90g fish and invert stocking list

[hawkey992]

I'm rehabilitating my 90g live rock tank and I'd love any input you guys could offer on the stocking list I've got planned or any advice on the order of introduction.

fishes
Sailfin Blenny x1
Flame Angel x1
Percula clownfish x3
Orchid dottyback x 1
Falco Hawkfish (added last) x1
firefish x1
neon blue gobies x2

Inverts
feather duster worm x4
Emerald Mithrax crab x2 (added later when tank is more established)
Red Sea Star x1

 

[hawkey992]

BTW, I may be adding some mushrooms several months from now, are any of these specemins going to be problematic for that ?

 

[bsagecko]

i would skip out on the emerald crabs......i think there might be problems later on.....mushrooms will be fine as long as you got pc, VHO or better lighting.......

Hawkfish are notoriously know for eating crabs, and shrimp......

 

[hawkey992]

Yea, but I've heard from most people that falcos in particular won't bother a crab or shrimp that's as big or bigger than them, especially if they've got a means of defense like a crab.

 

[monicaswizzle]

Hawkeye--

Well, I can't shed much light on your questions, but I am particularly interested in the combination of Falco and Neon gobies. Here are my comments, for what they may be worth:

1) IME, you shouldn't have any problems other than the possible hawk goby issues
2) The shrooms should be fine if you have almost any kind of light at all
3) I have had emerald crabs and never had a problem, very fun to watch
4) About the hawk...Falco is smaller, so you may be fine. I have a pair of neon gobies in my display and a pair of longnose hawks that are just about done with QT. I have serious concern about the combination and may move the gobies to my sump to be safe. The hawks are too small (now) to eat the gobies in one gulp, but I have fed them a few small feeder guppies during QT and was surprised to see that they don't just swallow the guppies. They catch them "crosswise" in their mouths and take them to the surface and "shake" them for a while prior to turning them sideways and swallowing them. I am not sure what that is all about. The guppies are very small and could be swallowed, no problem. My concern is that even if they can't swallow the gobies (until they grow), they certainly could kill them by doing this catch and shake routine. None of this may be an issue with the Falco, but it is my experience with the longnose. I did have a flame hawk with the neons and never had a problem at all, but the flame hawk is much more peaceful and not known to be a problem.

Good luck!

 

[avp]

I've been keeping two neon gobies, a shark nose goby and a flame hawk together for going on two years in my 90. The flame hawk notes their movement (you can see his eyes following them) as he sit on his perch, but he's never made a move on them.

-avp

 

[monicaswizzle]

Yes AVP, I think it is a pretty unusual flame hawk that takes other fish out of the display tank. I did have a 3 inch or so flame hawk that took one of my peppermint shrimp, but otherwise he/she didn't even bother the other shrimp in the tank. (I lost the one when I added it to the tank. I should have placed it on the bottom near/under some rock, but I just dropped it in and before I could do anything the flame swooped up and ate it. Live and learn--if you are lucky.)

Most of the rest of the hawks are more of a gamble, from what I have read. Their mouths are bigger and their style more aggressive, which could be bad news for smaller fish.

 

[hawkey992]

Cool, one idea I was toying with, but am very wary about pursuing, is adding a longnose in the same tank as the falco. I know it's generally not advised to have more than one hawk to a tank, but from my experience with longnoses, they are more docile than others, they're in the same league as flames in terms of interspecific aggression. Falcos are only slightly more aggressive but I figured the 2 inch size difference and the largeness of the tank would even that out. Also, I arranged the live rock in to 2 separate peaks to help delineate territories. I've kept hawkfish for a couple years so I somewhat know what to expect from them but I'd love to hear what you guys think of this idea ?

 

[Ranzan]

just wondering why you want the crabs? they can be a fairly expensive snackand they do not really have that much defense against fish.

 

[hawkey992]

mithraxes are like 10 bucks each at my lfs, I want them cus they eat algae, they're pretty, and interesting. Plus, the claws should be enough to ward off a small, well fed hawkfish which would be the only threat to it. I'm not saying that a small mouthed hawk wouldn't be able to take down a mithrax (I've underestimated small hawkfish before) if it was starving and desperate, but if its got food and the mithrax has a means of hurting it if it attacks, I think the hawks would leave it alone for the most part.