Help Stocking a 75 Gal

[zezeta]

So I only have a few fish in my tank right now and over the next few months I plan on adding some more. I am going to make it a reef tank as well so I know that will affect some of the fish that I can keep.

These are the fish that I have now:

- 1 Firefish
- 2 False Percs


These are some fish that I am looking at maybe adding and I don't plan on adding everything from this list. I was hoping that people can help me narrow down some choices.

- 2 Bangaii Cardinals (only if they are tank raised)
- 2 Pajama Cardinals
- Sand shifter (probably a Sand shifting goby or blennie)
- Yellow Tang (it's a consideration but probably won't happen. My tank is almost too small, if not too small, and they are very prone to diseases)
- Copperband Butterfly (also a consideration but will probably be passed up. I have a lot of small featherdusters and I have heard that they will probably eat those and pick on soft corals)
- Some small schooling fish
- If no Yellow Tang or CBB then I would like to get a larger fish (4-6 inches max, 8 at the very most) that is very active and probably yellow (mostly for the color difference from the other fish)


What I am looking for is to have an aquarium where I have fish that occupy all the different levels of the aquarium and have different swimming styles (floaters to very active).

Right now the Bangaii Cardinals are at the top of my list of fish to get next. I'm making sure to add the least aggressive fish first. If anyone has any experience with some of the fish I listed and can give me some feedback it would be greatly appreciated!


Also here is a picture of my tank so people can see how much room I have in it. Standard 75 gal size (48x18x20)

<a href="http://s949.photobucket.com/albums/ad338/Zezeta/?action=view&current=9-11-97.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad338/Zezeta/9-11-97.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[zezeta]

Bump one time and if no one answers then I will let this thread die. I guess I may need to post this in the main reef forum since it might get more traffic there.

 

[sunnyday]

+1 on the Bangaii cardinals and add a handful of chromis. My experience with chromis - get 5 as small and healthy as you can get them and introduce all 5 at the same time. Feed them well, and they will bless your tank with peaceful movement and excellent longevity.

 

[BrianD]

Sorry, I missed the thread. Don't give up, you will get some good suggestions in this forum. People may be taking Friday off :lol:

I love your aquascaping!

I would agree with you about the tank probably being too small for a yellow (depending on how many other fish you want), and the copperband can be too delicate.

I don't have any bangaii cardinals, but I do have several pajama cardinalfish.

Your firefish will probably affect some of your choices, since some tankmates may intimidate the firefish into hiding or carpet surfing.

Some possible suggestions:

1. Small fairy wrasse (many to choose from)
2. Midas or bicolor blenny
3. Watchman goby/pistol shrimp

After your tank gets some age on it, you can also consider a dwarf angel (perhaps a flame).

I have a thread in this forum with a video of my reef. You can see the pajama cardinalfish in it, as well as some fairy wrasses and a midas blenny.

 

[zezeta]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15725542#post15725542 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sunnyday
+1 on the Bangaii cardinals and add a handful of chromis. My experience with chromis - get 5 as small and healthy as you can get them and introduce all 5 at the same time. Feed them well, and they will bless your tank with peaceful movement and excellent longevity.

I really like the look of the Bangaii. Does anyone know or have experience with having both Bangaii and Pajama cardinals in the same tank?

I have thought about getting 5 chromis but from what I hear from most people is that they start to pick each other off until there is only one or two left. How long have you had yours and what kind of chromis are they?

 

[zezeta]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15725609#post15725609 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BrianD
Sorry, I missed the thread. Don't give up, you will get some good suggestions in this forum. People may be taking Friday off :lol:

I love your aquascaping!

I would agree with you about the tank probably being too small for a yellow (depending on how many other fish you want), and the copperband can be too delicate.

I don't have any bangaii cardinals, but I do have several pajama cardinalfish.

Your firefish will probably affect some of your choices, since some tankmates may intimidate the firefish into hiding or carpet surfing.

Some possible suggestions:

1. Small fairy wrasse (many to choose from)
2. Midas or bicolor blenny
3. Watchman goby/pistol shrimp

After your tank gets some age on it, you can also consider a dwarf angel (perhaps a flame).

I have a thread in this forum with a video of my reef. You can see the pajama cardinalfish in it, as well as some fairy wrasses and a midas blenny.

I just watched your video. You have an amazing tank. Do your pajama cardinals always school together or at least swim close to each other?

