180G Stock List (Suggestions?)

[Mike P]

It's a 180G (35G sump w/ fuge) that is about to enter it's 3rd week of cycling. In a few weeks I'd like to get the QT ready for the first fish. Below is a wishlist I put together and could use some help on what I should/shouldn't add, and in what order due to types/aggressiveness/territory etc.

Also, I have never built a CUC for a tank of this size and was wondering if anyone had any suggestive lists for that as well. I do have a 1 clawed rescued banded shrimp and a pistol (for the goby) I will be transferring into this tank.


Notes:

• I have a supply of unlimited pods for the mandarin.
• For the tang police: I understand the naso and the hippo could probably require a bigger tank, but I don't know how many 125-180Gs I've seen with them healthy.

Powder Blue Tang
Naso Tang
2 Firefish
Diamond Watchman Goby
4-6 Blue/Green Reef Chromis
2 Cleaner Wrasse
3 Spotted Cardinalfish
Royal Gramma Basslet
Green Mandarin
Yellow Tang
Blue Tang (Hippo)
2 Black & White Ocellaris Clownfish

 

[Cahooligan]

idk about the overall combination, but powder blue tangs tend to get very aggressive, firefish are very shy, and sometimes wont get along with clownfish. my firefish didnt last long, and i didnt see him for like the first week...then he jumped. if you dont have a canopy or a lid, id watch out for the firefish and the goby. other than that, i personally wouldnt do the naso just for sheer size. the hippo's fine IMO, but i just wouldnt do the naso. on a side note, the shrimps claw will grow back if you didnt know that.

 

[TP123]

cleaner wrasses are notoriously hard to keep more than a few months. The vast majority of reports are of them wasting away/suddenly dying and VERY few last for any length of time.

 

[meatball87]

Only get one cleaner wrasse they can be very aggressive towards one another and the common cleaner wrasse has a higher survival rate than the Hawaiian ones everything else looks good good luck

 

[lilalove]

I wouldn't put the firefish in with this combo. The tangs will outcompete them for food. Firefish are very shy and should be in a really calm, community tank. The tangs are quite boisterous...I don't think that's a good combination. Powder blues can get real mean, you should browse through the primer stickied in the forum. The naso I agree will likely need a little more space than this. Like everyone said, the cleaner wrasses are notoriously hard to keep. Good luck.

 

[Flaring Afro]

Cleaner wrasse are worse than mandarins. Even if it eats dead food, it won't get what it needs and slowly starve to death over 6 months or more (like mandarins do without pods). There's too many cool fish out there to support cleaner wrasse capture...

It also sounds like a lot of tangs, but the tank is large so I'm not sure how it would go. I'd probably try to get smaller ones and add them at once at the end maybe.

 

[sea of cortez]

I have had a cleaner wrasse for over a year now. He's a pig. It eats out of my hand and jumps into the feed bowl I use to thaw frozen food as soon as it hits the water.
But I agree with meatball, every time I try to add another cleaner wrasse the pig goes right after it

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

A few thoughts, I'm assuming you have a 6'x2'x2' 180 standard? I sure wouldn't do a naso in a 180, honestly I wouldn't do one unless I had a pond or something like that. They will survive in a 180 but that fish just gets huge, the hippo is fine. I agree that the firefish probably wont last, if you like dartfish the zebras are very cool little fish and will hold up to a rough and tumble crowd. I'm not sure if you are going to do an anemone, I keep an LTA with my true percs and my clowns are model citizens to the other fish. As you probably know tangs can cause introduction problems and you have a lot of them, order of introduction is going to be important. Good luck with the chromis, I have never been able to keep a group of them alive and always end up with a pair.

I also have a 180 and run with a good mix of turbo, cerinth, margarita, nassarius snails but the majority are the conehead astreas. I also have a few dozen red leg dwarf hermits a pair of fire shrimp and a coral banded shrimp. I also just discovered I have a huge eunice worm in the tank who has been undoubtedly scavenging at night.

I ran a 40 gallon sump but I have a large bioload and feed heavily and upgraded the system with a 60 gallun fuge/Q-tank with lots of cheato.

 

[Mike P]

Thanks for all the input so far! Still thinking about a final lineup. I'll scratch the cleaners, fire, and the naso, and maybe just keep a hippo, pbt, and a yellow and leave it at that for tangs.

