How's my stocking plan? Need Advice

[npeters1989]

Here's what I've got:

> 75 gallon aquarium + 15 gallon sump (about 75gal. total volume w/ 100lb. of rock accounted for)
> 250W Metal Halide

> 2 3-stripe damsels
> 1 Yellow Damsel
> 1 Blue Damsel
> 3 turbo snails
> 1 large hermit crab (not sure what kind)

My tank is now cycled and has been going for a little over a month.

Here's a rough draft of what I'd like to put in eventually. I'd love to get some advice on good/bad choices and stocking order. I'd like to start trying out corals in a year or so, so I'm trying to stick to reef safe fishes.

Here's what I've come up with:

> Ocellaris Clownfish pair
> 6 line wrasse
> One Spot Foxface
> Yellow Tang OR Blue Hippo Tang OR Scopas Tang
> Royal Gramma
> More snails or hermit crabs?
> Macro algae species?
> Any other suggestions?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Also, I've read that gobies, cardinalfishes and jawfishes do not mix well with more aggressive fishes like damsels. Should I rule all of these categories out then, or is 75 gallons enough room to dissipate aggression?

 

[GhostCon1]

Damsels are mean little fish. You may have to catch them and try to give them to someone or back to your LFS if they don't work out.

If you have gobies that are sand dwellers, then they may not be a problem as damsels tend to stay towards the mid-top level of the water column. IME, the damsels wont bother a tang, but it may be different for you.

A long time ago I successfully had 3 yellow-tails with 2 clowns, clown goby, scooter blenny, and a yellow tang with no problems; they did quarrel amongst themselves however.

Does the hermit have hairy legs? If so, then you should try to give him to someone else or do a species tanks as usually hairy legs on crabs = bad news.

Nassarius snails are excellent sand sifters and will help clean up and left over foods.

Trochus, cerith (sp?), and nerite snails are all excellent choices for CUC.

For your fish selection, those all seem fine except for the scopas tang (they get very large). I am not sure about a foxface as I have never had one, but hear they are good grazers. Make sure you feed nori to feed it and a tang.

Now, I have to ask. Do you have those damsels because you used them to cycle your tank? I am going to assume your answer will be yes. If so, please don't do this as it is cruel to the animals to use them for cycling purposes.

 

[npeters1989]

Damsels are mean little fish. You may have to catch them and try to give them to someone or back to your LFS if they don't work out.

If you have gobies that are sand dwellers, then they may not be a problem as damsels tend to stay towards the mid-top level of the water column. IME, the damsels wont bother a tang, but it may be different for you.

A long time ago I successfully had 3 yellow-tails with 2 clowns, clown goby, scooter blenny, and a yellow tang with no problems; they did quarrel amongst themselves however.

Does the hermit have hairy legs? If so, then you should try to give him to someone else or do a species tanks as usually hairy legs on crabs = bad news.

Nassarius snails are excellent sand sifters and will help clean up and left over foods.

Trochus, cerith (sp?), and nerite snails are all excellent choices for CUC.

For your fish selection, those all seem fine except for the scopas tang (they get very large). I am not sure about a foxface as I have never had one, but hear they are good grazers. Make sure you feed nori to feed it and a tang.

Now, I have to ask. Do you have those damsels because you used them to cycle your tank? I am going to assume your answer will be yes. If so, please don't do this as it is cruel to the animals to use them for cycling purposes.

The crab has a few hairs on his legs. Why is this bad news? I've had him for about 2 years now (in my old 20 gal) and never had any problems.

I actually started my tank cycling with the snails and crab. I gradually added the damsels as the cycling progressed.

How many snails and/or crabs should I have in a tank of this size?

And thanks for all the info.!

 

[catch1]

I am not one to advocate for the tang police..So I think 75 is plenty of room. You'll definitely hear otherwise but if you get one that's around 3", it should be fine in there for at least 3 years. They grow quickly but not that quickly Main thing with a tang is diet. Diet is way bigger of a consideration than size of tank. I'd say go for a yellow tang. You're not putting it in a 20 gallon so the tang police should stay away

Foxfaces will CLEAR your tank of algae veryyyyyyyy fast. You absolutely have to be ready and able to feed them nori.

Crabs and snails. I would try to get one variety of hermit crab but as much variety as possible for snails.

IME...Red legged hermits are more peaceful than blue legged ones. 20-30 is good. Some people say as many as one per gallon but I don't find that necessary.

Snails:
Trochus snails....These are my top choice by far. In a tank of that size...I'd say 15-20
Nassarius...A necessity for stirring your sand. 20-30
I would also add in some ceriths.