I think it would be neat to get some fish that school together but I know in a 75 gallon space will be a factor. I have seen people keep cardinals, chromis, and anthias that school. Does anyone know which ones are the best for that? Also their max size needs to stay small since I don't want to overload the system.

Also do blennies shift sand? My sand stays pretty clean from my powerheads and nassarius snails but it would be nice to have a fish that stays at the bottom of the tank and moves the sand around a little bit.

I have looked into dwarf angels and it seems like the Flame Angel will probably be one of the better ones to get. I mostly plan on keeping soft corals for now and I have heard that most dwarf angels will nip at soft corals. Of course each individual fish is different. I do like the look of the bicolor dwarf angels but it sounds like they are not very reef safe.

Thanks again for all the help everyone!

 

[zezeta]

One more bump!

 

[myfrostymember]

my 75 has
pair of clowns ocel i believe
yellow watchman goby/pistol
midas blenny
kole tang
small flasher wrasse
equisite wrasse

this might be a little over stocked but i do have a large sump and a skimmer running 24/7

look into the wrasses if the tank will be covered they are very colorfull and always out swimming around - i would go with wrasses way before chromis or any other semi aggresive species

 

[LUVSPS]

+1 on the wrasses! They are great fish. Always hunting in the rocks for pods and such. Live Aquaria and Blue Zoo Aquatics have good selections on their websites.

I don't have much experience with these fish but what about a Pyramid Butterfly for your yellow show fish. I'm not sure if a 75 would be too small for it though so you might want to get a second opinion on that. They are beautiful fish though and reef safe. HTH

 

[zezeta]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15734530#post15734530 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by myfrostymember
my 75 has
pair of clowns ocel i believe
yellow watchman goby/pistol
midas blenny
kole tang
small flasher wrasse
equisite wrasse

this might be a little over stocked but i do have a large sump and a skimmer running 24/7

look into the wrasses if the tank will be covered they are very colorfull and always out swimming around - i would go with wrasses way before chromis or any other semi aggresive species

I do have a canopy and the overflow has a cover on it so I will defintely look into the wrasses. I saw one or two on live aquaria that look nice.

I also run my skimmer 24/7 and have a decent sized sump. I hope your tank isn't overstocked because I was hoping to maybe fit 8-9 fish but it looks like 7 is about the normal limit.

 

[zezeta]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15735058#post15735058 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LUVSPS
+1 on the wrasses! They are great fish. Always hunting in the rocks for pods and such. Live Aquaria and Blue Zoo Aquatics have good selections on their websites.

I don't have much experience with these fish but what about a Pyramid Butterfly for your yellow show fish. I'm not sure if a 75 would be too small for it though so you might want to get a second opinion on that. They are beautiful fish though and reef safe. HTH

Those Pyramid Butterflys are cool but on liveaquaria is states that it should be kept in a 100 gal min. With a max length of 7" would it still be alright to keep or should I pass and look for something else? If anyone has any experience with this fish please let me know.

I also like the look of the Lemonpeel, Bicolor, and Yellow dwarf angels but it says on liveaquaria that they are to be used with caution in a reef tank. That's because they pick at corals correct? If so does anyone know if its a major problem with them or if its something they do every once and awhile?

After looking around here is a quick stocking list that I think might be good. Let me know if you all have any suggestions or comments. Thanks again for all the help everyone!


New Suggested Stocking List:

- 2 false percs*
- 1 firefish *
- 1 Pinkbar Goby
- 1 Bicolor Dwarf Angel
- 2 Bangaii Cardinalfish
- 3 wrasses or 3 anthias (if they would even school together with only 3. If not then I will probably just get a fairy wrasse)

*already have

 

[PGUY1]

Change your angel selection to a genicanthus angel (watanabe, swallowtail, bellus, lamarck's). They are planktivores and are considered reef safe. I have a female swallowtail and she is my favorite; lots of personality. They are also partially yellow. The guy I got her from has a male/female pair of watanabe's and a male swallowtail with a harem of females that are his personal fish and not for sale. Very cool.

 

[zezeta]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15738795#post15738795 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by PGUY1
Change your angel selection to a genicanthus angel (watanabe, swallowtail, bellus, lamarck's). They are planktivores and are considered reef safe. I have a female swallowtail and she is my favorite; lots of personality. They are also partially yellow. The guy I got her from has a male/female pair of watanabe's and a male swallowtail with a harem of females that are his personal fish and not for sale. Very cool.

