Anthias &is all fish for sps reef

[Reel North]

I'm beginning to stock my reef very..... Slowly

My tank is in the sig. 72 X 30 w X 24 tall.

Today I picked up 12 purple queen anthias. They are pretty small, and the tank has been knocking down 4ppm ammonia for a few days so I figure I can put a few fish in.

I'm looking to do mostly small fish. I have a naso, Kole and yellow tang that will make it in, along with a couple wrasse eventually.

What is a non aggressive, pretty anthias that will mix well with my purple queens.

 

[ca1ore]

You do know that the purple queen anthias (Tuka) is one of the most difficult fish to keep, right? Most never adapt to normal aquarium foods, must be fed really small stuff at least thrice a day, and don't react well to boisterous tank mates.

 

[snorvich]

You do know that the purple queen anthias (Tuka) is one of the most difficult fish to keep, right? Most never adapt to normal aquarium foods, must be fed really small stuff at least thrice a day, and don't react well to boisterous tank mates.

I agree. Failure rate is very high.

 

[Reel North]

I know, and that's why I got them.

I'm going to be doing live bbs as a project with my daughter lol. They are eating LRS fish eggs already after only a few hrs in the tank.

The only fish that must go in the reef with them is my yellow coris wrasse (son named him blue blue) and the naso.

I don't mind if the whole reef is small fish. Im Sick of fighting, and fish beating each other.

So what small fish will play nice with my sps and anthias.

 

[golferbud101691]

I'm beginning to stock my reef very..... Slowly

My tank is in the sig. 72 X 30 w X 24 tall.

Today I picked up 12 purple queen anthias. They are pretty small, and the tank has been knocking down 4ppm ammonia for a few days so I figure I can put a few fish in.

I'm looking to do mostly small fish. I have a naso, Kole and yellow tang that will make it in, along with a couple wrasse eventually.

What is a non aggressive, pretty anthias that will mix well with my purple queens.

Are you qt'ing the anthias? You need to get them eating very well in qt before adding them to the display, which it sounds like at 4ppm ammonia, you aren't ready anyway. I've seen first hand from a fellow hobbyist how brutal they can be. Live baby brine shrimp with multiple feedings daily. Then slowly transfer over to nls .5 pellets and mix them with very small mysis.

 

[Reel North]

The 4ppm is what I've been using to cycle it. The tank consumes that in 12 hrs now.

They are the only fish in the system. All my sps and fish are in my 3x5 frag system.

My sps QT is a 20g and its full too.

They eat like pigs already. I've been feeding them LRS frozen fish eggs. I don't really feed pellets to my tanks. I've been feeding mysis and LRS reef frenzy since I can remember.

Like I said, I'm going to be doing BBS for a while, and gradually get them over to mysis, and hopefully pellets as they grow. If they don't like pellets, then they can enjoy the frozen.

So what other species of smaller fish?

 

[h3dgehog]

If I had a bigger tank and more money to drop, I'd maybe do a blotched anthias, deepwater candy cane basslet and maybe dare I say.... dwarf angels?

 

[Reel North]

Dwarf Angels are soooooo risky. But so awesome. I'll look up those others

 

[davocean]

Am I reading this correctly that you are basically cycling your new tank w/ 12 purple queens?

 

[bif24701]

Am I reading this correctly that you are basically cycling your new tank w/ 12 purple queens?

He already said his tank consumes 4ppm of ammonia in 12 hours. It's cycled.

 

[Reel North]

Yes. It consumes 4ppm in 12 hours. It is cycled. I would never ever never ever cycle a tank with a fish at all. EVER!

I know that the queens are a bit shy, and a tough fish because of their feeding requirements. They are eating currently.

 

[codydemmel4]

I'm in the middle of cycling my tank now. Would you add the ammonia if you already had your fish in there or could you not add ammonia to see how much it consumes as it would harm the fish too much?

Thanks!

 

[Reel North]

In order to cycle the tank you need to brig the ammonia up to 4ppm, which would kill your fish, or really mess them up. I added 8 ppm to start, and then once it reached .25, I dosed it again to 4ppm. I kept doing that until it cleared ammonia and nitrite in 12 hrs.

Do not add ammonia with fish.

Mine cleared the 4 ppm for a week.

Do a big wc before adding the fish

 

[ca1ore]

They are eating LRS fish eggs already after only a few hrs in the tank. So what small fish will play nice with my sps and anthias.

Please do provide updates. I've tried Tukas a few times, without long-term success. Haven't tried the LRS fish eggs though as they weren't available last time I had these fish. Nutramar Ova worked, but it's impractical as the sole food; plus its unobtanium now.

I did have a quartet for about 4 months, and the fish that seemed to work best were chalk basselts, leopard wrasses and pretty much any of the flasher or fairy wrasses (except Naoki). Tangs were problematic, so your yellow may have to go. Even the Naso, as gentle as it is, may intimidate the Tukas just due to size.

 

[Reel North]

I would hate to get rid of the naso. Thing is, as my reefkeeping evolves, I've gone from large fish, to smaller and smaller fish. The yellow can stay in the frag tank, and the regal can stay or go. There's a lineup of guys that want him lol.

I'm going to get some Bellus Angels as well. They are not too belligerent, and won't tear up my sps. They are just so hard to get in Canada. I have 1 in QT right now.

My buddy has a chalk bass that I'll get once he clears out his frag tank, and leopard wrasse are amazing. They also play gatekeeper to protect the sps from invaders! I've realized I'm really growing a coral garden, and not keeping a fish tank. That has come about gradually from advice and posts here on RC.

Would the yellow eyed Kole tang be ok? Or does he need to stay in the frag tank as well?

What fish can I get to keep the algae knocked down on the rocks (even though the scape is minimalist at best - shelf and branch)

I suppose it's wise to keep everything scaled down to let the anthias thrive.

I'm really glad I have that 36" Lifereef skimmer with how much I need to feed em!