How many fish (small & large) do you keep in your 180 reef?

J

jerod89

New member
I've been in the planning process of setting up a new mixed reef tank for four months now. Initially I was going with a 90 gallon setup I found cheap on craigslist, but then the reef bug bit me and after countless hours of research I sold that and have settled on a new 180 gallon...

In regards to stocking, I'm wondering approximately what combinations of larger versus smaller fish that everyone has successfully kept in their 180 reef?
 
Hi dude.. I have my 180 mixed reef now for about 5 years and keep some larger and smaller fishes in there.. a tomini tang, moorish idol, majestic angel, multibar angel, green filefish, 2 chromis, longnose hawk, 2 zoramia, 2 mamdarins, 1 dottyback and several wrasses.. wanna add another fish, maybe a trigger
 
Your never going to get the same answer. It's all about husbandry and places available fish call "home/sleep" why don't you tell us a little more about your planned filtration/skimmer and what types of fish you were looking at keeping
 
My 240 list...

Pair of Matted Filefish
Onespot Foxface
African Flameback Angel
Female Swallowtail Angel
Tomini Tang
Starry Blenny
2 PJ Cardinals
Kaudern Cardinal
2 Yellowtail Damsels
Pink and Blue spotted Watchman
Orangespot Goby
Steinitz Goby
Pair of true Percs
Royal Gramma
Rainford Goby
Klein Butterfly
Neon Goby
 
Dmorty217, I have the 180 tank with about 220lb of live rock and a ~ 3" sand bed. My skimmer is the Reef Octopus Regal 170SSS. I have a refugium and will be running carbon and GFO. 3 Radions, 2 mp40's, ... In a perfect world my stocking list would be a follows:

1. Tail Spot Blenny
2. Royal Gramma
3. Yasha Goby (Pair)
4. Blue Spotted Jawfish (Pair)
5. True Percula Clownfish (Pair)
6. Flame Fairy Wrass
7. Labout's Fairy Wrasse
8. Lineatus Fairy Wrasse
9. Richmond's Wrasse
10. Regal Angelfish
11. Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish
12. Blue Hippo Tang
13. Achilles Tang
14. Purple Tang
15. Blue Mandarin Dragonet (Pair)
16. Hawaiian Golden Dwarf Moray Eel
 
If I were you I would do a theme like Hawaiian reef, Red Sea reef, Philippines, etc. I'm planning out my upgrade and going with Red Sea. Fish will include Purple Tang, Yellow Belly Regal Angel, orchid dottyback and may be Lyretail Anthias. It will be 150-200 gallon tank so in your ballpark.
 
People will tell you that the blue hippo tang needs an 8ft tank. I also am in the early stocking phase of my 180 and was talked out of getting a hippo tang.

I also was looking at getting a pair of blue spotted jawfish, but after reading a lot of threads on them I've decided that I don't want to get a fish with such a low success rate. Thats just my opinion on them, from what I've read.
 
Jersh said:
I also was looking at getting a pair of blue spotted jawfish, but after reading a lot of threads on them I've decided that I don't want to get a fish with such a low success rate. Thats just my opinion on them, from what I've read.
Click to expand...

From my experience, this is a wise choice. I loved mine, but will never own one again. They just don't do well in captivity in general.
 
jerod89 said:
Dmorty217, I have the 180 tank with about 220lb of live rock and a ~ 3" sand bed. My skimmer is the Reef Octopus Regal 170SSS. I have a refugium and will be running carbon and GFO. 3 Radions, 2 mp40's, ... In a perfect world my stocking list would be a follows:

1. Tail Spot Blenny
2. Royal Gramma
3. Yasha Goby (Pair)
4. Blue Spotted Jawfish (Pair)
5. True Percula Clownfish (Pair)
6. Flame Fairy Wrass
7. Labout's Fairy Wrasse
8. Lineatus Fairy Wrasse
9. Richmond's Wrasse
10. Regal Angelfish
11. Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish
12. Blue Hippo Tang
13. Achilles Tang
14. Purple Tang
15. Blue Mandarin Dragonet (Pair)
16. Hawaiian Golden Dwarf Moray Eel
Click to expand...

A few husbandry challenges on that list, but assuming your skimmer is up to scratch, bio load should be OK. Agree that a Hippo will be tight in a 180, particularly if, with 220 lbs of rock, you have eaten up too much of the swimming space. I have recently concluded that erroneous rules-of-thumb have left too many tanks too stuffed with not nearly enough open space.
 
Let's see:

Hippo Tang
Achilles Tang
Yellow Tang
Desjardini Tang
Purple Tang
Pyramid Butterfly (4)
Bimaculatus Anthias (5)
Bartlett Anthias (3)
Chalk Basslet (3)
Clowns (6; two in display, two in frag tank, two in refugium)
Pajama Cardinals (3)
Vermiculate Leopard Wrasse (2, in refugium)
Green Chromis (2)
Leopard Wrasse
Watchman Goby
Mandarin
Cleaner Wrasse
Yellow Tail Damsel
Flame Angel
Potters Angel
Dusky Wrasse

That's actually 41, but only 35 in the display. I also have a black leopard, Naso Tang, Chevron Tang, and a Carpenters Wrasse in various stages of QT. I have had some issues with the leopard wrasses competing for food in the display, so am thinking about setting up an empty 90 as a wrasse-only tank.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Z
5.7ft tank stocking
Replies
7
Views
1K
ZanaZoola14
Z
Doma25
180 with 3 fish - need stocking advice
Replies
1
Views
690
griss
griss
305 Steve
Steve's Reef Casa
Replies
13
Views
2K
Dustin07
D
T
120 Gallon Mixed Reef Tank for Sale
Replies
6
Views
2K
vanbro1
vanbro1
griss
What's Your History in the Hobby?
2 3 4
Replies
63
Views
6K
vlangel
vlangel
Back
Top