Thanks for the suggestion PGUY1! I looked at some of the fish you recommended and the Lamarck's Angelfish looks really nice. The only problem I see is that some people said they may pick on firefish. Does anyone have any experience with that? My firefish hides in a large conch shell at night to sleep so if he does get picked on he at least has a really good hiding spot.

If I do decide to get the Lamarck then I will need to redo my fish list. Like I said before I want a bunch of different colors in the tank so I'm trying to balance that with fish that have different personalities and making sure they all get along. This is harder then I thought but so much fun!

So I now have a new revised list. I also added two shrimp because I do want to get them at some point and I want to make sure that the fish wont bother them as well.

New Fish List:

- 2 False percs *
- 1 Firefish*
- 1 Lamarck Angel
- 3-5 Pajama Cardinals or Anthias
- Pinkbar goby, Sandshifting Goby, or a YWG (something that shifts the sand around a little bit)
- Peppermint Shrimp
- Cleaner Shrimp

*Already in the tank

 

[qckslvr76]

I have a 75 with the following and love the balance of activity if each fish..I plan to add another goby and maybe a kole or mimic tang...

2x Percs- always active in the open of course
2x lyretail anthias..male/female- always active in the open
1 Possum wrasse - in and out of the rocks
1 cryptic wrasse - in and out of the rocks
1 yellow watchmen goby- bottom of course

 

[anbosu]

The Lamarck's may eventually outgrow your tank, but the genicanthus genus is the most reef safe of the angels. There are never any guarantees in this hobby, but I think you have a better chance than you did with a dwarf.

 

[zezeta]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15741750#post15741750 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by qckslvr76
I have a 75 with the following and love the balance of activity if each fish..I plan to add another goby and maybe a kole or mimic tang...

2x Percs- always active in the open of course
2x lyretail anthias..male/female- always active in the open
1 Possum wrasse - in and out of the rocks
1 cryptic wrasse - in and out of the rocks
1 yellow watchmen goby- bottom of course

Thanks for sharing your list. Do anthias school pretty well? I know that you have to keep only one male and the rest female. Would 3 anthias be too many in a 75 gallon? I was looking at the Evansi and Sunset anthias. It looks like the Evansi is hard to keep and would probably compete for food with a genicanthus angel so I may look at the Sunset anthias.

 

[zezeta]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15741963#post15741963 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by anbosu
The Lamarck's may eventually outgrow your tank, but the genicanthus genus is the most reef safe of the angels. There are never any guarantees in this hobby, but I think you have a better chance than you did with a dwarf.

Yeah I've read that the Lamarcks can get to 9" so it would definitely need some room. I know liveaquaria says they can be kept in a well-maintained 75 gallon but I also know that liveaquaria is not the end all be all knowledge of minimum tank sizes. I will look into it more and see if anyone has any success keeping them in a 75 gallon and if their fish looks happy.

The Watanabei's only grow to 6". They shouldn't outgrow the tank at that length right? If so then I may look into a female Watanabei. My tank wont be big enough to have a pair and I like the look of the females better.

Also after reading it looks like YWG are pretty easy to keep and they move the sand bed around some. I will probably get one of those since they will add the yellow that I want to the tank (even though I know they won't be out in the open very often) and it gives me a bottom dwelling fish.

Thanks again everyone for the help and eventually I'll get this all figured out. (I hope )

 

[lostintheocean]

cbb will eat all your fan worms, mine were all gone within a day, awsome fish though if you can get it to eat and live. scooter blennys are awsome if you have pods, i just got a candy stripe hog fish, he is pretty and fun to watch very active.

 

[zezeta]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15742439#post15742439 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lostintheocean
cbb will eat all your fan worms, mine were all gone within a day, awsome fish though if you can get it to eat and live. scooter blennys are awsome if you have pods, i just got a candy stripe hog fish, he is pretty and fun to watch very active.

Thanks for the advice. I believe I had read that some where as well if CBB so its good to hear that it is a common problem. Since my first post I have decided against one and figured that a peppermint shrimp should be fine for taking care of any aiptasia.

I don't think I have enough pods though to keep a scooter blenny alive. They do look cool though and it seems everyone who has one really loves theirs.

 

[Mathfreak71]

I currently have 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 Potter's Angel and a YWG in my 75g. My YMG is out almost all day. When I added the Potter's he went into hiding for about a month but now he is out. He just sits in his spot observing the tank.

My plans for the future are Green Mandarin, McCosker's flasher wrasse and a flame angel, in that order.

I have also been eyeing a golden dwarf eel, but that would be way off in the future. I don't want to spend that kind of money on a fish before I have a lot more experience.