Help me stock a 75g

[stgla]

I have an ocellaris pair and a royal gramma in a 75g mixed reef, looking to add some fish (over time, of course, using quarantine, of course).

anthias harem, thinking lyretail (1 male, 3 females)
-or-
group of blue reef chromis (5?)

a tang, thinking yellow

a flame angel

a goby or dragonet


Any advice on this stocking list in terms of compatibility or the total quantity. I know that's a lot of fish, but I do want a same-species group of some kind. Maybe it's either/or with the tang/angel.

 

[yeame]

I say no chomis they are a pain most of the time unless you cand find some hawiian chromis for me (lol) go with the anthias
what kind of goby do you plan on? I loved my engineer goby and you can have more than one it had more personality than my sohal tang

 

[gregbot9000]

in my 75g i have:

1 percula clown
1 coral beauty
3 blue green chromis
2 fairy wrasses (the LFS didnt know what kind they were)
1 scalefin anthias
1 atlantic blue tang

but if it is a mixed reef i would say skip the flame angel...becuase they are either a hit or miss...with my coral beauty i missed and she ate my xenia lol

 

[flameangel88]

As for the tang I would go with a Hippo as the Yel Tang is much more aggressive. Goby is better (pair up a YWG with a pistol is fun to watch) unless you have a lot of copepods in the LRs to feed the dragonet. Just my 2 cents.

 

[DiSkuStiNg]

I dont know about a hippo tang for a 75, my friend had one and it outgrew his 75 in no time, I think yellow tang would be best in my opinion.

 

[Blazer88]

I think a Yellow Tang needs a larger tank than a 75, why not a bristle-tooth tang? Even a 75 is borderline for them, but I think it would be a better option than a YT. And I had a horrible experience with a dwarf angel and won't ever put another one in.

 

[thriceanangel]

If you read the post stickied about tank size and tangs, it says that a 75 gal is acceptable for a yellow, and a host of others.

 

[utah024]

I had a harem of anthias in a 75 (Hawaiin bicolor anthias) and it was too small....the male's aggression was not spread out enough with the three females so the females never came out and when they did it was only to feed before they were chased back into the rockwork by the male. Lyretail anthias are larger and more aggressive than the Hawaiin bicolors I had, so I would assume this would be an even worse problem for you than it was for me. I would suggest either keeping a single lyretail or similar anthias (sunburst do pretty well singly) or trying a harem of a smaller, less aggressive species like bartlett's or dispar. As for the tangs, both a hippo and a yellow will eventually outgrow a 75 given proper care, so either one is good as long as you have a plan for when it gets too large (assuming you start pretty small you're talking two or three years down the road at most).

 

[stgla]

A concern I have is that the faster swimming flame angel will outcompete the mandarin for pods.

In terms of the anthias, I'd like to hear/read other opinions, because I've seen harems succesfully kept in a 75g. I suppose i might never see my gramma loreto, which is currently very out there.

I'm inclined now to blow off the tang altogether and let the flame angel be the swimmer of the tank.

That leaves me with:

2 a. ocellaris (in there now, hosting in a torch coral)
1 gramma loreto (in there now, fat and happy)
1 mandarin dragonet (to add next)
4 lyretail anthias (1 male, 3 female, added later)
1 flame angel (to add last)

That's nine fish, hopefully not too crowded. I'll have corals too, but the fish are really the big draw for me.

 

[stgla]

opinions?

 

[jessp]

i think a harem of flasher/fairy wrasses would be cooler then the anthias, they are active swimmers and smaller. in addition i've heard that it is not neccessary to keep anthias in a group. get a harem of wrasses and replace your tang selection with a single anthia of your choice