90 Gallon Stocking List

M

MattyO

New member
Going for a 90 Gallon SPS/Zoa Tank. I am looking for 1 Large Fish and a bunch of smaller guys. I will be Carbon Dosing so feeding a few times a day should not be a problem. I want the Large Fish to be a PBT (buy small and sell/upgrade when large). The rest are some ideas I have been kicking around. I am thinking of keeping some small shrimp like Harlequins but stocking with them in mind is hard...

PBT
Pair of Designer Clowns
4-5 Orange Lined Cardinals
1 Starry Blenny or Midas Blenny
Purple Dottyback (other eat shrimp but LA doesnt say that about this guy)
3-4 Bartletts Anthias or Small Wrasses
1 Pest Eating Wrasse (Need help here on something that would be ok with other small flasher/fairy wrasses)
Pair ORA Red Mandarin
1 Helfrinki Fire Fish (In my Biocube which I might turn into SeaHorses)
 
I understand your desire to keep a powder blue tang, but you will be surprised how fast it will outgrow your tank. You could have the fish <6 months before you need to trade it in somewhere, and well, it is hard to part with a fish that you have had awhile and besides that, it can be really hard to catch it. I would look for a centerpiece fish that you will not figure out how to get rid of later. It sucks to do.

Also, that is a lot of fish for a 90. 18 fish right?!? And you have picked several fish that will occupy the same tank space resulting in fights. IMO, I would get your list down 10 fish and maybe 12 if you pick some small ones with differing water column preferences.

Now some thoughts on rest of your list:
- I believe that the purple dottyback is a bad idea with your potential stock list. These guys are known to be extremely aggression and will pick on/potentially kill the other fish on you list especially the blenny, firefish and wrasses (similar body shape).
-Do you have a refugium chamber in your sump? If you do not, it will be extremely difficult to keep your mandarins fed, ORA or not.
 
Yellow "coris" is a great pest eater , peaceful and pretty. Skip the tang.

Harlequin shrimp are obligate feeders on sea stars. Just wanted to make sure you knew. Definitely a feeding challenge in a reef.
 
CRANK - idk what you mean lol

SecretiveFish - I understand about the PBT and will take it into consideration. This list is really a "could be in the tank list". I agree all would be too much. I think I would do either the cardinals/anthias/ or wrasses and no firefish (thats just if I changed up my biocube). The Mandarins would not have a fuge but with supplements and being ORA, I think they should be fine... lot of rock work for them to hunt on. I will take of the Purple Dottyback and was thinking of a Gold Assessor (I think ORA breeds them)? Any advice on them? and THANKS for your imput!!

small alien - I know Harlequins only eat starfish... I got some asterina's for them to munch on and will buy a CC Star every few weeks for them. I do want 1 Tang as the Show Peice and then a bunch of smaller guys like your tank listing. How are those sunburst anthias and how many you got?
 
I was wondering if they ate asterinas. I have a gabillion.

Generally speaking, for your size tank, it's a Kole Tang. Check this for recommendations.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1946079

I just have a single Sunburst Anthias. They're in their own genus separate from other Anthia. I've always seen them kept singley. Mine is small, only a little over an inch. They get about 5 inches. I've seen them 3 inches before. They're very pretty.
 
2012-02-16_14-18-40_402.jpg
 
Sick Picture alien... I always read that they are not open swimmers but more like cardinals in that they hover under an overhang, what's your experience?

I know the tang thread, but that is for full grown. I know you shouldn't anticipate an upgrade or too sell a fish, but thats what I am doing lol. I also have seen conversation about size - tank ration. So a 1' fish recommended for a 6' tank would have the same proportionate room as a 6'' fish in a 3' tank... you understand what I mean? Now the PBT would be last in the tank, so I do have time to mull it over and just go a bunch of small's/medium's like yourself.
 
MattyO said:
Sick Picture alien... I always read that they are not open swimmers but more like cardinals in that they hover under an overhang, what's your experience?

I know the tang thread, but that is for full grown. I know you shouldn't anticipate an upgrade or too sell a fish, but thats what I am doing lol. I also have seen conversation about size - tank ration. So a 1' fish recommended for a 6' tank would have the same proportionate room as a 6'' fish in a 3' tank... you understand what I mean? Now the PBT would be last in the tank, so I do have time to mull it over and just go a bunch of small's/medium's like yourself.
Click to expand...

This fish has been quite gregarious. When I first added it to the DT, it hid for several days. I mean completely. I thought I lost it. Then one mornig, boop, right there front and center. It's often out front. Definitely when just the actinics are on. And off and on through the rest of the day.

More than fish length per se, I think a lot about how much the fish wants to swim and how. Many tangs swim long distances in the wild, regardless of their length. The bristletooths are smaller but they also swim a bit less and pick more, making them more suitable for a smaller tank.
 
MattyO said:
BTW... Liveaquariua lists the Fathead Sunburst Anthia at 125 Gallon minimum.
Click to expand...

I know. That had me debating for a long time about getting one. After observing many in tanks and ALWAYS seeing them just hanging there in the water column, I determined that I think LA is over-estimating the space needs of this fish. I think a 4' tank is fine. I actually think it could very well be fine in a 3' tank. Even at 5" if it were to ever get that big. But 75 or 90, I feel very comfortable defending that as just fine for a sunburst.
 
That's my female meleagris leopard wrasse. I also have a male. I got them as same size juvis about 2 years ago. They eat everything, PE mysis, prawn roe, cyclopeeze, pellets and even flake. That doesn't mean all will. Leopards should definitely take PE mysis which is a high quality food for them. They need a 3" sandbed or so as they bury at night. If you can get a healthy one that is eating and doesn't have a damaged mouth, I don't think they're THAT hard as long as you feed liberally. 2-3 times daily to total saturation.
 
Ann I get you on the tangs, def a different behavior between them. I will have to research the sunbursts a little. I wish I could go wrasse oriented but I'm doing a SSB of 1/2inch just for aesthetics. BTW how many fish you have in your tank? I see by the picture it looks like a softie reef?
 
20ish. My signature is a complete fish list.

Number of fish is not really important. It's bioload, compatability, territory requirement, space requirement. If your filtration can handle the nutrient load and you stock very thoughtfully, you can have a lot of fish in a 90.

In my tank I have 4 wrasses, one of which is cryptic. They swim constantly around and through the rock work.

The anthias which hangs there.

I have 4 dragonets which cruise the bottom.

I have the files which are always active in the water column and never go in the rocks.

I have the two pipefish which are crepuscular and only out dawn/dusk and sometimes night.

I have the jawfish which stays in its hole.

I have the clowns which stay in their nem.

The blenny perches here and there.

And the gobies are just kind of around. Cleaner, Hector's, and the very cryptic Priolepis sp.

It's peaceful and fascinating. IMO. :)
 
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Oh and the firefish which hides all the time now though it's able to get plenty of food. I think because of the activity level of the mature leopard wrasses.

Right again, Snorvich!!! :headwally:
 
Mostly softy, yes. Because I'm focused on feeding the fish a lot, I can't have fussy corals. Plus the files eat them sometimes.
 
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