Again, with snails...Add in a handful and see how it goes. Don't try to add in 70 snails all at once. If xxx numbers aren't working, buy a few more till you sense some equilibrium for algae vs. snails


Key with a clean up crew and a SW tank in general...Don't overfeed your tank.

 

[GhostCon1]

Hermits generally have a few hairs on their legs, its the ones who have very hairy legs that are the ones to look out for. They are usually aggressive and not reef safe.

There are a lot of ways to look at CUC.

Remember, hermits will grow and will look for larger shells... and those are more often than not supplied by your snails. They will kill the snail and take the shell, if you want to avoid this then either have no snails and only hermits, snails with no hermits, or have a variety of empty shells for the hermits to choose from (although they may still kill a snail for the shell).

I have a 70g myself and I wil be using maybe about 3-5 hermits, about 10 snails, and maybe 4 or 5 nassarius snails (for sand sifting).

There was a rule saying one snail for every gallon but this is bad. The snails will consume all the algae and then have none left. If you stop and think about it, it also seems very cramped. A better rule of thumb I have seen is one snail per 10gallons, but really it is best to see what yours do and then adjust accordingly.

 

[npeters1989]

Thanks everyone. LiveAquaria lists Hippo Tangs and Scopas Tangs as growing to 1'. However, they list 120gal as minimum size for hippos and 60gal as minimum size for Scopas Tangs. Anyone know why this would be? Does one species get stunted more than the other when confined to a smaller area?

Also, is there any specific order I should stock my tank in?

And what algae species would anyone recommend for refugium (if at all)?

 

[GhostCon1]

Most aggressive species first. Usually that would be tangs, damsels, angels, etc.

I don't know why LA states that.

Chaeto for refugium.

 

[zachfishman]

I'd skip the blue tang and stick with the yellow or scopas, they stay smaller and need less room. A hippo really should be housed in no less than a 120/125 (speaking from experience here)

Also, if you keep any tang you won't be able to keep any macroalgae. They will keep all your algae cropped nice and low though - and you'll never have to worry about some macroalgal species overrunning your tank (which are near impossible to manually eradicate once they work their way into the rockwork).

P.S. You'll definitely have to remove the damsels before you can introduce anything else - they're terrors if they establish first.

 

[npeters1989]

Hmmm...so if y'all were me, you'd get rid of the damsels?

 

[Grebex11]

Take out those damsels if you can and exchange them for some chromis. They aren't as aggressive in my experience.

 

[TampaReefer79]

I am not one to advocate for the tang police..So I think 75 is plenty of room. You'll definitely hear otherwise but if you get one that's around 3", it should be fine in there for at least 3 years. They grow quickly but not that quickly Main thing with a tang is diet. Diet is way bigger of a consideration than size of tank. I'd say go for a yellow tang. You're not putting it in a 20 gallon so the tang police should stay away

Foxfaces will CLEAR your tank of algae veryyyyyyyy fast. You absolutely have to be ready and able to feed them nori.

Crabs and snails. I would try to get one variety of hermit crab but as much variety as possible for snails.

IME...Red legged hermits are more peaceful than blue legged ones. 20-30 is good. Some people say as many as one per gallon but I don't find that necessary.

Snails:
Trochus snails....These are my top choice by far. In a tank of that size...I'd say 15-20
Nassarius...A necessity for stirring your sand. 20-30
I would also add in some ceriths.

Again, with snails...Add in a handful and see how it goes. Don't try to add in 70 snails all at once. If xxx numbers aren't working, buy a few more till you sense some equilibrium for algae vs. snails


Key with a clean up crew and a SW tank in general...Don't overfeed your tank.

:lolspin: LOL A 3" tang will be good in a 75 gallon tank for 3 years. Not a day over 3 years though. Where did you dig up this info? Right from the jump your post sounds as if you're looking to start an argument. And to the OP, yes tangs DO grow THAT fast. Much faster than indicated in this post. Do your research and you'll see what's what.

Thanks everyone. LiveAquaria lists Hippo Tangs and Scopas Tangs as growing to 1'. The hippo is the biggest of the 3. The scopas and yellow probaby top out at 8-9". If you've ever seen a full grown (or close to it) yellow or scopas tang, you wouldn't add one to your 75. Promise. However, they list 120gal as minimum size for hippos and 60gal as minimum size for Scopas Tangs. Anyone know why this would be? Does one species get stunted more than the other when confined to a smaller area? In MY OPINION, online tank minimums are a waste of internet space. A 120 is essentially a 90 which is essentially a 75 which is essentially a 55. Again, just how I look at things. If you want a hippo to be happier, get him into a 6' tank for starters.

Also, is there any specific order I should stock my tank in? Yes, see below.
And what algae species would anyone recommend for refugium (if at all)? Chaeto and grape calurpa always worked great for me. There are MANY other types though. Folks keep red macro which is always cool looking. I can't comment on anything other than how it looks since I've never grown it. My tangs loved to eat it though.

