, some are good. Most eat detrius and waste food, some eat corals and eventually inverts/fish.)
- Mandarins and rainfordi gobies keep your pod population under control (both are really beautiful fish and require an established tank... That said, pods are a good thing but mine are so rampant that they coat the glass).