The only thing I'm wondering is the order I should introduce them. Clowns first? Then non-aggressive (Goby etc.), then tangs last? Maybe yellow, hippo, pbt (in that order)?

 

[gattoro]

I think that could work...I would put the hippo as the first tang...IME they are a shyer tang

 

[geaux xman]

how are you planning to QT these fish? without a prophylactic treatment, the PBT would get ignited with ich in no time..

 

[Mike P]

how are you planning to QT these fish? without a prophylactic treatment, the PBT would get ignited with ich in no time..

I have a 30g QT set up. 20g of DT water and the rest new water. No carbon filter in case of medication use and I don't want to treat anything I don't find in the 6 weeks they are in there (besides prophylactic for the tangs). A 20% water change every week and one fish per 6 weeks (besides the pair of clowns and Chromis).

I'd like to get the clowns tank bread, so I don't think I'll have to worry too much about Bookynella, however obviously with any quarantining, I'd like to be ready.

Any other tips you could give me, or what I should be ready for? This is a first time for tangs.

 

[Mike P]

Updated list:


What I will already have in there (from whats left of two tanks I'm breaking down):

1 Pistol Shrimp
1 Banded Shrimp
1 Watchman Goby
1 Spotted Mandarin (not adding till I'm comfy with the pod population).


What I'd like to add (in this order):

2 Black & White Ocellaris Clownfish
4-6 Blue/Green Reef Chromis
3 Spotted Cardinalfish
Royal Gramma Basslet
Blue Tang (Hippo)
Yellow Tang
Powder Blue Tang

 

[gattoro]

I think that order works...you might want to consider a powder brown (Acanthurus japonicus) instead of the powder blue. The powder blue is hit and miss regarding hardiness from my research (not from my experience). I have a 180 with 75 sump and was thinking of a similar line up. I ended up tossing the powder blue and hippo due to varied experiences and research and ended up with a yellow, powder brown and a pair of blue jaw triggers instead.

 

[dlp211]

Updated list:


What I will already have in there (from whats left of two tanks I'm breaking down):

1 Pistol Shrimp
1 Banded Shrimp
1 Watchman Goby
1 Spotted Mandarin (not adding till I'm comfy with the pod population).


What I'd like to add (in this order):

2 Black & White Ocellaris Clownfish
4-6 Blue/Green Reef Chromis
3 Spotted Cardinalfish
Royal Gramma Basslet
Blue Tang (Hippo)
Yellow Tang
Powder Blue Tang

Would this be considered a large bioload. I am getting ready to start my 180g and I am also putting together my fish list. Mine is a bit larger, but that is because I just put every fish that I would like to ever own on it essentially. I figured that was a good starting point and then I am whittling it down based on tank size, reef compatibility etc. but I am unsure of what to much is and there are some fish that need to go in last that I definitely want to get in there.

/threadjack

-dlp211

 

[hybridazn]

Cut the chromis and pj cardinals to a pair each or otherwise they will do that for u on their own. They will be fine in groups when young, but as they mature they will kill off all the smaller fish in the group

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[nonstopfishies]

Cut the chromis and pj cardinals to a pair each or otherwise they will do that for u on their own. They will be fine in groups when young, but as they mature they will kill off all the smaller fish in the group

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This happens to some people and not to others, but for how cheap they are you can go ahead and try it.

I don't think that Powder Brown's are any more hardy than Powder Blue's, so stick with the one you like. Give it a solid quarantine and get it good and fat before introducing to the tank.

 

[Mike P]

Would this be considered a large bioload. I am getting ready to start my 180g and I am also putting together my fish list. Mine is a bit larger, but that is because I just put every fish that I would like to ever own on it essentially. I figured that was a good starting point and then I am whittling it down based on tank size, reef compatibility etc. but I am unsure of what to much is and there are some fish that need to go in last that I definitely want to get in there.

/threadjack

-dlp211

I wouldn't think it's a HUGE bioload, but I like room in my tank. I don't have too much LR in there either (about 150-175 lbs). I just wanted to have room to build on to it as I saw fit. Plus some of those fish like a lot of swimming room.

I have a large bioload freshwater. I just have to do water changes more often. They all have been doing great though.