Most aggressive species first. Usually that would be tangs, damsels, angels, etc.

I don't know why LA states that.

Chaeto for refugium.

Since when do we stock our tanks with the most aggressive species first? Not only is the info you've given in this thread wrong, it makes it even worse that you're giving it to a newcomer that takes what you're telling him as 100% truth. To compound it more than that, the OP has only a 75 gallon tank where aggression is going to be through the roof had he done what you told him to do. I don't know how long you've been keeping marine tanks, but I see you're 'newer' here. Please don't give advice just for the sake of giving it. Please make sure what you're passing on is factual.

To the original poster, add aggressive species LAST. And of the aggressive fish (if you have more than one) make sure the most aggressive is the last fish you want to have.

 

[GhostCon1]

Since when do we stock our tanks with the most aggressive species first? Not only is the info you've given in this thread wrong, it makes it even worse that you're giving it to a newcomer that takes what you're telling him as 100% truth. To compound it more than that, the OP has only a 75 gallon tank where aggression is going to be through the roof had he done what you told him to do. I don't know how long you've been keeping marine tanks, but I see you're 'newer' here. Please don't give advice just for the sake of giving it. Please make sure what you're passing on is factual.

To the original poster, add aggressive species LAST. And of the aggressive fish (if you have more than one) make sure the most aggressive is the last fish you want to have.

Oh my god I swore I said last! I am sorry for that horrendous mistake on my part! I can't believe I didn't catch that earlier :hammer:

Now, as to the rest of what you said: am I to assume that you said all my advice is wrong? I try to give factual information all the time, my past posts indicate that.

I still can't believe the monumental mistake I made in that mix up. OP, I sincerely hope my slip up did not cause harm to your inhabitants.

 

[TampaReefer79]

"I sincerely hope my slip up did not cause harm to your inhabitants."

I doubt it since it's only been 5 hours. lol I highly doubt (at least I hope) that the OP ran out and stocked it up already.

I'm just saying, especillay in the NEW TO HOBBY section...we have to be verrrrry careful with the advice we give newcomers. One post that isn't proofread could destroy some newbies tank and then I'm sure you'd feel awful. Not only that, but it might be enough to drive them out of the hobby entirely. Starting out can be a PITA. It was even harder for me, because I did it without RC! I only had my LFS to listen to...and books of course. And for some reason, I thought my LFS had me and my tank at heart when giving me advice. Boy was I wrong. They just wanted my $$.

 

[GhostCon1]

Lol, my first "true" saltwater aquarium was started when I lived in Sicily. I didn't understand anything I was using for my tank because it was all in Italian and my LFS was a really nice guy, but his English wasn't that great.

I had red slime break out in there and it took over, I had no clue what the stuff was and it made me give up on saltwater for years (and also because I moved). Thinking back, I don't know how anything survived really. Sadly, I never did a water change, never checked params other than SG and that was it. Yet my fish all did fine... till I added this monster starfish that caught a yellow tail and ATE him. That starfish went back to the Med that day.

Oh, how I wish I could take the knowledge I have now and go back to those times and teach myself a few things. Amazingly, I only had one fish death and to this day I don't know what caused it (well, you can probably deduce it came from something being out of whack).

Sorry to derail the thread!

 

[pnavarro170]

get rid of the damsels for sure.

 

[npeters1989]

Thanks everyone. Ghostcon1, I figured you just made a careless mistake and didn't bother commenting. I knew you add most aggressive last but just wasn't sure if there were any special considerations with any of these species.

So I'll try to take out the damsels

Going to be fun trying to catch the little suckers...:spin2:

 

[GhostCon1]

Patience is your best friend in trying to catch fish

That, and another net!

 

[MCary]

Too bad damsels are such nasty little things, they are very pretty and economical.

I loved my foxface. Watch the spines. My friend had a 500 gallon and his foxface got HUGE. So did his tangs actually.

 

[npeters1989]

Got those little bastards! I set 2 large nets in there for a couple hours with one propped in a convenient position near the surface to swipe them up. Sprinkled a couple flakes above the net....bingo! Swiped one up, replaced the net and dropped a couple flakes, got the next one. They each stepped up quite nicely for their turn...

 

[small alien]

Thanks everyone. Ghostcon1, I figured you just made a careless mistake and didn't bother commenting. I knew you add most aggressive last but just wasn't sure if there were any special considerations with any of these species.

So I'll try to take out the damsels

Going to be fun trying to catch the little suckers...:spin2:

Drain most of the water out of the tank into 5 gallon buckets first. It will be much easier to catch them in just a little bit of water. Good luck.